Home Games

When James Hoey left Double-A Bowie last season on his way to the majors, Baysox pitching coach Scott McGregor thought he wouldn't see an arm like that again for a while. Then along came Bob McCrory. A fourth-round pick in the 2003 draft out of Southern Mississippi, McCrory has thrust himself into the Orioles' prospect picture - with vigor. His fastball touches 98 mph, and he unleashes a two-seamer that ranges from 95 to 98 mph. He also has a good breaking ball and a developing changeup that he used more effectively at the Single-A level.

The Orioles released their 1999 schedule yesterday and rejoiced. The two-game series is all but dead.An early schedule heavily weighted with home games includes the season opener April 5 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Orioles go on to play 18 of their first 27 games at Camden Yards. Their first road series will be against the New York Yankees, April 13-15. They are also scheduled for five days off before May 4.The Orioles' longest homestand is 12 games over 14 days from April 23 to May 6. They then go on the season's longest road trip -- a 10-game, 10-day tour of Detroit, Cleveland and Texas.

When most boys his age were playing on swings during recess, Joe Buck was wearing a jacket and tie and tagging along with his Baseball Hall of Fame announcer dad Jack Buck at horse racing tracks around the country.The elder Buck was, and still is, an aficionado of the ponies, and even owned a few stakes horses of his own. One of them, Almighty Buck, won a couple of allowance races at Fairmont Park, the track near their native St. Louis, before fading out.The younger Buck never forgot the experience of being around the track, and that, as much as anything, qualifies him to be host of Fox's foray into racing, tomorrow's 61st running of the Santa Anita Derby (Channel 45, 5 p.m.)

Astros: Houston surpassed two million in home attendance for the second year in a row with a crowd of 16,574 for a total of 2,003,117.Brewers: Jeromy Burnitz homered four times against the Pirates. Burnitz's 113 RBIs lead all NL left-handed hitters.Dodgers: Eric Karros has the longest current streak of homers without a grand slam at 176.Mets: Edgardo Alfonzo has homered in four of his last seven games.Phillies: The game was halted in the seventh inning for a few minutes to show Mark McGwire's record-setting 62nd homer on the big screen.

Raise high the glasses and join in a birthday toast to the original Baltimore Colts, a team that started out with a penchant for losing games, but won our hearts. It was 50 years ago today that major-league football arrived. The passion began.Game tickets were priced from $1.50 to $3.50 and you could see all seven home games -- a season book they were called -- for $10.50. A program was 25 cents. Home-team colors were green, silver and white, and Baltimore's first foe was the Brooklyn Dodgers, a counterpart of the much-beloved baseball franchise that later defected to Los Angeles.

By now, the outrage -- if not the indignation -- has worn off for the Green Bay Packers. The 1997 schedule says they must play the first three weeks of December on the road, and they will. Reluctantly, perhaps, but they will.It's no secret they'd prefer to play at cold-as-a-meat-locker Lambeau Field, where they have an imposing home-field advantage and a stifling, 25-game winning streak.But when the schedule came out last spring, the NFL ensured the defending champions would take their act on the road once the stretch run arrived.

Checking its personnel losses coming off a 20-20 record last year, the Spirit knew this season wasn't going to be a stroll in the park on a warm spring day, but it didn't expect freezing rain, blustery winds and a wind chill in the teens, either."

In the Ravens' first season in Baltimore last year, they sold out every home game. This year, only two of the eight games have been sold out, and about 7,000 tickets remain for the opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 31, raising the possibility that the game might not be on local TV.The NFL's blackout rule stipulates that home games can't be shown on local TV unless they are sold out 72 hours before kickoff. That means the Ravens have until next Thursday at 4 p.m. to sell out the opener and get the blackout rule lifted.

Today's rare double bill of Orioles and Ravens home games represents a quandary for the city's sporting faithful: Which game to attend?Although Baltimore has had major-league baseball and football on and off for the better part of 40 years, the two sports have maintained a polite distance. For most of those years, the teams shared a stadium and couldn't play on the same day. And beginning next year, they will share a parking lot, making same-day games a practical impossibility.But today, for perhaps the first and last time, they will go head-to-head with regular-season games, a vivid illustration of the newfound competition for the attention, affection and allegiance of Baltimore's fans.

Maybe it's the fact that this has seemed like the coldest, longest and certainly snowiest winter ever. Or that we haven't had a full, spring-training-to-World-Series season since 1993. Or that even now, the golden glow of Sept. 6, 1995, still has us all cockeyed and tingly about baseball, our prodigal pastime.Whatever the reason, Opening Day arrives in Baltimore today to find us downright upbeat. We're pale, we're restless, we're ready: Baseball '96!Hereabouts, we have particular reason to anticipate the season: Just about every baseball pundit is picking the Orioles to win their division this year.

M&T Bank Stadium will play host in 2014 and 2016 to the Army-Navy football game, a rivalry long associated with Philadelphia that is expected to generate as much as $22 million per game for the Baltimore-area economy. The annual, tradition-rich game will also come for the first time in 2011 to FedEx Field in Landover, home of the Washington Redskins. It was last played in Baltimore in 2007. Baltimore, which has been host four times since the series began in 1890, had particularly sought the 2014 game, which will coincide with the bicentennial celebration of "The Star-Spangled Banner."

A year ago, the holiday season brought little cheer for Maryland as the Terps were roughed up in December, losing four of six nonconference games, a dismal early-winter start that haunted them throughout the season. That makes tonight's meeting with George Washington in the second game of the BB&T Classic doubleheader at Verizon Center more important than at first glance. A loss would reprise the way last December began, which was with a defeat to Virginia Commonwealth in this same local showcase.

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen has lamented all week that he can't tell yet how good the Terrapins are as they prepare for their game at No. 20 Clemson tomorrow. How could Friedgen possibly know? Maryland's four-game nonconference schedule didn't include a truly formidable opponent on the road. The only away game came at Middle Tennessee State, which hadn't beaten anyone from a Bowl Championship Series conference at home until defeating the Terrapins on Sept. 6. The Terps did defeat California, ranked No. 23 at the time, next week at home.

When James Hoey left Double-A Bowie last season on his way to the majors, Baysox pitching coach Scott McGregor thought he wouldn't see an arm like that again for a while. Then along came Bob McCrory. A fourth-round pick in the 2003 draft out of Southern Mississippi, McCrory has thrust himself into the Orioles' prospect picture - with vigor. His fastball touches 98 mph, and he unleashes a two-seamer that ranges from 95 to 98 mph. He also has a good breaking ball and a developing changeup that he used more effectively at the Single-A level.

There was a sense of accomplishment in the Ravens locker room yesterday, but there was also some concern about the offense. The Ravens had 327 yards of total offense in a 19-7 win over the Buffalo Bills, but this wasn't a convincing offensive performance. The Ravens got 144 yards after taking a 16-7 lead with 3:46 left in the third quarter, which was basically the Bills' submission point. It was time to go home. But the Ravens had very little rhythm. The running game was off, and the mid- to long-range passing game was virtually nonexistent except for a few passes to tight end Todd Heap over the middle.

Defensive end Tony Weaver dislocated his right toe during the third quarter of the Ravens' 13-3 win over the New York Jets yesterday. Weaver will have a magnetic resonance imaging test today to determine the extent of the damage. Jarret Johnson took Weaver's place in the lineup and likely will start if Weaver is out for an extended period. "It doesn't change my role," Johnson said. "It just means I'll get a few more snaps. But it's not a good thing when he goes down." The injury marks the second time in as many home games that a Raven has hurt his toe on the stadium turf.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Joe Gibbs will make his official return to the NFL on Sept. 12 when the Washington Redskins play host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at FedEx Field. The complete 2004 NFL regular-season schedule was released yesterday. Washington - despite its 5-11 record - will make four national television appearances. Gibbs was hired to coach the Redskins in January after an 11-year absence. The Redskins' 13 opponents had a combined 100-108 record in 2003. Washington will play six games against playoff teams, two each vs. the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys and one meeting apiece against the Green Bay Packers and the Ravens.

Figuring there's no reason to stop after giving their lineup a different look this season, the Orioles also have changed the starting time of their Friday night home games. Creatures of habit, beware. For the first time in six years, these games will begin at 7:35 p.m. rather than 7:05 - a concession to public demand. "It stemmed from surveys we conducted," said club spokesman Bill Stetka. "We found that fans liked the idea of later starts on Fridays so they would have more time to prepare, getting home from work and getting the kids ready."

PHILADELPHIA - The Montreal Expos left Veterans Stadium on Wednesday evening with their once-promising playoff prospects in pieces and their future, as always, uncertain. This is their lot. Major League Baseball still hasn't made a decision on where they will play their home games next year and remains noncommittal on the prickly issue of permanent relocation. The Expos have played well for much of the season, perhaps better than anyone had expected, but that doesn't lessen the sting of losing six straight games at this pivotal juncture in the crowded National League wild-card race.

P.J. Wakefield grew up a Blast fan, a fixture at home games by the age of 8 - grabbing autographs and a hot dog - with the occasional chance to play on the carpet at Baltimore Arena during halftime. Those times have made these times that much more special for the hometown rookie, a Calvert Hall graduate and UMBC standout who has needed only three games to make a pro impression he hopes will be lasting. "It's something I dreamed about," he said. "I grew up watching the Blast, and I always wanted to play for them.