League Championship Series

If you've been paying attention for the past 10 years or so, you've probably noticed that Baltimore is no longer the center of the baseball universe. Maybe it never was, but there was a time when the Orioles were one of the sport's cornerstone franchises, and during a big chunk of that heady period the general manager of the team was a nice man named Hank Peters. Peters, in fact, was the GM for the final 10 of the Orioles' amazing string of 18 straight winning seasons (1968-1985), somehow keeping the player development component of Oriole Way alive nearly a decade into the free-agent era. This little testimonial is not intended to strike some contrast between the good old days and the frustrating new ones, but to serve as pretext to an uplifting little story about the way a good organizational philosophy is handed down from generation to generation, though not necessarily in the same organization.

News item: Track star Marion Jones has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the BALCO steroid scandal and admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs before winning three gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. My take: My gosh. Am I the only one who got this perfectly cut, 240-pound body without the use of some prohibited substance? News item: Orioles vice president of baseball operations Jim Duquette resigned Friday. His departure is widely viewed as the first step in a major front office realignment.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo acknowledged yesterday that it remains a possibility that injured catcher Ramon Hernandez could go on the disabled list. The initial hope was that Hernandez, who has missed the first three games with a strained left oblique muscle, would be able to play in tomorrow's series opener in New York. However, the catcher has still yet to take batting practice, making him doubtful for at least part - if not all - of the Orioles' three-game series with the New York Yankees.

An American League general manager has a theory. If the Minnesota Twins had been the American League wild-card representative, they'd be World Series favorites. Instead, the Twins captured the American League Central Division on the final day of the season and secured home-field advantage in the first round. And now the same GM predicts the Twins won't make it to the World Series. Confused? Here's the reasoning: As the wild card, the Twins would have had to play the New York Yankees in the first round.

A scout's take On Frank Thomas, Athletics' 38-year-old designated hitter COMEBACK -- He just seems to have his old swing back. ... He was given a second chance. When you look at what happened there in Chicago, I think there was just some hard feelings between the front office and ownership and him and the way it ended. A lot of times a player like that will have a comeback year. MIND-SET -- I think he has a refreshed attitude that he is playing again. There was a period of time there from about November to January that I'm not sure he thought he was going to be playing again.

Hours at a time, baseball writers stand in clubhouses with notebooks and tape recorders waiting for players to offer pearls of wisdom. Most times, we get nothing. Cliches. Brief answers. Nasty stares if the questions are particularly stupid or the one being interviewed is particularly surly. Occasionally, though, ballplayers and managers fill it up with introspective stuff, funny stuff, bizarre stuff. The reigning king, of course, is Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who already has a book of quotes published.

Exhibition scores Yesterday's results Philadelphia 5, Boston 0 Rochester (AAA) 15, Minnesota 3 L.A. (AL) 4, L.A. (NL) 2 Oakland 5, San Francisco 3 This date in history 1923 -- Expelled "Black Sox" players Happy Felsch and Swede Risberg sued their former club for back salary and $400,000 in damages. They were among eight members of the Chicago White Sox team charged with fixing the 1919 World Series. 1966 -- The New York Mets won the right to sign Southern California pitcher Tom Seaver when commissioner William Eckert pulled their name out of a hat. Eckert had voided Seaver's contract with Atlanta, when the Braves signed him during his college season.

HOUSTON -- In the extra innings again, you find a rhythm. Each time the pitcher starts his windup, your breath stops at the bottom of your throat, waiting for the light to change colors. On the mound, Bobby Jenks, the White Sox rookie reliever, rolled the ball around in his glove, summoning the world and putting every little bit of it into each pitch. Batter at the plate. Pitcher on the mound. Runner on base. Nothing but pressure connecting them. Everyone in Houston standing - in the stadium, in their living rooms, in the neighborhood watering hole.

HOUSTON -- For all the unexpected magic of Sunday night's second game of the World Series, from a botched umpire call to an uplifting grand slam to a ninth-inning blown save to a dramatic, game-ending homer, one thing shouldn't be lost. The Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox have been in these how-will-we-respond situations previously this postseason. It's not a case of textbook deja vu, but the Astros already have had to regroup from a crushing ninth-inning homer served up by normally reliable closer Brad Lidge this postseason.

CHICAGO -- The 101st World Series has already become a favorite of the baseball literati, but I'm not buying it just yet. Here's the conventional wisdom: The showdown between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros is destined to be a classic because of the strong pitching of both teams and - to a lesser degree - because the Fall Classic has returned to Chicago for the first time in 46 years. This, pine the baseball purists, is the way baseball is supposed to be played (except, of course, for the noxious designated hitter rule)