Reading Phillies

Rick Krivda doesn't want to be known as a seven-inning pitcher. But if he can duplicate the seven innings he threw last night often enough, there will be few losses and no regrets.Krivda faced one batter over the minimum for seven innings, pitching the Bowie Baysox to a 2-1 Eastern League victory over the Reading Phillies at Memorial Stadium.The 23-year-old left-hander held Reading to two hits, and did not allow a runner to get as far as second base, but left in the eighth because of the Orioles' organizational edict on pitch counts.

READING, Pa. -- John Kruk has used many a person as a straight man. Teammates. Managers. Coaches. Reporters. David Letterman.Seldom, though, has Kruk's act been a solo, with a serious side to the Philadelphia Phillies' first baseman on display. But, as Kruk says, cancer can sober a person real fast.Thus it has with Kruk, who discovered last month that he has testicular cancer, a disease that caused the removal of his right testicle and radiation treatments that won't end until this week."In years past, I probably would have played and played and played until I died," Kruk said Friday after playing in the first of three games with the Double-A Reading Phillies.

It took Brian DuBois three starts before finally earning his first decision with the Bowie Baysox last night.But this wasn't the decision he was looking for.The left-hander gave up one run in seven innings, but he didn't get any offensive support and the Baysox lost to the Reading Phillies, 1-0, before 1,514 at Memorial Stadium.The Baysox put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth against reliever Ricky Bottalico, but failed to score, giving them six losses in their past seven games.

If Stanton Cameron makes it to the big leagues, it will be because of his ability to hit home runs.Cameron's homer to left-center in the sixth inning yesterday propelled the Bowie Baysox to a 7-5 win over the Reading Phillies before 4,421 at Memorial Stadium."

BOWIE -- No matter what happens tonight, the Reading Phillies probably won't have any fond memories of their first series at Prince George's County Stadium.The Bowie Baysox made sure of that last night as they rallied from an early deficit and downed Reading, 4-2, before a near-capacity crowd of 12,467.The Baysox, who clinched an Eastern League playoff spot with Wednesday's 8-3 win, will try to sweep the five-game series tonight before following the Phillies back to Reading, Pa., for a two-game series.

In just one year, Linthicum Elementary School's PTA raised about $12,000 to buy 30 computers to update the school's computer lab. But it needs an additional $33,000, according to Robert Anderson, chairman of the computer fund committee.PTA members are selling tickets to the game tomorrow between the Bowie Baysox and the Reading Phillies at Prince George's stadium in hopes of raising more.The PTA spent $1,000 to buy a block of 2,500 tickets for the 7:05 p.m. game and so far has sold only 400, at $5 each.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- The Binghamton Mets capped a doubleheader sweep of the Bowie Baysox last night with a 4-3 victory in the nightcap at Municipal Stadium.The Mets prevailed despite being outhit 6-2. Javier Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in a three-run second inning, and Frank Jacobs had a leadoff double in the fifth for Binghamton (2-2), which had been idle for three days because of inclement weather.In the opener, Andy Dziadkowiec's sacrifice fly in the fourth inning scored Aaron Ledesma from third with the go-ahead run in a 3-1 Binghamton victory, the Baysox's first loss of the season.

BOWIE -- Sid Fernandez says he is ready to get back to the majors.Fernandez, who is on rehabilitation assignment with Double-A Bowie, figured that his five-inning start last Sunday was good enough to be his first and only start with the Baysox.But the Orioles had other plans, and manager Phil Regan wanted him to make another start, this time seven innings or 120 pitches.So Fernandez did just that. He went all seven innings of the first game of a doubleheader against the Reading Phillies last night, pitching a two-hit, 6-0 shutout at Prince George's Stadium.

The Bowie Baysox will hold a news conference today to announce that the bulk of their early-season home games will be played at Frederick's Grove Stadium.The games are being moved because construction on the Baysox's stadium in Bowie has been delayed by the icy winter and rainy spring.The Double-A Eastern League team has been targeting May 20 as the opening date for Prince George's Stadium. If the rain continues, that date may have to be set back.The home opener April 12 and two subsequent games against the Trenton Thunder have been scheduled for Frederick, with the fourth in the series (April 15)

There is some truth to the axiom that it is sometimes better to be lucky than good, as Bowie Baysox pitcher Terry Farrar demonstrated last night.Farrar wasn't exactly good against the Reading Phillies at Memorial Stadium, finding himself in the middle of two bases-loaded jams in his five innings of work. But he was lucky and resourceful enough to get out of trouble and to pace the Baysox to a 4-1 win over the Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader.Farrar (1-1) pitched only two innings in which a runner did not reach base, yet he did not surrender a run until the fifth.