Mike Timlin

Facing a potential break point in their off-season renovation, the Orioles have presented free-agent outfielder Brian Jordan with a modified five-year offer worth approximately $40 million, according to sources familiar with talks.The upgrade, representing the most lucrative contract in franchise history, apparently puts the Orioles in a showdown with the Atlanta Braves for the Milford Mill graduate and former Pro Bowl defensive back. While the Orioles have promised Jordan he will inherit center field should he decide upon a return to his hometown, the Braves reportedly have assured him they will meet or beat any offer.

Miller bears responsibilityOrioles owner Peter Angelos recently said that the fans and sportswriters who want Ray Miller fired have a "lynching mentality," and he asked "how the manager was responsible" for the team's last-place standing.I will leave the insults to Mr. Angelos -- I'm sure he is better at them than me -- but I will answer his question.Miller has failed to earn the respect of the players and fans due to many blunders and mishandling of situations and individuals. If the problem is the players, as Angelos contends, then that is one major coincidence.

ATLANTA -- The last pitch was thrown 50 minutes past a cool southern midnight. Otis Nixon dropped a bunt and 51,000 voices shrieked at the audacity. The ball rolled on the grass toward first base, with Nixon close behind, sprinting. From third base, the tying run ran for the plate.The run, the game, the entire World Series -- it all came down to a 26-year-old middle reliever named Mike Timlin, a tall Texan who started the year on the disabled list and was in Triple-A as recently as June.He jumped off the mound and ran for the ball.

The Orioles played in a meaningful September game yesterday at Camden Yards, where the fans hung on every pitch and the managers used their bullpens as if it were the American League Championship Series. And then a large majority of the 48,612 that witnessed the 3-hour, 44-minute game departed the stadium in a celebratory mood. Camden Yards had once again turned into Fenway Park South. Boston shortstop Edgar Renteria dumped a broken-bat two-run single off closer B.J. Ryan into left field to break a ninth-inning tie and beat the Orioles, 4-3, pulling the Red Sox into a first-place tie with the New York Yankees in the AL East.

The Orioles yesterday began their off-season roster shuffling just as they had done last November, signing right-handed, free-agent reliever Mike Trombley to a three-year, $7.75 million deal intended to add flexibility, durability and perhaps another ninth-inning arm to the team's most depressed area.Trombley appeared in 75 games last season, going 2-8 with 24 saves and a 4.33 ERA for the Minnesota Twins. But rather than being imported as a candidate for closer, he was introduced by the club as part of a much-needed bridge to the ninth inning.

After a weekend of virtually nonstop negotiating, joke-telling, obfuscating and trigger-pulling, Orioles vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift took a breather yesterday. He spent the afternoon watching a clubhouse of diminished payroll and diminished name recognition beat the Cleveland Indians behind a rookie starting pitcher and a rookie center fielder. Then he bounced through the post-game clubhouse ecstatic at what he had seen. "The people loved it, I thought," he said, beaming.

Highlights and lowlights from the Orioles' 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. UP -- Brady Anderson: Launched a three-run homer to center field in the second inning. He led the Grapefruit League with 11 walks before yesterday, then drew his 12th. DOWN -- Albert Belle: A fly ball into the gap was turned into a triple as Belle had trouble getting over, then fumbled it on the warning track. DOWN -- Official scorer: Has to be able to recognize an error.

Orioles Manager: Mike Hargrove 1999 record: 78-84, fourth place No. 1: Will a renovated bullpen -- and scrutinized closer Mike Timlin -- respond to more careful handling? No. 2: Mike Mussina, Mike Bordick, Charles Johnson and Cal Ripken are pending free agents. Will majority owner Peter Angelos switch to a proactive negotiating tack? No. 3: Can nonroster arm Pat Rapp emerge as fifth starter and vanquish the ghosts of Shawn Boskie, Rocky Coppinger, Doug Drabek and Scott Kamieniecki?

When Mike Trombley decided to sign with the Orioles in November, it wasn't with the incentive of becoming the team's closer. He planned on being a bridge to the ninth-inning specialist, never suspecting that the bullpen would be under construction a week into the season. A slight tear in Mike Timlin's abdominal muscle forced him to the disabled list April 2 and Trombley into a different role. If there's a slim lead to be protected in the ninth inning, perhaps tonight when the Orioles begin a three-game series in Kansas City, Trombley most likely will be the one standing guard.

Gabe Molina has been here before. In the Camden Yards clubhouse, and as an abrupt call-up from the minors. It has gotten to be old hat for a pitcher who doesn't turn 25 until next month. The Orioles recalled Molina from Triple-A Rochester yesterday as the corresponding move to closer Mike Timlin's placement on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 2, with a torn abdominal muscle. Molina pitched the ninth inning last night and allowed three hits, including a three-run homer to Wendell Magee, and walked one in the Orioles' 14-10 win over the Detroit Tigers.