Nomar

Meet Nomar GarciaparraNomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox was the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year. He hit .306 with 30 homers, and he fielded like an acrobat. This season, Nomar was hitting .303 through May 7.As a kid, Nomar's coaches nicknamed him "No Nonsense Nomar" because he was veryserious about baseball. "I always loved the game," says Nomar. "I wanted to learn as much as I could."Nomar is named after his dad, Ramon. Nomar is Ramon spelled backward.Buzz WordsBuzz Beamer's guide to sports slang will help you talk like a pro!

The Orioles signed Jay Payton, who hit .296 last season for the Oakland Athletics with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs, to a two-year, $9.5 million deal in December. Payton, 34, is with his sixth organization after stints with the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and the A's. He'll likely play all three outfield positions for the Orioles. What are your impressions of the team after the first couple of weeks? -- It's been awesome so far. It's a great bunch of guys.

Quote: "I'd like to feel [DH Chili Davis will] be fine. [Surgery] was a no-brainer, so we can have him right for the pennant run." -- Yankees manager Joe Torre.It's a fact: White Sox sluggers Albert Belle and Frank Thomas went a combined 0-for-8 with five strikeouts yesterday.Who's hot: The Red Sox's Nomar Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a third-inning single.Who's not: The Tigers lost their sixth straight.On deck: Next weekend's Yankees-Tigers series, originally set for Detroit, was rescheduled for Yankee Stadium.

NATIONAL Bush asserts U.S. is winning war President Bush asserted yesterday night the United States is winning the war in Iraq but acknowledged setbacks and the doubts of some "that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day." He pleaded with Americans to ignore "defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right." pg 1a House negotiates budget cuts Racing to adjourn for the year, the House was poised to pass a final package of budget cuts late last night and was expected to consider two other key pieces of legislation this morning.

The Orioles signed Jay Payton, who hit .296 last season for the Oakland Athletics with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs, to a two-year, $9.5 million deal in December. Payton, 34, is with his sixth organization after stints with the New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and the A's. He'll likely play all three outfield positions for the Orioles. What are your impressions of the team after the first couple of weeks? -- It's been awesome so far. It's a great bunch of guys.

Soon, Sports Illustrated will send out its swimsuit edition, assaulting the sensibilities of those subscribers who apparently never watch television. The larger part of the equation, however, is the way the issue contributes to the objectification of women. We could go on, but Jena Janovy of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer spells it out much better: "The magazine doesn't adequately cover women's sports to begin with. Aside from having nothing to do with sports, the swimsuit issue is just shameless pandering to male readers.

On July 21, 10 days before the Boston Red Sox traded franchise shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, they played the Orioles at Fenway Park with a defensive lineup that would have been the envy of beer-league softball teams across the nation. Garciaparra didn't play - just as he didn't in 63 of the team's first 101 games - because of an Achilles' tendon injury. So the lineup included the slow-footed Kevin Youkilis at third base, Mark Bellhorn at shortstop, Bill Mueller in a rare start at second base, and Kevin Millar at first.

NEW YORK - So much for the relative quiet of the non-waiver trade deadline. While Randy Johnson stayed in Arizona, the Boston Red Sox sent shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs in a four-team blockbuster deal that reverberated throughout major league baseball. The Red Sox, who trail the New York Yankees by 8 1/2 games in the American League East, acquired shortstop Orlando Cabrera from the Montreal Expos and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz from the Minnesota Twins. The Expos obtained shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the Cubs, and the Twins received minor league pitcher Justin Jones from Chicago.

I GUESS WE'RE supposed to care. I guess we're supposed to believe. I guess we're supposed to feel dedicated, loyal, invested. I guess we're supposed to root. I guess that's what it means to be a fan. Someone e-mail me. Tell me how. Shaq's gone from the Lakers. The most dominant player in the NBA, traded without a shred of care. See you, big guy. It's been real, it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. Pat Riley's probably so giddy, his hair's a mess. It's Lakers South now. It's Shaq Diesel partying in South Beach while Rudy Tomjanovich is left to pick up the pieces in Los Angeles.

NEW ORLEANS - The smoke and mirrors have been cleared away. The scenario Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry has been working on for weeks, one in which his team would trade outfielder Manny Ramirez for Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez, then turn around and trade shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to another club, is on the verge of being realized. The trade might happen by the end of the week and no later than Christmas, according to multiple industry sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

All it took was one two-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays last week for the Orioles to realize their second-half schedule won't be quite as easy as it looked. The Blue Jays entered the All-Star break 34-52, and the Orioles felt pretty good about their 42-43 mark, knowing they still had all 19 games with Toronto remaining. The Orioles arrived in Toronto on Wednesday already smarting from Tuesday's news that shortstop Mike Bordick would be out at least three weeks with a hairline fracture of his right kneecap.

Quote: "I'm definitely willing to do it. But it is a scary thought. I don't want to embarrass myself or the organization out there, so I'm working on getting in the best condition I can." - Yankees slugger Jose Canseco on playing in the outfield if needed. It's a fact: The Texas Rangers had gone 12 consecutive games without scoring in the first inning before getting four runs Tuesday and two last night. Who's hot: Kansas City's Johnny Damon is batting .438 in 40 games since the All-Star break.