Relief Pitcher

Arthur Rhodes was coming in from the outfield during batting practice last night at Camden Yards when he crossed paths with Cecil Fielder.Fielder, the Tigers' immense first baseman, stopped and shook hands with Rhodes, who had struck him out in the eighth inning the night before."

"Terrific weather outside," someone said to Roger McDowell as sleet pounded against the warehouse window yesterday afternoon."Terrific weather if you're a penguin," said McDowell, the Orioles' newest relief pitcher.And the Orioles were that much more interesting again.Better, too? Well, the club certainly hopes that McDowell and new closer Randy Myers -- both of whom were introduced to local reporters yesterday -- will improve the bullpen. With 1,225 major-league appearances between them, they already have made it more accomplished and professional.

Wild Thing, you wouldn't have made their hearts sing.Philadelphia is not a kiss-and-make-up kind of town. It's more like a boo-and-bomb-threat kind of town.Relief pitcher Mitch Williams, the "Wild Thing," eye of the Phillies' World Series storm, would not have stood a chance back in Philadelphia.It was in the aftermath of the World Series-deciding homer that Williams had been asked about the pretzel logic of returning to Philadelphia to pitch again."Why not?" he had answered, looking his interviewer straight in the eye.At the time the hope was that Mitch merely was being gallant.

On the day baseball gave itself a heart attack, some of us went to Sabatino's, in Little Italy, where the talk naturally got around to the sacred fundamentals of the game, such as the need for a left-handed relief pitcher and the importance of union solidarity, when Albert Carmine Isella stopped everybody with the wisdom of his years.Isella is 80 years old. He is recognized hereabouts through the various newspaper headlines as a fellow who has placed an occasional sporting wager, but he is less widely known as a union pioneer.

Hammond's Brian Brewer and Jason Maxey rank as the most prolific home run-hitting tandem in state public school history. One of Maxey's home runs last week cleared a stand of mature trees in right field at Hammond and sailed out of sight. It seemed to defy gravity. One of Brian Brewer's home runs, off a changeup at Howard, dented the bark on an oak tree 400 feet from home plate. The blast awed spectators. The duo's power numbers are startling. Even more so considering both players are juniors.

Joseph Gordon Mueller, who spent more than a decade as a relief pitcher in professional baseball and then became a shopping center leasing executive, died of heart disease Thursday at Stella Maris Hospice. The Timonium resident was 83. An International League Oriole for portions of the 1940s and early 1950s, he played briefly in one season with the Boston Red Sox. That was in 1950, on a team that included Ted Williams. Born in Baltimore and raised on Greenmount Avenue, he was a pitcher on his parochial school ball team, Blessed Sacrament, and at City College, from which he graduated in 1940.

DETROIT -- Arthur Rhodes still is listed as the Orioles' scheduled starting pitcher Thursday afternoon against Cleveland, but that assignment is tentative.The left-hander reported no improvement in the sore left knee that forced him to miss Saturday's game against Detroit. Rhodes said he felt something pop in the knee while jogging in the outfield before beginning his warm-up.He was unable to push off the mound and was replaced by Mark Williamson as the starting pitcher. Rhodes is scheduled to be examined today by Dr. Charles Silberstein, the club's orthopedic specialist.

WASHINGTON - Relief pitcher Joe Grzenda never got to record the final out against the New York Yankees with two outs in the ninth inning of the final Washington Senators game in 1971. That's because fans stormed the RFK Stadium field in a mad dash for souvenirs with the Senators leading 7-5, and Washington had to forfeit the game. But Grzenda has kept the baseball for all of these 34 years. And when the Washington Nationals play their first regular-season home game on April 14, Grzenda will be there with his ball.

Embarrassment on 33rd StreetLast Sunday's Ravens game was something right out of "West Side Story." The Pittsburgh Gang invaded our turf and we surrendered it. We let ourselves get beat up by the bully next door. I'm not talking about the Ravens; I'm talking about Ravens fans.There I am, sitting in Section 1, Seat 1 with my season tickets trying to root for my team. Unfortunately, the majority of the season-ticket holders that sit near me decided to make a buck. They sold their tickets to Steelers fans who were only too happy to torment me and other Ravens fans all afternoon.

JUPITER, Fla. -- The bad news the Orioles had been anticipating for weeks became official yesterday: The World Baseball Classic rejected the club's request for some relief from the inaugural 16-team tournament. That means 11 players from the Orioles' big league camp, including nine on the projected 25-man roster and four members of the club's five-man starting rotation, will participate in the Classic and miss as much as three weeks of spring training. The team had hoped at least one of its starters, possibly Daniel Cabrera of the Dominican Republic, could be held back.