Oakland Athletics

As the 1976 baseball season began, it was not entirely apparent where the Orioles were headed as a franchise. Few remnants remained from their 1969-1971 juggernaut. Frank Robinson, Boog Powell and Dave McNally had departed. Mike Cuellar no longer had his best stuff. Brooks Robinson was on his last legs. Only Jim Palmer still chugged along. The Orioles had reloaded enough to remain a winner, but they stood a tier below the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics - a threat for sure but no longer the odds-on favorite.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Melvin Mora watched Frank Thomas' two-run homer off Todd Williams (2-4) clang into the left-field seats at McAfee Coliseum. He stood motionless for a moment and then stomped around the left side of the infield with his back to home plate. It was Mora's homer, RBI double and clutch defensive play in the fifth inning that helped the Orioles take a lead over the Oakland Athletics into the seventh inning. It was his two-out throwing error that contributed to the lead going away.

The fan's intuition says few scenarios could be more tense than the ninth inning of a tight ballgame. That's when you want the known commodity - that grizzled chap with the Fu Manchu - striding out of your club's bullpen to the peals of a gnashing rock anthem. But when the Orioles face that crucible this season, they'll turn to fresh-faced, second-year man Chris Ray to extricate them. It's a plan that isn't as loony as one might think, according to baseball history. Plenty of rookies and second-year pitchers have thrived as closers.

A Howard County schools sports committee recommended sanctions yesterday against five coaches at Oakland Mills High School for allowing academically ineligible students to compete last fall, but that no further action be taken against the teams. "The school students have suffered enough for the adult mistakes," said Don Disney, athletics coordinator for Howard schools. "The community is hurting, and everyone is sensitive to that." The varsity football team had to forfeit its season, as did the junior varsity football, volleyball, field hockey and boys cross country teams, after it was announced that 10 athletes with grades below county requirements were allowed to participate.

The call from the Vladimir Guerrero camp came after midnight for Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan, and it confirmed the news that had been leaking slowly throughout the baseball industry all Saturday evening. Guerrero was turning his back on the Orioles' six-year, $78 million offer to sign with another team, agent Fernando Cuza said. By then, Flanagan had already heard. With a stealth maneuver, the Anaheim Angels had reached agreement with Guerrero on a contract believed to be worth $70 million over five years.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said leaving closer Eddie Guardado in the game during a hellacious ninth inning yesterday "was the hardest decision I've had all year." After clinging to a 2-1 lead against the Oakland Athletics for most of the game, the Twins scored three runs off A's closer Billy Koch in the ninth, and they had a hard time containing their excitement. In came Guardado, who had converted 46 of 52 save opportunities this year, including Minnesota's Game 1 victory over Oakland.

MINNEAPOLIS - Oakland Athletics manager Art Howe shared a belly laugh with pitching coach Rick Peterson during the second inning last night, wondering how much zanier Game 3 of this American League Division Series could get. Never mind that the A's would use four home runs to pound out a 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins before a frenzied, sellout crowd of 55,932 at the Metrodome. Never mind that Oakland would take a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five series, with a chance to seal it today in Game 4. Howe and Peterson had already seen the first inside-the-park home run in A's postseason history.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Barry Zito was spooked. In his first two career starts at the Metrodome, Zito went 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA. But he'll head into tomorrow's start for the Oakland Athletics, in Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins, feeling more at ease. On Sept. 8, Zito took the mound at the Metrodome and blanked the Twins for seven innings on three hits, as Oakland claimed a 6-0 victory. "When you have a bad outing in a certain place, until you get over it, you have ghosts," Zito said.

With an unprecedented seven choices among the top 50, the Orioles gleaned a mixture of talent from the 1999 summer draft of amateur baseball players yesterday.They selected four collegians and three high school players -- four pitchers, two outfielders and a shortstop -- and expressed satisfaction that they had gotten the ones they desired.Of the seven, only the draft's 13th pick and the Orioles' first, Clemson right-hander Mike Paradis, appears on the verge of supplying help to the major-league club in the near future.

Quote: "I was in Vietnam. A big payroll doesn't always win." -- Sandy Alderson, president of the Oakland Athletics, after the A's recently won two of three from the Orioles.It's a fact: Royals RHP Tim Belcher has owned Seattle's Ken Griffey. In 27 career at-bats against Belcher, Griffey has two hits.Who's hot: With their 4-1 win over Detroit yesterday, the Rangers set a team record with their 18th win in April.Who's not: Twins DH Paul Molitor went 0-for-4 in Minnesota's 7-2 loss to Texas Tuesday, leaving him 5-for-39 (.128)