La Raza

In a virtual midseason "must-win" game for the Blast, the power play was the team's best friend last night. With Monterrey La Raza short-handed in the closing minutes, Adauto Neto flicked home a shot originally launched from outside by Robbie Aristodemo and carried the Blast to a hard-fought 10-9 win before an announced 5,721 at 1st Mariner Arena. A holding penalty against Ivan Paredes gave the Blast the extra man, and Aristodemo directed the assault on La Raza goalkeeper Jose Eduardo Bontti.

Matchup -- Monterrey La Raza (5-9) at Blast (6-7) Site -- 1st Mariner Arena Time -- 7:35 Radio -- 680 AM Outlook -- Under .500 for the first time all season, the Blast seeks to end a two-game losing streak against the team just behind it in the MISL standings. Coach Danny Kelly thought the team played decently despite 4-0 and 13-12 setbacks at Philadelphia and New Jersey, respectively, but the results dropped the Blast into seventh place. Monterrey, an expansion squad, has split two meetings, winning 16-13 in Mexico after losing 12-9 at 1st Mariner.

The expansion Monterrey La Raza got a rude welcome when it came to Baltimore for the first time last night. After a sluggish start, the Blast peppered the visitors from Mexico with a volley of effective shots and earned a 12-9 Major Indoor Soccer League victory by withstanding the La Raza's late flurry in front of 6,106 at 1st Mariner Arena. The outcome gave the first-place Blast (5-0) a one-game lead over the second-place Chicago Storm, which hosts the New Jersey Ironmen tonight. With the help of superior ball control by his teammates, Blast backup goalie Dave Kern nearly pitched a shutout for the final 3 1/2 quarters, while Denison Cabral (two goals)

Matchup -- Monterrey La Raza (1-2) at Blast (4-0) Site -- 1st Mariner Arena Time -- 8 TV/Radio -- Fox Soccer Channel/680 AM Outlook -- The Blast seeks to continue its season-opening unbeaten streak in its third straight meeting with an expansion team. This is the first televised game on the Fox Soccer Channel's schedule, and it has the Major Indoor Soccer League leader in its fourth early-season home game. Monterrey has proved competitive with a victory over defending league champion Philadelphia and respectable losses to Chicago and California.

Two weeks after the NAACP decried a scarcity of minority faces on network television, a national coalition of Latino civil rights groups decided yesterday to put together a weeklong boycott of the four major TV networks in September to protest the "brownout" of Hispanics in the media.While Hispanics constitute 11 percent of the U.S. population, they comprise less than 2 percent of the characters on prime-time television shows, said Lisa Navarrete, a spokeswoman for La Raza, a national Hispanic advocacy organization.

Gianandrea Gavazzeni, 86, composer, musician and a former artistic director of Milan's La Scala opera house, died yesterday at his home in northern Italy, his family said.Mr. Gavazzeni, who had been ill for several months, began his career as a pianist and composer and wrote copiously for 20 years. He began working with La Scala in 1948 and served as its artistic director from 1966-1968.He conducted all the greats in theaters throughout Italy and wrote guides to the operas of Mozart, Wagner and others.

AN astonishing scene unfolded early this month at the United States' greatest cultural guardian, the Smithsonian Institution.The chiefs of the Smithsonian stood silently. They listened while Hispanic activists accused them of "willful neglect" of "Latinos" and grandiosely demanded everything from the establishment of one or more museums about themselves to a special office for (yet again!) "multicultural initiatives."The articles about the event uniformly described the Smithsonian "keepers" -- men such as Smithsonian Secretary Robert McCormick Adams, as well as others distinguished in their fields -- as looking "glum."

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Orioles officials met yesterday with representatives of the National Council of La Raza, the Hispanic lobbying organization that has called for the removal of scout Fred Uhlman Sr.Club president Larry Lucchino, vice president Calvin Hill and assistant GM Frank Robinson met with La Raza officials Raul Yzaguirre and Lisa Navarrete in an attempt to clear the air after the uproar two weeks ago, when Uhlman made an offensive comment about...