Pirates

Moves Baseball INDIANS -- Recalled P Aaron Laffey from Triple-A Buffalo. Optioned P Edward Mujica to Buffalo. MARLINS -- Signed P Byung-Hyun Kim. Optioned P Ross Wolf to Triple-A Albuquerque. PADRES -- Placed 2B Marcus Giles on 15-day DL. Recalled IF Craig Stansberry from Triple-A Portland. PIRATES -- Recalled P Romulo Sanchez from Double-A Altoona. Placed P Salomon Torres on 15-day DL. REDS -- Recalled P Matt Belisle from Triple-A Louisville. Optioned P Todd Coffey to Louisville.

Moves BASEBALL DODGERS -- Agreed to terms with C Rene Rivera and IF Terry Tiffee on minor league contracts. PIRATES -- Named Jack Bowen national crosschecker. YANKEES -- Agreed to terms with C Jorge Posada on four-year contract. BASKETBALL NUGGETS -- Signed C Jelani McCoy from Los Angeles (D-League). COLLEGES NEBRASKA -- Named Tom Osborne interim football coach. Pro soccer IGNITION (MISL) -- Agreed to terms with G Tomer Chencinski and F Leo Gibson.

What They're saying Today's Sun Columnists Grads as role models Three graduates from Polytechnic Institute, who ended up in the same graduating class at Howard University Medical School, returned as the three commencement speakers. Maryland baltimoresun.com/kane A wise choice for Orioles When the Orioles make their selection in the amateur draft tomorrow, they should consider picking one of agent Scott Boras' clients. The move could pay benefits down the line. Sports baltimoresun.

Britain to hand over security in south Iraq by mid-December BAGHDAD -- Britain's defense secretary, Des Browne, said yesterday that his government intends to hand over security for southern Iraq by mid-December. While he acknowledged that sectarian power struggles and gangsterism continue in oil-rich Basra province, Browne said he has seen evidence that Iraqi security forces are improving in their response to the infighting and violence. Also yesterday, Iraq's foreign minister said the country was holding indirect talks with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that soon would lead to the release of several Turkish soldiers captured in recent border clashes with Iraq's northern neighbor.

Quote: "When they want me to go, I'm going to try to go. But I'm not looking to be a Tony Womack and steal 70."-- Pirates catcher Jason Kendall, who stole three bases Monday and has seven for the season.It's a fact: The Pirates are three games above .500 for the first time since May 15, 1997.Who's hot: The Mets' John Olerud is 22-for-62 (.355) career against the Reds.Who's not: The Reds' Barry Larkin is 1-for-15 in his past four games.On deck: The Reds plan to activate Denny Neagle (Arundel)

Braves: John Smoltz became the 53rd pitcher in major-league history to get 2,000 career strikeouts.Mets: Roger Cedeno was caught stealing for the fifth time.Phillies: Scott Rolen homered for the second straight day after not hitting one in 63 at-bats. Attendance of 37,180 -- including many Yankees fans -- was the largest since Opening Day and nearly double the Phillies' average of 18,881.Pirates: Jason Kendall extended his hitting streak to 16 games.Tigers: With home run hero Mark McGwire and the Cardinals in town, the team sold 125,371 for a three-game series over the weekend.

Chicago CubsManager: Jim Riggleman1998 record: 90-73, second placeNo. 1: Can Kerry Wood avoid elbow trouble and repeat his phenomenal rookie season?No. 2: The Sammy Sosa Watch will be on from his first at-bat. Can he hit 71?No. 3: Terry Mulholland doesn't know if he'll be in the rotation or pitching in relief. It appears he's needed most in the bullpen.No. 4: The lure of free-agent dollars may help Steve Trachsel break his disturbing pattern of pitching well only in even-numbered years.No.

Quote: "I haven't lost any confidence in my ability to get anybody out. By the fan reaction, you'd think so." -- Cubs closer Rod Beck, who retired one of four batters before being pulled, to loud boos from the crowd of 39,915.It's a fact: The Pirates are 8-3 in the daylight.Who's hot: The Phillies' Rob Ducey is 8-for-15 (.533) in his past six games with two homers and five RBIs.Who's not: In the last three games, Expos starting pitchers gave up 19 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings for an ERA of 14.66.

Quote: "We have a lot of guys hurt, but all we can do is put our best foot forward and try not to sprain it."-- First baseman Kevin Young of the Pirates, who have had 17 players on the DL, including 12 nowIt's a fact: The Mets have not thrown a complete game since September, a span of 127 games -- 13 short of the Angels' major-league record.Who's hot: Pirates starters have a 2.60 ERA the past two times around the rotation.Who's not: The Reds' Sean Casey is in a 4-for-30 slump that has dropped his average from .374 to .354.

When Roland Park's Betsy Gaines scooped up the draw with her team down by a goal and time running out, Notre Dame Prep defender Mandy Borquin knew exactly what Gaines would do."You could see it in her eyes she was going [to goal]," said Borquin. "The only thing you could do was try to keep up with her, but she got what she wanted."Gaines got a jump on the Pirates defense, and her goal with 47 seconds left gave the No. 2-ranked Reds an 11-11 tie with No. 4 Notre Dame Prep in an Association of Independent Schools A Division game yesterday.

N ews item: The Orioles need to show improvement during the second half of the season but have lost five of six games since the All-Star break and were just swept by the New York Yankees. My take: It doesn't look very good right now, but the progress of the rebuilding program cannot be judged until the roster shakes out after the trading deadline next Friday. That's when things will really begin to take shape heading toward 2010. News item: The Orioles have finally ended their 20-year search for a permanent spring training home, bringing their major and minor league operations together in Sarasota, Fla., starting next February.

Smith didn't stop tax bills from rising Every year for the past six years, Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. has submitted a budget that spends more than the previous year ("Balto. County avoids budget blues," April 15). And every year, Mr. Smith claims, and the media dutifully report, that his budget holds the line on property taxes. What Mr. Smith refuses to acknowledge and the media often fail to report is that although the property tax rate has remained the same, the amount of tax that many homeowners pay has increased 4 percent a year each year Mr. Smith has been in office.

The Somali pirates have come roaring back into the media spotlight. Indeed, after a lull in early 2009, they have returned with a vengeance, capturing at least six ships in less than a week. The Maersk Alabam a incident has shocked many and prompted insistent demands to the Navy to solve this crisis, and solve it quickly. But the problem is not that simple. Naval operations, no matter how adroitly performed, cannot eradicate Somali piracy. Why? Historical case studies reveal that resilient piracy is a complex activity that relies on five essential factors beyond the realm of naval capability.

WASHINGTON -Before ending a pirate standoff with three fatally precise shots, Navy SEAL snipers had passed on multiple opportunities to fire. They had moved into position after the White House expanded the authority it had given the world's most powerful navy against a rag-tag foe holding an American sea captain hostage on a lifeboat. They kept their scopes trained on their Somali targets as prospects for a peaceful resolution seemed to shrivel. Most of all, they waited as a series of seemingly insignificant moves - from extending the pirates a rope for a tow to bringing an injured brigand onboard - improved the sharpshooters' odds of success.

WASHINGTON -After days of tense negotiations, the Navy rescue of an American sea captain came in a matter of seconds Sunday when a few sniper bullets killed three Somali pirates who authorities feared were about to kill him. The commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer Bainbridge had already received approval from President Barack Obama to attempt a rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips by force if the seafarer's life appeared to be in imminent danger after five days of captivity off the coast of Somalia.

Adrift with his captors in sight of U.S. warships, the American sea captain being held for ransom by Somali pirates briefly escaped their lifeboat by jumping overboard, a U.S. official said Friday, but was recaptured and brought back. The U.S. military said Richard Phillips, who was taken by the pirates from the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on Wednesday, appeared unharmed after the escape attempt. The military, which has been maintaining real-time video surveillance via an unmanned drone overhead, observed him moving around on the lifeboat after he was recaptured.

At least 14 of the 20 officers and crew aboard the U.S. container ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean Wednesday attended union-run maritime schools in Maryland, and many received classroom training on how to handle a pirate or terrorist attack, school and union officials said Thursday. Nine of the twelve members of the Seafarers International Union who were aboard the Maersk Alabama attended the union's maritime school in the St. Mary's County town of Piney Point, the school's education director said.

As a freed U.S.-flagged freighter cruised out of Somalia's crime-infested waters Thursday, a tense standoff continued for a second day between a U.S. warship and a tiny lifeboat, adrift with four stranded pirates and the American captain they were holding hostage. A day after the American crew managed to turn the tables on pirates who had seized their cargo ship, the Danish-owned Maersk Alabama headed for safer waters with 18 armed guards from the U.S. destroyer Bainbridge on board. Reports suggested that the cargo ship, which is carrying food and other humanitarian aid for African nations, including food destined for Catholic Relief Services programs in Rwanda, was headed to its original destination of Mombasa, Kenya.

On a day he described as "not too hot, calm seas," Navy Cmdr. Stephen F. Murphy surveyed the sparkling water ahead of his ship, the guided missile destroyer USS Mahan, as it embarked on aggressive anti-pirate operations launched this week by the U.S. Navy. Murphy, a Catonsville native and Naval Academy graduate, is patrolling the Gulf of Aden, a million square miles of water squeezed between the coast of Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula. Each year 26,000 merchant ships and oil tankers traverse this vital sea lane of global commerce.

BERLIN - Somali pirates firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades hijacked yet another ship in the Gulf of Aden yesterday, this time seizing a chemical tanker. A German military helicopter from a nearby warship arrived in time to pull three security guards out of the water, but not soon enough to prevent the hijacking of the ship and the rest of the crew. The latest attack, in which even trained security personnel aboard could not deter the pirates, demonstrated the urgent need for coordinated action by governments from Cairo to Berlin.