Gavin Floyd

Chicago White Sox starter and Severna Park native Gavin Floyd wasn't the only one in the family making major adjustments this spring. Floyd's father, Rodney, a dentist, was supposed to attend a conference yesterday in Chicago. No problem, he figured, because his son was scheduled to pitch at Camden Yards against the hometown Orioles on Wednesday night. But a rainout last week in Chicago pushed back Floyd's Baltimore start to last night. And Rodney had already paid for the conference, so he was going to miss his son's first performance at Camden Yards since pitching in the annual Crown All-Star Game as a Mount St. Joseph senior in 2001.

I was asked before the Orioles left for their 11-game, three-city swing out west what would constitute a successful trip. I said 6-5. Luckily I wasn't asked to amend it after the Orioles won three of four in Oakland. They ended up 7-4. And that has to be considered a success even if they were just 4-3 in their last two cities, Seattle and Los Angeles. It's tough to travel out west and bounce in and out of several cities and come out above .500. The Orioles did that. What's most impressive is that they are winning without consistent, quality starting pitching.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Each practice field at the Philadelphia Phillies' minor-league training complex is graced with the name of some legendary Phillies player from yesteryear, which is a subtle way to instill an appreciation of the past in the young players who form the organization's future. So subtle that the club's top 2001 draft choice, Severna Park's Gavin Floyd, probably didn't notice he was sitting under a sign that read "Steve Carlton Field" as he watched a group of fellow prospects play a camp game against a team of Canadian high school all-stars this month.

It was the spring of Gavin Floyd's senior year, and professional baseball scouts were flocking to his games at Mount St. Joseph High School. A right-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball and knee-buckling curve, Floyd was considered one of the top prep pitchers in the country and perhaps the closest to being major league-ready in 2001. "Pitching that year was really fun," reflects Floyd, now 30, a dozen years after drawing national attention. "I remember the visuals. It was a long time ago. " Born in Annapolis, Floyd grew up in the Chartwell neighborhood of Severna Park and honed his skills with the Green Hornets at Kinder Park and in youth leagues in Gambrills, according to his mother, Elaine Floyd.

If Gavin Floyd of Mount St. Joseph were a senior, scouts say he would be a lock as a first- or second-round choice in the upcoming major-league free-agent draft, with big bonus bucks waiting.Floyd has all the tools -- size, loose arm action, fluid delivery and a natural release point that allows him to get maximum velocity -- but he's only a 16-year-old sophomore.Who knows where the 6-foot-4, 185-pounder will be in terms of pro potential two years from now? When you are just a 10th-grader and throwing 90 mph, what do you do for an encore?

He's just a kid, yet the flock of grown men are back again, having flown in from across the country simply so they can stare at him. They jostle for position, some in sweat pants, some in silk ties and $300 dress shoes. They stare and they take notes, and then they stare some more. And with every pitch he throws, in unscripted unison, they raise their arms and track the kid with radar, as though he were a jetliner about to land at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, instead of perhaps the best high school pitcher in the nation.

MOOSIC, Pa. - He is envisioned as the probable Next Big Thing by the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he will make his major league debut tonight at home against the New York Mets. But one week ago, in the cramped, musty quarters that pass for a locker room at a minor league ballpark tucked in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains, starting pitcher Gavin Floyd was not contemplating his first taste of the big leagues. He was too busy digesting a bruising night in the life of his baseball education.

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - Don't turn lunch on days you're scheduled to pitch into a high school reunion. Be a tad wiser about the ribbing you get from teammates. The education of Gavin Floyd is progressing nicely, as the biggest bonus baby in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies adjusts to pitching to men instead of boys. Floyd's potential netted a club-record signing bonus of $4.2 million last summer, but his craft requires a wealth of knowledge bought on time. "So many of the guys just know more than I do," Floyd said.

On deck -- Nationals vs. Phillies-- Gavin Floyd, a Mount St. Joseph graduate, starts for Philadelphia against Washington tonight.

Good morning -- Gavin Floyd -- Welcome to the Phillies' starting rotation. Another Mount St. Joe alum makes good, along with Mark Teixeira and Will Thomas.

Gavin Floyd, once a baseball star at Mount St. Joseph's and now a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, recently used his good fortune from a productive career to purchase a 24-year-old college student the gift of a lifetime. Floyd bought Tim Smith, a student at Trinity College in Florida, a new pair of legs. It's a touching story. Smith was born without legs, but it didn't stop him from playing sports and climbing rocks. He would remove his prosthetic legs -- made functional by duct tape, Velcro and a lot of oil -- and move around on his stumps.

Chicago White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd , a 27-year-old right hander from Severna Park (Mount St. Joseph), enters tonight's start against the Orioles having turned around what early on had the makings of a disappointing season. In his past six starts, Floyd (7-8, 3.54 ERA) is 3-1 with a major league-low 0.89 ERA. For his performance, Floyd was named the American League's top pitcher for July. Floyd, whose ERA had ballooned to 6.52 in early June, said before Friday's game that his recent improvement was the result of "my focus, my persistence of working at trying to get better and my conviction on each pitch.

CHICAGO - -Felix Pie's role in the Orioles' first back-to-back wins in three weeks threatened to go unnoticed because of Brian Roberts' sudden power surge. However, Orioles manager Dave Trembley wouldn't let that happen. After Thursday's and Friday's victories, Trembley, who was highly critical of the outfielder earlier this season and played him sparingly, singled out Pie for his contributions. In the Orioles' 8-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, Pie drew a key walk to load the bases and knock starter James Shields out of the game.

Shairon Martis and Jordan Zimmermann won the last two spots in the Washington Nationals' starting rotation. Martis will start the year on the major league roster, but Zimmermann will begin in the minor leagues before his first start, against the Florida Marlins on April 19. The Nationals also put outfielder Wily Mo Pena on waivers Saturday and reassigned infielder Jose Castillo and outfielder Corey Patterson, a former Oriole, to minor league camp....

America's national pastime took a major hit last night. On home turf, no less. Daisuke Matsuzaka remained undefeated in the World Baseball Classic and defending champion Japan beat the United States, 9-4, in a semifinal at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Japan advanced to tonight's title game against South Korea, a 10-2 winner over Venezuela in a semifinal late Saturday night. Cleveland Indians outfielder Choo Shin-Soo hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run first inning for South Korea in that game.

CHICAGO - For a franchise that had just won its first postseason series, the Tampa Bay Rays showed they certainly know how to celebrate. The champagne-soaked visitors' locker room at U.S. Cellular Field resembled a frat party after the 6-2 victory yesterday over the White Sox had clinched the American League Division Series, three games to one. "To do this in my hometown ... my family was all here," Rays outfielder Cliff Floyd said. "We look forward to the next round." The Rays parlayed the pitching of starter Andy Sonnanstine and the hitting of B.J. Upton, who homered twice, and Carlos Pena, who went 3-for-4, to dispatch the Sox. "I just tried to keep an even keel and work to my strengths," said Sonnanstine, who went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits.

ASTROS -- Agreed to terms with P Felipe Paulino. TWINS -- Agreed to terms with P Scott Baker, P Boof Bonser, P Francisco Liriano and 2B Alexi Casilla. WHITE SOX -- Agreed to terms with P Gavin Floyd (Mount St. Joseph) and P Bobby Jenks. Renewed contract of 3B Josh Fields.

CHICAGO - Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen hopes his players get oxygen before they open their American League Division Series today against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. But there's one thing he wants to keep: momentum. "Right now," Guillen said. "We're hot." The White Sox, having squandered an AL Central lead the past two weeks, staved off elimination for the third straight day, winning a 1-0 one-game tiebreaker with the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night to clinch the division.

Mike Mussina will finish the season stuck on 19 wins for the third time in his career. Some might believe Mussina is karmically destined to fall just short of pitching greatness. He has not won 20, thrown a no-hitter, pitched for a world champion or picked up a Cy Young Award. But I don't think the former Oriole is cursed. It's just hard to win three times in four starts, especially when two of his likely opponents - the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox - are playoff contenders fighting for position.