Pinch Hitter

MIAMI - In his 1997 book Chasing the Dream, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre called Ruben Sierra the toughest player he ever had to manage. Good thing those two patched up their differences. Sierra rescued the Yankees when they were down to their final out last night in the ninth inning. He came up as a pinch hitter and had a brilliant eight-pitch at-bat against Florida Marlins closer Ugueth Urbina. It ended with Sierra hitting a two-run triple down the right-field line, which tied the game 3-3 and sent it into extra innings.

CHICAGO - Florida Marlins third baseman Mike Lowell has been the odd man out of this postseason, but he dealt himself back in with one huge swing in last night's 9-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. You remember Lowell. He was the All-Star who hit 32 home runs to carry the Marlins back into playoff contention, then broke his hand and missed the entire month of September. He's the reason that popular Oriole Jeff Conine was traded to the Marlins on Aug. 31. He's the reason that rookie Miguel Cabrera got the chance to step in at third base and produce down the stretch and in the Division Series.

He said it "They wouldn't boo me if they didn't miss me." Jason Giambi, Yankees first baseman, now booed nonstop by A's fans who cheered when he played there until last season On deck Russ Ortiz of the Braves goes for his major league-leading 16th victory today, facing the Dodgers. Who's hot Mike Lowell of the Marlins is batting .450 (9-for-20) with runners in scoring position since the All-Star break. Who's not Jay Bell of the Mets is 1-for-13 as a pinch hitter. Line of the day John Olerud, Mariners 1B AB R H RBI HR 3 3 2 7 2

North Carroll senior pitcher Tara Lowder is much better than her 1-3 record indicates. Of her three losses, Lowder dropped two one-run decisions, and she also earned a no-decision for one effort in which she threw five shutout innings. Finally, yesterday afternoon, she broke through with a complete-game, three-hit shutout effort, as the Panthers knocked off 12th-ranked South Carroll, 2-0, in a Central Maryland Conference and Carroll County League game in Sykesville. Lowder struck out a career-high nine batters, allowed just two walks and pitched her way out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh after South Carroll started the inning with back-to-back singles.

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.

beaten by an offense and a strategy foreign to them. Given new life when rookie pinch hitter Jay Gibbons homered for a tie game in the seventh inning, the Orioles' bullpen and defense crumbled in the eighth when the Atlanta Braves used a two-out single, a stolen base, a throwing error 44,465 at Turner Field. The win was the Braves' first in seven home games against the Orioles since the advent of interleague play in 1997. Shortstop Mark DeRosa's single made a winner of Braves starter Greg Maddux (11-5)

NEW YORK - Poised to win something significant, the Orioles instead suffered their most painful loss of the season last night when pinch hitter Jorge Posada crushed a one-out, eighth-inning grand slam off Mike Trombley to give the New York Yankees a 7-4 victory before 25,137 at Yankee Stadium. This was a loss to test an overachieving team's soul. Ahead 3-0 and 4-3, the Orioles spent 7 1/2 innings doing everything to win a second consecutive game over the three-time defending world champions only to collapse in a performance that left middle reliever Buddy Groom (1-1)

CLEVELAND -- Once insistent that first baseman David Segui could overcome more than two lost weeks of spring training, manager Mike Hargrove acknowledged his cleanup hitter's sluggish start by resting him yesterday against Cleveland Indians left-handed rookie C. C. Sabathia. "Right now I'm awful," Segui said after batting practice. "Nothing feels good." Segui is sitting on a .111 average that includes six strikeouts in 18 at-bats. His search for timing at the plate is compounded by his need for comfort on both sides.

MONTREAL - For a career American League manager, last night's opening of interleague play in a National League city represented an opportunity for Mike Hargrove to handle what is often described as more of a tactical game. The designated hitter evaporates, pitchers must hit to remain in the game and deficient bullpens and benches are harder to hide. But in one respect, Hargrove believes the National League game offers a welcome relief. "You essentially have seven hitters in the lineup you've got to get out," Hargrove said.