Infield

Cleaning out my notebook: Erik Bedard had no plans to call his parents Sunday and give them the news that he was named Opening Day starter. Why make a big deal about it? "They'll probably read it on the Internet or something," he said. Jimmy Key was, indeed, the last left-hander to start for the Orioles on Opening Day, in 1997. Hal McRae, now the hitting coach in St. Louis, recently told Buck Martinez that Aubrey Huff will be the best hitter in the league in August and September. The Orioles still intend to use Chris Gomez as a late-inning defensive replacement at first base, which speaks volumes about their defense at first base.

Rodney Tibbs and good friend Marvin Hill had reached the point where they could no longer take hearing about the devilment that is the Preakness infield. Wanting to see if reality would match the hype, the two drove from Calvert County at dawn yesterday, stopping briefly to buy a $150 camera. By midafternoon, Tibbs, 37, turned to Hill, 38, and posed, in essence, a rhetorical question. "Man, is it always like this?" he asked. In a word, yep. As Tibbs and Hill learned, the rules of etiquette, and in some cases laws, are suspended for the 90,000 people who make up the infield.

You could call it a dry run for the Preakness. On Saturday, Pimlico will open the infield for its Maryland Spring Challenge -- four stakes for Maryland-breds, plus the $200,000 Federico Tesio Stakes.For 3-year-olds who could show up in a Triple Crown race, the Tesio features 11 horses, including the early favorite, Monk's Falcon. His Bowie-based trainer, Robert L. Beall, recently called Monk's Falcon, winner of three straight, perhaps the best 3-year-old in the country.For horses born anywhere, the 1 1/8 -mile Tesio is the first race of MATCH (Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships)

It's your first time to the track, and you're wondering: seersucker suit or Love Nut T-shirt?The truth is, either one may be appropriate, depending on where you will be sitting during the race. You see, the Preakness isactually a collection of events, all contained - barely, in some cases - by the confines of Old Hilltop.Preparation, mental and otherwise, is the key.Out on the notorious infield, for example, home of the contraband vodka, the briefer may be the better if the weather is as hot as early forecasts suggest.

What race?The slow descent into depravity began yesterday with the piercing howl of James Brown over a neighborhood loudspeaker at 8: 37 a.m., spread with the giddy drunkenness of bands of college boys at 10: 01 a.m. and culminated at two minutes to noon when a young woman, hoisted on a man's shoulders, peeled off her black bikini top to the deafening roar of hundreds of men.And so the annual bawdy ritual was re-enacted among tens of thousands of spectators squeezed...

I SEE WHERE the governor wants politicians, such as himself, to refrain from campaigning at the Preakness tomorrow so as not to disturb "the family atmosphere" of the day. Has this guy been on the infield? You can connect the word "family" to the phrase "Preakness infield" only if you're talking about those that have been conceptualized there, under the blankets. And sometimesnot under the blankets.We scratch our head in puzzlement, class.What's with our governor?He must worry that Larry Gibson will hang another Eileen Rehrmann sign on the Pimlico cupola.

Gates open: 8:30 a.m.Post time: 11 a.m.Admission:General admission: $12Clubhouse: $15Infield: $25Seating capacity:New Grandstand: 6,415Old Grandstand: 5,926Clubhouse: 1,285Sports Palace: 160Standing room: 22,000 estimateInfield capacity: 60,000Terrace box seats: 3,936Total: 99,722Parking:General (Preakness Way and Rogers Ave.): $20 per car, $40 per busClubhouse preferred (Maple and Belvedere Avenue): $30 per car, $135 per busValet: Extra $10 in Clubhouse lotHayward Avenue Preferred: $80 per car, $250 per busParking capacity:General spaces: 2,100Clubhouse preferred spaces: 1,500Valet spaces: 300Hayward preferred spaces: 320Betting windows: 750 (including temporary windows on Preakness Day)

Every year around this time, Donna Peterson leaves her Santa Monica, Calif., home to board a plane for Baltimore and the Preakness. No, not for the horse race. For the trash.Rising before dawn the day after the running of the second jewel in the Triple Crown, Peterson and her daughter Sandy Barnett head for Pimlico Race Course's infamous infield. There, with more than 100 other volunteers, they begin an annual mother-daughter visit by picking through the leavings of Maryland horse- racing's wildest party to raise money for the preservation of tropical rain forests.

BaseballMarlins: Named Rich Dubee pitching coach, Rusty Kuntz first base coach, Fredi Gonzalez third base coach, Jack Maloof hitting coach, Tony Taylor infield coach and Joe Breeden bench coach and agreed to two-year contracts with all six. Outrighted P Andy Larkin and P Mike Villano to Triple-A Charlotte.Reds: Named Toby Harrah minor-league hitting coordinator.Red Sox: Announced player-development contract with Single-A Augusta.FootballDolphins: Released QB Dan Gonzalez from practice squad.

Royals: Chris Hatcher got his first major-league hit in the fifth when he beat out an infield roller.Pub Date: 9/12/98

On the morning after the Preakness Stakes, Pimlico Race Course typically is home to a long-standing ritual: a huge cleanup effort to pick up thousands of empty beer cans, food waste and discarded clothing left behind by drunken infield revelers. But not this year. Thanks to the new ban on bring-your-own alcohol, this year's Preakness may be remembered - at least by the people who work the event - as the first in memory where they didn't have a foul stew of booze and other detritus to sweep away the day after the festivities.

They threw a hell of an infield party at Pimlico Race Course yesterday. Too bad nobody showed up. Normally, you have, what, 60,000 beered-up fans shoehorned into the infield for the Preakness? Saturday, there was a fraction of that. Saturday, you could have landed planes out there, it was so empty. In one of the great Baltimore protests of all time, the sweltering masses rose up as one and thundered: You won't let us bring beer to your party? Fine, we won't show up at all. See how you like that.

Being a Rosedale native, Stacy Keibler has been to a Preakness or two in her time, so she was thrilled when she was asked to host Infieldfest, which was headlined by ZZ Top. When the actress and Dancing With the Stars contestant arrived at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday morning, however, she wasn't sure how the day was going to turn out. "When I got here around 9:30, I just couldn't believe that this was the infield for Preakness," she said of the...

Beverages of any kind (including alcohol, beer, wine, soft drinks, water or other beverages) cannot be taken into the Infield (including the Top of the Stretch) on Preakness Day. Food and picnic lunches are OK to bring into Pimlico's infield on Preakness Day. You may carry food items and picnic lunches in coolers and backpacks - no thermoses, or bulk or oversized carrying devices are allowed. Coolers larger than 28" long by 15" wide by 17" high will be prohibited in the infield. Cooler restrictions * Grandstand and Clubhouse: Coolers, backpacks and thermoses will not be permitted.

Tim Haus had time to take a phone call Thursday afternoon - one sure sign that this won't be a typical Preakness weekend. The days leading up to the race are typically crazy for Haus and other workers at Wells Discount Liquors on York Road in Anneslie. On race day, they'd usually open at 7 a.m. just so people headed to Pimlico's infield could load cars with beer, beer and more beer. That's over. Track officials have prohibited spectators from bringing in any beverages, including malty, hoppy, alcoholic ones - those that fueled the antics that earned the race the nickname "The Freakness" and quenched Baltimore's annual thirst for debauchery.

Beverages of any kind (including alcohol, beer, wine, soft drinks, water or other beverages) cannot be taken into the Infield (including the Top of the Stretch) on Preakness Day. Food and picnic lunches are OK to bring into Pimlico's infield on Preakness Day. You may carry food items and picnic lunches in coolers and backpacks - no thermoses, or bulk or oversized carrying devices are allowed. Coolers larger than 28" long by 15" wide by 17" high will be prohibited in the infield. Cooler restrictions * Grandstand and Clubhouse: Coolers, backpacks and thermoses will not be permitted.

Despite the building anticipation of a classic horse race with a compelling story line, this year's Preakness comes with a triple whammy of potential party poopers. If the economy were not enough to dampen the festivities - and it is - there's also the bankruptcy of Pimlico Race Course's owner and the resulting questions over the race's future. Then there's that beer thing - a newly adopted ban on bringing your own brew to the infield that many former Preakness fans find as palatable as a warm Natty Boh. Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas said ticket sales are picking up after a slow start, particularly since star filly Rachel Alexandra entered the field of challengers to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.

So far, the Orioles have lived up to their offensive potential, but wasn't this also supposed to be a much-improved defensive team? Weren't we led to expect a little more splendor in the grass? The arrival of free-agent shortstop Cesar Izturis was expected to solidify the defense up the middle, and speedy Felix Pie was supposed to combine with Adam Jones and Nick Markakis to turn the O's outfield into a no-fly zone. The reality has been much different, with Pie struggling to get acclimated to left field while Izturis and several teammates are having trouble adapting to one of the slowest infields in the major leagues.

As she talks to a visitor, Nicole Sherry reaches down, picks up a speck of something alien nestled between the blades of grass and jams it into her pocket, not missing a beat in the conversation. When you're the head groundskeeper at Camden Yards and Monday's Opening Day is going to be nationally televised, it's the little things - as much as the big things - that count. That's why on a recent day more winter than spring, Sherry has her 18-man crew out in force for a little spring training of its own, starting with the 1-ton plastic jelly roll known as the tarpaulin.

1 Another bracket: The NCAA announces its women's basketball tournament field (7 p.m., ESPN), setting up the Maryland-Connecticut showdown. 2 Don't get hurt: Watch the left side of the Orioles' infield (Cesar Izturis and Melvin Mora) play for Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic (8 p.m., ESPN). 3 Dress for success: In the Tavistock Cup (noon, Golf Channel), the big-name pros from Florida's Isleworth and Lake Nona square off. And if you don't wear red or blue (club colors)