Randy Milligan

Now that it's over, Roland Hemond considers the National League expansion draft a positive experience.Not because of the $190 million that was dumped into thbaseball economy ($95 million from each of the two new teams). And not just because the Orioles survived with out heavy losses -- under the circumstances that was expected.With the flexibility gained by Glenn Davis' waiving his no-tradclause and the advance knowledge that neither of the new clubs was inclined to take veteran players, the Orioles didn't figure to sustain a serious casualty.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Contrary, that's the word that best describes Phil Bradley. When his team is winning, he questions it. When his situation is settled, he unsettles it.Bradley, 33, isn't a harmful presence, he's just different. But the Montreal Expos are his sixth team in six seasons, if you count the Yomiuri Giants, his employer last year in Japan."I'm one of those guys that people aren't sure they want around," Bradley says. "But after I'm gone, they say, 'He wasn't such a bad guy.' I always hear, 'Wish you were still here.

Before we get to the important business of revitalizing the Orioles -- one free-agent signing and one trade could do it -- we must first discuss prepositions.Yes, prepositions. What would we do without them? We'd have to say: What would we do them?The reason I'm bringing this up is because of The Sign. You know which sign. The one that goes out in front of the new stadium that was first set to read this way, sans preposition:5/8Oriole ParkCamden YardsThis is what we call a visual. Note the giant Oriole Park.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Baltimore Orioles prospect David Segui might have to wait a few days to make his Grapefruit League outfield debut. He suffered a hamstring strain during workouts yesterday and will reduce his workout schedule until the inflammation subsides."

Well, Johnny Oates finally succumbed last night. All this talk-show heat and second-guessing finally got to the Orioles' manager. He switched his lineup to try to get Randy Milligan out of this gosh-darn slump everyone is talking about.Just kidding, people, just kidding. Hey, lighten up already. We are not talking about anything important here, like family values.We are talking about that vaguest, most inconclusive of baseball creatures: the lineup change, to which either nothing or everything can be attributed, depending on your point of view, sort of.Starting to get the point?

Lady Luck finally joined Jose Mesa last night after jilting Randy Johnson.Mesa, a victim of 2-0 and 1-0 defeats, pitched through constant ** trouble and Johnson's no-hit bid for a 2-1 Orioles victory at Memorial Stadium that broke Baltimore's seven-game losing streak to the Mariners.Talk about the breaks starting to even out.Johnson, who pitched the first no-hitter in Mariners history June 2, was on his game through 5 2/3 hitless innings while protecting a 1-0 lead.But his wildness, a two-hopper by Bob Melvin that turned into a single, the Orioles' first hit of the game and an appeal that denied a tying run to the Mariners combined to change the complexion of the game.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- The Baltimore Orioles can only hope that the defending division champion Boston Red Sox get this out of their system before the regular season starts.The Red Sox are averaging nearly eight runs in Grapefruit League games, thanks in part to their 16-7 victory over the Orioles yesterday at Chain O' Lakes Park.Third baseman Wade Boggs and outfielder Mike Greenwell drove in three runs apiece in the eight-run, second-inning assault on Orioles starter Jeff Robinson. Catcher John Marzano contributed four hits and three RBI yesterday.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Baltimore Orioles manager Frank Robinson said yesterday that he will withhold any judgment on Jim Palmer's comeback attempt until the third time the Hall of Fame right-hander takes the mound in exhibition play."

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Sam Horn continues to force the issue. He wants to be the Baltimore Orioles' full-time designated hitter, and he has made quite a case for himself in the first two weeks of the Grapefruit League exhibition season.Horn hit two stand-up triples in a three-hit, six-RBI performance that led the Orioles to a 10-7 victory in 10 innings over the Texas Rangers yesterday at Charlotte County Stadium.Horn brought the Orioles back from a three-run deficit with a bases-loaded triple in the sixth and put them ahead with an RBI single in the eighth.

CLEVELAND -- The 1992 season went much better than expected for the Orioles, but their third-place finish does not leave them much room to sit back and revel in past glory.Third place does not provide enough laurels for even a day's rest, so club officials will be back at work today formulating their plans for the winter and beyond."The off-season is going to be about 12 hours long," Orioles president Larry Lucchino said recently, and he apparently meant every word of it.He has scheduled extensive organizational meetings for today and tomorrow, no doubt hoping to get an early jump on the club's off-season improvement program.