Pinch

Preparation that meets opportunity.These are the words that dictate Dwight Smith's life.As a constant reminder, Smith keeps this motto in his locker on a crinkled piece of folded Orioles stationery. It is his reminder that luck doesn't exist. Success is achieved only by hard work."In baseball, we play every day; there's no such thing as luck," Smith said. "You better have skill."Smith's philosophies are from the dirt and sweat school of thought. He believes in reaping benefits from a job well done.

Entering Sunday's series finale with Detroit, the Orioles bench had struggled throughout the year in contributing late in games, hitting just 1-for-18 in pinch-hit situations. But against the Tigers, the Orioles got their first pinch hit since May 20 when Danny Valencia knocked in the tying run on a single to right field off Tigers reliever Phil Coke in the seventh inning. “I knew he had good stuff,” Valencia said. “I actually saw both of his pitches. He threw me a fastball first pitch and a slider second pitch.

Orioles designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero picked up his 2,500th career hit with an RBI double Thursday afternoon against the Toronto Blue Jays. His 2,501st may come as a pinch-hitter. Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he would speak to Guerrero on the flight home Thursday about Guerrero's role in the next six games, which will be played in National League parks without the option of using the DH. A final decision has not yet been made, Showalter said. But Guerrero won't be starting Friday against the Washington Nationals and it's likely he won't start most, if any, of those games in the outfield against the Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Loading his earthly belongings into a laundry cart that he rented from Campus Services, Johns Hopkins University freshman Austin Dennis made several trips from his dormitory room to his car on residential Greenway at North Charles Street, opposite the Homewood campus May 15. It was move-out week for Hopkins students as the school year ended, and Dennis, an economics major, was catching a flight that night to his hometown of Miami, Fla., where he...

ATLANTA -- Jim Leyland never hesitated.With a runner on third base, two out, his team leading, 1-0 and left-handed slugger David Justice due up first in the bottom of the ninth inning, Leyland allowed relief pitcher Roger Mason to bat yesterday.Mason had two at-bats in the major leagues this season, a wal and a sacrifice. Why not go for a pinch hitter, a better chance at a second run and then a left-handed reliever?"I just think that he [Mason] has the pitches to face the left-handers, and I feel totally confident he is going to throw strikes," said the Pittsburgh Pirates manager.

Washington -- Feeling the financial pinch? Join Brian and Maggie Nichols, Paul Lurz, Daniel and Jennifer Vibbert, and millions of other Americans.All are victims of a downward trend in spending power that is creating a squeeze on individual and family budgets and hampering the nation's economic recovery.Three forces are at work: a long-term and widespread decline in inflation-adjusted earnings over recent years; a dramatic increase in the number of workers now being forced to settle for lower pay after losing better jobs; and the continuing impact of the recent recession.

He didn't have enough at-bats to qualify, of course, but Curt Motton was batting .360, higher than American League leader Rod Carew, and the Orioles were gleeful about it.Imagine a reserve outfielder and right-handed pinch hitter challenging for the batting title.In the Orioles' kangaroo court in the clubhouse on that August day in 1969, the judge, Frank Robinson, suggested that the players petition manager Earl Weaver to play Motton in the remaining 42 games so that he would have enough at-bats to qualify.

In a game laden with memorable plays, Liberty's Greg Garey yesterday gave himself the memory of a lifetime. Called upon to pinch hit with his team trailing by two and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, the reserve outfielder stepped off the bench and into the headlines, hitting a game-winning three-run double to the gap in right-center to lift the host Lions to a dramatic 7-6 win over North Carroll. It was a most fitting way to end an emotional roller coaster of a battle, which saw the Panthers, down 4-1 at one point, tie it in the seventh on David Doarnberger's two-out, two-run homer, then take a 6-4 lead in the ninth by sending eight batters to the plate.

Matt Wieters keeps writing unbelievable baseball stories with his bat down on the Double-A Bowie farm. Thursday afternoon, the 6-foot-5 catcher walked to home plate as a pinch hitter with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth inning and the Baysox trailing Harrisburg 8-3. Wieters hit the first pitch high over the right-field wall for a grand slam at Prince George's Stadium, bringing the tying run, Lou Montanez, to the plate. Montanez has been the hottest hitter in the Eastern League the past few weeks, taking over the home run lead with 22, RBI lead with 77 and runs scored lead with 75 while being tied for fifth in batting average at .315 through Saturday.

Once resigned to continuing through the playoffs without his regular catcher, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox added Javy Lopez to the roster yesterday for the National League Championship Series. Infielder Wes Helms was removed to create room. Lopez missed the final six games of the regular season and the entire Division Series because of a sprained left ankle suffered in a collision with New York Mets' Robin Ventura on Sept. 30. Paul Bako, claimed off waivers last year, has been starting in Lopez's absence.

At Carroll County Food Sunday, peanut butter has fallen off the list of staples. And short of an infusion of money, the food bank won't be able to continue helping church pantries in the county next year, leaving the agency with just three locations in the sprawling county. At Fish & Loaves Pantry in West Baltimore, the cupboard was bare of canned green beans and other vegetables last week, as the Rev. Andre Samuel struggled to feed a clientele that has doubled in size over the past year.

COLLEGE PARK - In March 2010, the boy's basketball coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Prince George's County found himself suddenly shorthanded in double-overtime of a playoff game against Wise. His frontcourt thinned by injuries and foul trouble, coach Brendan O'Connell turned to a bulky sophomore backup - Shawn Petty - who had played little during the regular season. "I think most sophomores would have just panicked," O'Connell said. But what struck O'Connell is how unfazed Petty seemed.

The Orioles and Yankees lineups for Game 5 of the ALDS are out and - surprise - it's the Yankees' lineup that is making news. Alex Rodriguez, who is slumping terribly, is not in the starting lineup. Eric Chavez, who pinch-hit for Rodriguez on Thursday, is starting at third base against the O's Jason Hammel. Raul Ibanez, who pinch hit for Rodriguez on Wednesday is the starting DH. Girardi said he made the final decision about sitting A-Rod around 1 p.m. today. Derek Jeter, who fouled a ball off his left foot Wednesday and was the DH on Thursday, is back at shortstop Friday.

The Orioles knew that duplicating their regular-season success at Yankee Stadium wouldn't be easy - that beating the Yankeesin October in their home ballpark would take an extra level of resiliency. Now, after a heart-breaking, 12-inning, 3-2 walk-off loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, they will need to reinvent an entirely new brand of Oriole Magic to keep their season alive. The Orioles were just two outs away from taking a commanding 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Baltimore-area "Master Chef" finalist Helene Leeds had her apron confiscated on Tuesday night's episode of Master Chef. In the elimination challenge, the 15 remaining contestants had to prepare a crab dish using either fresh crab meat or canned crab meat. Leeds, a health coach based in Baldwin, was among the fresh-crab bunch. But her Dungeness crab soup with corn bread left the judges panel of Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and chef Graham Elliot cold. I didn't watch the show, but Baltimore Insider Jill Rosen did. " “She muffed up with an ingredient that as a Baltimorean, she should have won with,” Insider said.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But the 6 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in May, its worst performance in two years, and rising unemployment are not just bad news for people's retirement accounts. It means higher taxes for Marylanders — after yet another tax hike this month and a slowing economy. The reason: The state retirement system depends on a 7.75 percent annual return in order to meet its obligations to state workers. If the $37 billion fund does not meet its target, it ultimately leaves taxpayers on the hook to make up the shortfall.

The Orioles knew that duplicating their regular-season success at Yankee Stadium wouldn't be easy - that beating the Yankeesin October in their home ballpark would take an extra level of resiliency. Now, after a heart-breaking, 12-inning, 3-2 walk-off loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, they will need to reinvent an entirely new brand of Oriole Magic to keep their season alive. The Orioles were just two outs away from taking a commanding 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Cardinals: Willie McGee's single in the eighth was the 53rd pinch hit in his career with St. Louis. He is tied for third on the team's career pinch-hit list with Red Schoendienst.

If nothing else, state Comptroller Peter Franchot's objection to Bowie State University's purchase of 32 new Steinway pianos for the $79 million new performing arts center it will open next year shows the state's top financial watchdog has a tin ear for value. Who would spend that kind of money on a state-of-the-art music facility and then fill it with penny-whistle instruments? At a meeting of the state Board of Public Works on Wednesday, Mr. Franchot suggested the $553,264 price tag for the Steinway-designed pianos - a mix of concert, budget and entry-level instruments - was excessive at a time of fiscal austerity.

John Fritze has a must-read front-page story about a new Labor Department requirement that would compel businesses to increase the wages of their foreign, seasonal workers. The new rule could have a crippling effect on the seafood processors that have come to rely on these workers, some say. Here's the article , which has voices from the industry, politicians and advocates for the poor weighing in the new requirement, which is set to begin on Sept. 30. UPDATE: Mikulski takes her concerns directly to White House after Labor Department rebuff.