Mercedes

As Mercedes-Benz USA moves to consolidate its operations in Baltimore, officials from Harford County and Maryland are scrambling to keep a Mercedes plant in Belcamp that installs equipment on newly imported cars and makes repairs. Mercedes-Benz USA LLC signed a 20-year lease with the port of Baltimore in October for a 104-acre waterfront lot where it would process cars coming into the United States to prepare them for shipment to other parts of the country. The move is part of the company's plan to consolidate its operations as part of a major expansion in the port.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Orioles manager Mike Hargrove made official the obvious yesterday, naming Pat Hentgen his Opening Day starter. Jose Mercedes heard the news and offered a shrug. Curiously positioned as the staff's No. 4 starter, Mercedes made his final Grapefruit League appearance yesterday, surrendering 10 hits and three earned runs in six innings of a 6-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Mercedes, who won't make his regular-season debut until April 6 in Cleveland, reflected on how he could be projected as Opening Day starter during December's winter meetings and wind up as No. 4 by the fourth week in March.

CHICAGO -- It was two years ago that Mercedes-Benz giggled at the Japanese. Who'd want to buy a $35,000 Lexus when they could buy a $50,000 Mercedes?Ha, ha, and tsk, tsk. A Lexus rather than a Mercedes.Oops.Suffice it to say the Japanese walloped the Germans. Mercedes stuck its nose in the air and nearly drowned.For 1994, Mercedes has adopted a new strategy, though some will say that for 1994 Mercedes woke up and smelled the sushi. It brought out an all-new and larger C-Class sedan to replace the 10-year-old 190 and raised the price by only $50, to $29,900, on the C220.

PHILADELPHIA - The next phase of Jose Mercedes' baseball life looked suspiciously like Jason Johnson's last one. Lots of pitches were thrown. Runners littered the bases. A manager stewed in the dugout. And a game was lost. Starting for the first time since April 27 as Johnson's replacement in the rotation, Mercedes couldn't make it beyond the third inning last night in the Orioles' 13-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Veterans Stadium. The Phillies batted around in the first inning, taking advantage of three walks and an error to score five times and assure that Mercedes' stay would be brief.

CHICAGO - Of all the regular craziness that has enveloped the Orioles' 126-game-old season - the missing ace, the absentee cleanup hitter, the subtle message sent by playing the score from Jurassic Park after home games - perhaps none is as bizarre as the Jose Mercedes story. Yesterday, before 20,007 at Comiskey Park, the story became a little more ridiculous, which really means it became even more satisfying to the pitcher once rejected who now won't go away. Mercedes, enjoying a career's second wind at 29, pitched 6 2/3 innings of the Orioles' 8-5 win over the Chicago White Sox, a sure-fire playoff team.

The Orioles finally moved into a pennant race last night, even while 14 games below .500 and looking up at three teams that barely come into focus. It isn't how they intended to get there when breaking camp this spring, but it's all they've got. Their fingerprints could appear all over the American League West, where only two games separate Seattle and Oakland. A division title is at stake. A wild-card berth hangs in the balance. And a club with seemingly little to play for besides evaluating its young talent and the condition of Cal Ripken's back has assumed the role of spoiler.

Late Orioles game: Last night's game between the Orioles and Mariners in Seattle ended too late to be included in this edition. A complete report can be found in later editions or on the Internet at http://www. sunspot.net. SEATTLE - It's axiomatic in baseball that teams able to perform the little things well naturally take care of the larger things. Turn the routine double play, advance the runner, pitch ahead, and don't allow an opponent extra outs. For the Orioles there have been far too many innings like Friday night's first against the Seattle Mariners combined with too many ruinous starts by Jose Merce des. This time they created an early hash of what finally ended as a 10-1 loss to the best team in baseball, a team committed to doing the little things correctly rather than relying on a collection of superstars.

AHRENSDORF, Germany -- The bright young mayor of thi tiny village was only faintly ironic last week when she said Mercedes-Benz had asked local kindergartners what they wanted for Christmas.It was only two days after the automaker announced that the whole area's big gift wouldn't be under the tree. Mercedes had dropped plans to build a billion-mark ($632 million) truck factory that would have employed 4,000 people in Ahrensdorf.In an east German region where unemployment runs 14 percent to 20 percent, Mercedes was putting stones in a lot of Christmas stockings.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Spring training included subtitles for the Orioles this year. One possibility for a renovated pitching staff is "Looking for Jose Mercedes." Finding Mercedes isn't a challenge, but discovering another arm to step from a mostly unremarkable career into a prominent role represents a powerful lure to vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift, manager Mike Hargrove and Dominican scouting supervisor Carlos Bernhardt. The same trio enjoyed Mercedes' ascendance last season from a nonroster invitee to a 14-game winner.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Johnny Oates knew it would be ugly, and he was right.The Orioles manager dreaded what he had to face yesterday. Early in the day, he told pitcher Anthony Telford and outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds they would go to the minor-league complex for reassignment.But neither of those moves was unexpected -- leaving the tough stuff for later, after a 5-2 exhibition win over the St. Louis Cardinals. That's when Oates informed lefthanded reliever Brad Pennington and outfielders Jack Voigt and Mark Leonard they would not be going to Baltimore.