Leadoff Hitter

Last night we posted a story that the Orioles are looking, in Dan Duquette's words, for a "set-up hitter" in the next few weeks. Duquette said it will be difficult to get a “bona fide” leadoff hitter, but he wants someone at the top or near the top of the lineup that has a high on-base percentage. Why? Well, Duquette's a big believer in on-base percentage, and the Orioles' .302 mark as a team is 26th of 30 clubs in the majors. Even more startling, the team's leadoff hitters this season have a collective .264 on-base percentage.

Less than 24 hours after losing Nick Markakis for the regular season with a broken thumb, the Orioles were over the shock and any accompanying woe-is-me vibe that might have rippled through their clubhouse. And the guy in the spotlight was definitely Nate McLouth. What a spot McLouth finds himself in. He's been with the Orioles a little over a month since being called up from Triple A- Norfolk. And now the speedy 30-year-old outfielder will be asked to bat leadoff in a pennant race and help fill the shoes of the player who's been the Orioles' chief offensive igniter the past two months.

NEW YORK - Orioles manager Mike Hargrove revamped the top of his batting order last night, bumping leadoff hitter Jerry Hairston to the ninth spot and keeping No. 2 hitter Chris Singleton on the bench. Hargrove kept hot-hitting Melvin Mora atop the lineup, moving him to center field in place of Singleton, and moved Mike Bordick from ninth in the order to second. The changes came as Hairston returned to the lineup after missing five games with a strained left groin. He entered last night's game batting .156.

Last night we posted a story that the Orioles are looking, in Dan Duquette's words, for a "set-up hitter" in the next few weeks. Duquette said it will be difficult to get a “bona fide” leadoff hitter, but he wants someone at the top or near the top of the lineup that has a high on-base percentage. Why? Well, Duquette's a big believer in on-base percentage, and the Orioles' .302 mark as a team is 26th of 30 clubs in the majors. Even more startling, the team's leadoff hitters this season have a collective .264 on-base percentage.

The urge to play tugs hard at Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts. So does the understanding that he must be patient, no matter how difficult the task. Roberts said it's doubtful that he'll come off the disabled list today, when he's eligible to rejoin the 25-man roster. He projected tomorrow as a possibility, or maybe Wednesday. "Friday, at the latest, I would think," he said. "I think tomorrow is kind of pushing it." Whatever the outcome, Roberts should be on the field this week.

On deck The Cubs play the Brewers today, the first of 18 times in their next 46 games, 39 per cent of those games. He said it "I never thought anybody was going to break it. That's unreal. Barry's a cleanup hitter. [Rickey] Henderson was a leadoff hitter who's supposed to walk." Orlando Cepeda, Giants Hall of Famer, on Barry Bonds' walk record

After the best game of his career, Brady Anderson sat in the Orioles' clubhouse yesterday wearing a black T-shirt with a cartoon picture of Albert Einstein above the words "It's All Relative.""I put it on because I knew you were coming," he said to the circle of reporters gathered around him.Someone asked if he was happy to hit a couple of homers.Tough question."The way I was going, I just wanted one single," said Anderson, who popped out four straight times in a game over the weekend.Someone asked if he had known he could have tied a major-league record with a fifth extra-base hit in his last at-bat.

The barely audible groans you might have heard Sunday night were predictable. They came from those who will again preoccupy themselves with the fear that Brady Anderson will pay more attention to his home-run total than his on-base percentage.It has become such a source of concern for some that not even a three-game sweep of the fading Toronto Blue Jays, including a two-homer game by Anderson, can take precedence. The picture of a leadoff hitter swinging for power with a high ratio of strikeouts is simply too hazy for the idealists to frame.

Once he reached the big leagues, it took Brady Anderson four years to convince people he wasn't the slap-hitting type. Now, three years later, he finds himself on the other side of the debate.Thanks to Curtis Goodwin's spectacular debut, Phil Regan finds himself in an unusual quandary for an Orioles manager. He has two legitimate leadoff hitters.For years, ever since Al Bumbry left after the 1984 season, the Orioles seemed to be in a constant search for someone to hit in the No. 1 spot. That was a primary reason the Orioles insisted Anderson be included in the Mike Boddicker trade with the Red Sox in 1988.

Quote: "I don't know what the deal is in the first innings. It'd be nice to not walk the leadoff hitter." -- Mike Remlinger of the Reds, who has walked the leadoff man in each of his five starts.It's a fact: Diamondbacks fan Mark Lombardi, ejected from the team's first victory after throwing a Giants home run back onto the field, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.Who's hot: The Cardinals have 23 home runs in 16 games and have scored 108 runs.Who's not: The Phillies' Scott Rolen, who was 0-for-5, is 4-for-32 on the road.

As the Orioles open their Grapefruit League schedule Monday with a day-night, split-squad doubleheader, expect manager Buck Showalter to examine all of his potential leadoff hitter options with Brian Roberts' health still uncertain. "We'll move some things around, look at some different scenarios," Showalter said Sunday. "You'll see a number of guys there. I want to take a look at how it feels and how it looks. If we're comparing all of them to Brian Roberts, they're all going to finish second.

Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts received his second epidural shot for the herniated disk in his back Monday and likely will be sidelined most of April. Before Monday's game, the Orioles placed their leadoff hitter on the 15-day disabled list with a strained abdominal, which he injured while sliding into second base during a steal in the first inning of Friday's home opener. When Roberts hit the corner of second base on the steal, it jarred his ailing back, which had kept him out of all but six games during spring training.

TORONTO - -Precautionary X-rays taken on Brian Roberts' left leg came out negative, though the Orioles' leadoff man could still miss a few games with a bruised shin. Roberts was removed from the Orioles' 3-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday in the top of the third, two innings after fouling a ball off his left shin in the first at-bat of the game. "I got this one pretty good," Roberts said. "Usually, they don't swell up on me, but this one did. I didn't feel like I was going to be helping that much."

Brandon Raab, who graduated from C. Milton Wright on Thursday, will certainly be missed by the baseball team. He became the leadoff hitter midway through the season and helped spark the offense, as the Mustangs made a run to the Class 4A state finals before falling, 7-6, to Sherwood in eight innings. The third baseman also played football for four years. He said he may try to walk on to the baseball team at Towson, where he plans to major in biology. Raab always has had an interest in the medical field, and recently became a member of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Department, where he helped EMTs and went on ambulance rides.

The urge to play tugs hard at Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts. So does the understanding that he must be patient, no matter how difficult the task. Roberts said it's doubtful that he'll come off the disabled list today, when he's eligible to rejoin the 25-man roster. He projected tomorrow as a possibility, or maybe Wednesday. "Friday, at the latest, I would think," he said. "I think tomorrow is kind of pushing it." Whatever the outcome, Roberts should be on the field this week.

WASHINGTON - It was a wild night at RFK Stadium. And not just the game. Livan Hernandez, too. Washington's starter, the most reliable pitcher in the Nationals' rotation, threw 104 pitches, and 100 of them didn't hit anybody. But the four that did allowed Hernandez to set a club record - and match a modern major league mark - for most hit batters by a single pitcher in a game. The errant pitches contributed to a 3-2 loss to the last- place Colorado Rockies, who took two of three games from the Nationals.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Brady Anderson said yesterday that he could accept staying in left field if rookie Curtis Goodwin took over in center. But he said he probably would be less understanding if Goodwin replaced him as the team's leadoff hitter."

FORT MYERS, Fla. - There are moments when Orioles second baseman Jerry Hairston looks every bit like a leadoff hitter. He takes pitches, works deep into the count, finds a way to get on base and ignite a rally. There also are moments, defined by the big swing, the stumble out of the box, the manager's bowed head, when Hairston looks more like an aspiring cleanup hitter. The Orioles saw both sides of Hairston earlier this week in a game against the Minnesota Twins. He walked on five pitches in the first inning, flinging his bat and hustling up the line, and later was called out on strikes with the count full.

The addition of ninth-round draft choice Paco Figueroa as a leadoff man and improved pitching and defense have the Delmarva Shorebirds off to a 7-3 start in the second half of the Single-A South Atlantic League. "We have a much better ballclub than we had in the first half," said manager Gary Kendall, whose Shorebirds were 30-40 in the first half of the league's split schedule of 140 games. The Shorebirds were tied for first in the Northern Division with the Lakewood (N.J.) BlueClaws and the Hickory (N.C.

Brian Roberts may be getting all the national attention as this season's breakout player, but another leadoff hitter in his first full year as a starter is making nearly as much noise with his bat. Problem is he's in Milwaukee, where there never is much attention. Brady Clark, however, may be a better story than Roberts - if only because of Clark's impossible-dream background. "To tell you the truth, I'm a little surprised that he hasn't received more notoriety," said Milwaukee's assistant general manager Gord Ash. Clark, 32, is among the National Leagues leaders in hits, average, on-base percentage and runs scored.