Ivan Rodriguez

Ivan Rodriguez The Tigers catcher went 5-for-5 with a homer, three doubles and five RBIs against the Royals. Mark Grudzielanek The Royals second baseman has struck out in five of his first seven at-bats and is 0-for-8.

St. Louis-- --When you're a team of destiny, the ground does not come apart under your feet, as it did under Detroit Tigers outfielder Curtis Granderson at a pivotal moment of last night's pivotal Game 4 of the 102nd World Series. When you're a team of destiny, the guy throwing 100 mph strikes everybody out at the end. The little leadoff hitter on the other team doesn't turn your velocity against you and drive the ball over the center fielder's head to bring home the winning run in the eighth inning.

Red Sox: Mo Vaughn singled leading off the eighth for his 1,000th career hit. Boston entered with a .320 team average at Fenway Park.Rangers: When he was with Boston, Aaron Sele was 38-33 with a 4.41 ERA in 108 starts. Entering the game, Texas had four of the league's top nine hitters (Ivan Rodriguez, Tom Goodwin, Mark McLemore and Juan Gonzalez).Pub Date: 5/02/98

MILWAUKEE -- Rookie Zach Miner (3-1) pitched his first complete game and Magglio Ordonez hit two of Detroit's four home runs. Craig Monroe and Ivan Rodriguez also homered for the Tigers, who won their sixth straight. Detroit is a major league-best 28-10 on the road, five more wins than any other team. Miner retired 20 in a row after a single in the second before giving up a double in the ninth.

MILWAUKEE -- Rookie Zach Miner (3-1) pitched his first complete game and Magglio Ordonez hit two of Detroit's four home runs. Craig Monroe and Ivan Rodriguez also homered for the Tigers, who won their sixth straight. Detroit is a major league-best 28-10 on the road, five more wins than any other team. Miner retired 20 in a row after a single in the second before giving up a double in the ninth.

Who's hot Jeff Kent set an Astros record as he extended his career-best hitting streak to 25 games. Who's not The White Sox have dropped six of their past eight games. Line of the day Ricky Ledee, Phillies DH AB R H RBI HR 5 3 3 5 2 On deck Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals looks to go 8-1 as he faces the Rangers tonight. He said it "That was really nice. I was glad to get to see everyone." Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers catcher, on chatting with his former teammates before Detroit faced Florida

The leaders by position in voting for the 1995 American League All-Star team:Pos. Player ........ Team ....... Votes1B Will Clark ...... Texas ...... 7,3132B Roberto Alomar .. Toronto .... 7,9743B Wade Boggs ...... New York ... 8,698SS Cal Ripken ...... Orioles ... 12,155OF Ken Griffey ..... Seattle ... 14,317.. Kirby Puckett ... Minnesota .. 8,698.. Albert Belle .... Cleveland .. 5,893C Ivan Rodriguez ... Texas ...... 6,774Note: Fans can vote on-line for All-Star starters through June 26 on ABC Online, which is available on America Online.

Ivan Rodriguez The Tigers catcher went 5-for-5 with a homer, three doubles and five RBIs against the Royals. Mark Grudzielanek The Royals second baseman has struck out in five of his first seven at-bats and is 0-for-8.

Who's hot Ivan Rodriguez of the Tigers is hitting .406 in his past 43 games. Who's not The Angels lost for the fifth time in six games and are a season-high six games behind first-place Texas. Line of the day Mark Buehrle, White Sox P IP H R BB SO 9 2 0 0 4 He said it "It's not disappointing, but it's something that surprised me. It was like, `Wow. What have I done?' " Sammy Sosa, Cubs slugger, on hearing boos at Wrigley Field On deck Jason Schmidt of the Giants looks for his 13th win as he faces the Padres in a key NL West matchup.

Javy Lopez intended to fly from San Diego to his Georgia home yesterday until the Orioles changed his travel plans. This was one instance where Lopez didn't mind being rerouted. Expected to arrive in Baltimore last night, Lopez is scheduled to take his team and insurance physicals early today. Once he passes them, he'll officially become part of the organization and another jackpot for club executives Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan. "I guess I can say we're pretty confident that things are going in the right direction," Flanagan said.

NEW ORLEANS - The Orioles are threatening to stage a major coup at the winter meetings, and if the rest of baseball was disbelieving, that changed yesterday, when they signed free-agent shortstop Miguel Tejada to a six-year, $72 million contract. Could Vladimir Guerrero and one of two free-agent catchers - Javy Lopez or Ivan Rodriguez - come next? The Orioles certainly weren't dismissing that possibility yesterday, and suddenly everyone else had to take them seriously. "We felt like this was a great first step for us," said Orioles executive vice president Jim Beattie.

AFTER A 71-91 SEASON of wondering what 2002 American League MVP shortstop Miguel Tejada or big-hitting, soft-spoken Vladimir Guerrero would look like in an Orioles uniform, the autumn rumor mill has churned out new visuals for local baseball fans. To make sense of the speculation, one only has to load up on the requisite amount of psychedelic pharmaceuticals: Manny Ramirez batting cleanup and aiming over the right-field wall at Boog's barbecue pit? Alex Rodriguez in the three hole, anchoring an Orioles team seeking to take aim at Derek "He's Not a $200 Million Shortstop" Jeter and the Yankees?