Play Shortstop

Seeking the chance to play on a pennant contender and willing to settle for a utility role, three-time All-Star Ozzie Guillen signed a minor-league contract with the Orioles yesterday and received an invitation to spring training.Guillen, 34, had spent his entire 13-year career with the Chicago White Sox, making the Opening Day start at shortstop every season and winning a Gold Glove in 1990. He hasn't played another infield position in the majors, but comes to the Orioles with the understanding that he's vying only for a utility job and won't be challenging shortstop Mike Bordick.

At 5 feet 9 inches tall and 160 pounds, Shawn Fisher is not exactly what you would call an imposing presence. And if you ask his Patterson teammates, he's not your rah-rah type of leader.But watch him practice, or settle in to play shortstop or pitch on game day, and the junior becomes a terror."He's always playing with this fire in his eyes," said senior second baseman Joe Mirabile. "The guy just wants to win so bad," Mirabile added. "He's really intense."Those characteristics prompted coach Roger Wrenn to start Fisher as a freshman, something he said "only a handful of guys have done" in his 26 seasons at Patterson's helm.

If Cal Ripken doesn't play shortstop, then the ball doesn't get hit there.Manny Alexander did not make a play at short on Monday night, the first night of Ripken's move to third base. According to Bill Stetka, Orioles assistant director of public relations, that's the first time this season the Orioles played a game without a chance at short.The last time the Orioles played a game like that was last Aug. 17 (121 games ago). Three times this year there have been games with only one chance at short; April 5 at Minnesota, May 7 at Chicago and June 18 against Texas at Camden Yards.

Playing better than expectedRoberto Alomar: Everything he does is for the purpose of winning -- advancing runners, stealing bases in critical situations, making defensive plays.Brady Anderson: He might take a run at 60 homers; think anyone expected that?Rocky Coppinger: Since being promoted from the minors, he has given the rotation a tremendous jolt of aggressiveness.Roger McDowell: Has slumped lately, but for two months, he carried the bullpen. They would be out of the race if it weren't for him.Rafael Palmeiro: Could reach 100 RBIs by early August and finish the year with 40 doubles and 40 homers.

Most kids growing up in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, have the same dream: to play shortstop for a major-league team. Orioles second baseman Manny Alexander was one of them."

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Manager Phil Regan says he can one day envision Manny Alexander playing shortstop for the Orioles, but he'll learn.Alexander is finally turning the double play, and it might prove the turning point of his career.His future with the Orioles is at second base, not shortstop.Cal Ripken turns 35 in August, but Alexander knows better than to expect him to grow old or move to third base."I won't say never," he said, "but I know for right now, I won't be playing shortstop for a long time."

SARASOTA, Fla. -- New Orioles manager Phil Regan said he was looking for more team speed. Well, he may have found it -- from within the organization.Regan acknowledged yesterday that minor-leaguers Curtis Goodwin and Manny Alexander markedly improved their organizational standing with their strong play in winter ball, and will be considered for the Opening Day lineup.Of course, that is if there is an Opening Day lineup. As members of the Orioles' 40-man roster, neither Goodwin nor Alexander will be in training camp unless the 6-month-old labor stalemate is resolved.

Two types of players have backed up the Orioles shortstop who has needed little or no backup the past 14 seasons.Career utility men saw it as a way of making a living. Aspiring shortstops viewed it as a frustrating early-career experience.None of them got to play shortstop very much.From June 30, 1982, to Sept. 14, 1987, no one played there at all. Except Cal Ripken. He played 8,243 consecutive innings, beginning that streak with a month at third base in May 1982 and continuing it for the next five seasons as the exclusive shortstop.

Manny Alexander wants to get to the major leagues and he wants to play shortstop, but in order to reach the first goal, he might have to table the second.The organization plans to use him some at second base for Triple-A Rochester, an idea that does not appeal to Alexander."I don't want to, but if they put me there I have to," Alexander said. "I never played second base in my life. I'm a shortstop."Alexander, who had a skin tumor removed from his leg early in spring training, leaves for extended spring training in Florida on Saturday, where he is scheduled to remain for about two weeks before being assigned to Rochester.

Francis Scott Key baseball coach Bob Caples has a problem.He has his best team in five years at the school and he can't even challenge any of the other Carroll County schools."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Orioles infielder Chris Gomez has played 16 seasons in the big leagues and knows not to get too concerned by a prolonged spring training slump. However, he also is acutely aware of his shaky roster status with the club, making his .115 Grapefruit League average a little tougher to swallow. "That's where it becomes a concern," said Gomez, who went 1-for-2 in the Orioles' 4-0 loss to the New York Mets yesterday and is 3-for-26 this spring. " ... I'm not on the team for sure, so that makes it not very good timing on my part."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Utility player Freddie Bynum has decided to have arthroscopic surgery to repair a slight tear in the meniscus of his right knee, a decision that will likely keep the utility player out until mid-April and further erodes the Orioles' depth, specifically in the infield. Bynum had been a candidate for the starting shortstop job or a utility spot on manager Dave Trembley's bench. "I'm going to get it taken care of so I won't miss that much of the season," said Bynum, who will turn 28 on Saturday and hit .260 with two home runs and 11 RBIs in 70 games last season for the Orioles.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- After leaving manager Dave Trembley's office where he got the disheartening news, Luis Hernandez returned to his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Tropicana Field and quietly sat down. He stayed in the same position for several moments, slumped in his chair, his eyes fixed on the floor, his hands fidgeting with some of his equipment. Hernandez finally looked up as Brian Roberts, a veteran Orioles teammate and his double-play partner of nearly a month, got his attention.

DEAR CAL -- My 12-year-old son is a left-hander and loves to play shortstop or second base, but left-handers at those positions are hard to come across. What can he do to improve as a left-hander at either position? Beth Soper, Gorham, Maine DEAR BETH -- This question has been haunting baseball for years. I think that a left-hander can play all positions, especially at younger age levels. As you progress higher in baseball, it becomes more difficult for a left-handed second baseman to complete some of the more advanced skills, such as turning a double play.

OAKLAND, CALIF. -- Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada said around this time last year that he thought it was time for his consecutive-games streak to end. But entering yesterday, the streak, which has reached 1,054 games, is still alive and showing no signs of stopping. Wanting to give his star shortstop a rest, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo put Tejada into the lineup at designated hitter yesterday. It was the 10th time this season Tejada has been the DH, an idea that the 30-year-old at least appears to be warming up to. "I don't like it, but I've got to do it," said Tejada, who before this season had been the DH twice in his career.

On Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals 21-year-old third baseman Offense -- He's a consistent hitter and he'll have power. Maybe he won't be a 40 home run guy, but he'll have 25 to 30 and hit .300. Defense -- I think he could play shortstop. He's a better defensive shortstop than what they have now [Royce Clayton], but he'll probably grow into third base a little more. He has great hands and feet and a plus-arm, a real good arm. Intangibles -- He's very similar to Cal Ripken Jr. The demeanor is even-keel, the way he approaches the game.

It wasn't long after Calvert Hall put the finishing touches on a 31-1 season that Cardinals baseball coach Lou Eckerl began hearing questions about his best returning player. Specifically, he was asked if senior Joe Velleggia, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound catcher, would be a better fit at first base. "This whole offseason, people who believed Joe was too big to be a catcher would ask me about whether I was going to switch Joe from catcher to first base. Personally, I don't think it matters," Eckerl said.

Cal Ripken wasn't born to play shortstop. Most clubs viewed him as a pitching prospect in high school, and he arrived in the major leagues with third base written all over his budding career. So, how did he end up as the best all-around shortstop of his generation? The short answer is simple enough: Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver wanted to play him regularly there and moved him from third to short in 1982. The long answer is a little more complicated: Ripken didn't exactly fit the traditional mold for one of baseball's most important defensive positions, so he reshaped the position in his own image and created the archetype for a new generation of bigger, stronger shortstops.

JULY 1, 1982: SWITCH TO SHORTSTOP DETROIT -- If the experiment ever goes beyond the preliminary stage, it will create some waves within the Oriole organization, but it is Manager Earl Weaver's belief that the time has come to find out if Cal Ripken can play shortstop. Last night, for the first time this year, Ripken started at shortstop as the Orioles lost for the third straight time. ... "If we wait much longer, then we'll never find out how good he might be as a shortstop," Weaver said.

Quote: "Everybody knows that when you play in Cleveland, you don't hit the ball up the middle. I would love to play shortstop or second base like them. I can't. Nobody can." - Houston's Jeff Bagwell on Cleveland second baseman Roberto Alomar and shortstop Omar Vizquel. It's a fact: Pittsburgh's Josias Manzanillo pitched 3 2/3 innings Tuesday to earn his first win since May 15, 1995. Who's hot: The Rockies' Jeffrey Hammonds, an All-Star for the first time this year, homered and drove in five runs Tuesday.