Relief Pitcher

Why are Washington Nationals officials calling this series "The Battle of the Beltway?" Shouldn't it be "The Battle of the Parkway?" ... I had this quote passed along to me from another former Oriole, reliever Steve Kline, regarding the four-game suspension handed to Houston Astros pitcher Russ Springer related to Springer throwing at Barry Bonds: "I got four [games] for bumping an umpire last year. I bumped my coach into him. It might be too much. I don't know if he did it on purpose or not. Who am I to judge?

Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo isn't committed to running out the same lineup for every game, with a surplus of outfielders giving him enough options that the look can change almost nightly. Who figured that David Newhan would become a constant? After fighting to make the team as a utility player in spring training, Newhan has relinquished his seat on the bench and started five of the past six games. He started in left field again Friday night for the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels and hit his second homer of the season.

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.

BOSTON - Given a clean bill of health, reliever James Baldwin returned to the Orioles yesterday and was available to pitch, two days after fainting on the team charter to Boston. Baldwin was discharged from Massachusetts General Hospital yesterday morning after spending the night there and undergoing more tests. He was taken to the emergency room Thursday night and released, but the team's medical staff insisted that he return as a precaution. "I didn't want to go back, but that was the only way I was going to get on the field," he said.

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.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The Orioles' competition for the closer's job might have ended this spring before it really got started. The results of a magnetic resonance imaging test confirmed that pitcher Jorge Julio has a strained right forearm, which will put him on a throwing program for the next three weeks and jeopardize his availability for the April 4 opener at Camden Yards. Julio is bothered by inflammation in the flexor muscle near his elbow, the discomfort becoming apparent only after he throws.

IT HASN'T BEEN easy going through life with a built-in nickname, but when the Seattle Mariners arrived in town, I thought I finally had found someone else who could feel my pain. The Mariners have a relief pitcher named J.J. Putz, a young right-hander who I was sure would be able to identify with my lifelong struggle to order a pizza over the phone. No such luck. J.J. claims his surname is pronounced with a slightly longer "u" - so that it sounds more like "puts" than "putts." That's his story, and he's sticking to it. "He's in denial," said Orioles play-by-play man Joe Angel.

SEATTLE - For four innings last night, Rodrigo Lopez had the Orioles wondering why they hadn't put him back in the starting rotation weeks ago. Seattle Mariners left-hander Jamie Moyer was up to his usual tricks, keeping the Orioles' hitters scoreless, off-balance and disillusioned, but Lopez kept matching him, zero for zero. And then it happened. Lopez hit a wall, and the sleepless Seattle offense started hitting everything in sight. The Mariners scored six runs in the fifth inning and cruised to an 11-0 victory at Safeco Field.