Rest

Good morning -- Orioles -- The organization's goal was to reach .500 this season. That means 43-32 the rest of the way.

Quote: "It's a simple procedure. You zip in, change the oil and zip back out. I think I proved I can still play at 41." -- Devil Rays' Wade Boggs before undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday. He will be out the rest of the season.It's a fact: Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra was given the day off yesterday to rest a bruised left ankle.Who's hot: The Blue Jays' Billy Koch has 27 saves, tying him for the AL rookie record.Who's not: The Athletics' Miguel Tejada is in an 0-24 skid at the plate.

Quote: "We got the best of both worlds: We won without Barry, and he got a well-deserved and unplanned rest." -- Manager Dusty Baker, whose Giants completed a three-game sweep while Barry Bonds served a three-game suspension.It's a fact: Brett Tomko (11-8) is the first Reds pitcher to win 11 games in each of his first two seasons since Art Fowler in 1954-55.Who's hot: The Pirates' Freddy Garcia is 10-for-18 with four homers and seven RBIs in six games since his recall from the minors.Who's not: Giants pitchers have allowed 26 homers in their past 10 games.

Male types, raise your hand if, with participation in at least one national election under your belt, you have never experienced back problems. Repeat, have not.OK, you two, your prize is the assurance that some day, probably soon, the old sacroiliac will somehow act up.Welcome to Lake Lumbago, campers!Not to worry. Most back ailments are temporary, often minor and are treated in a couple of ways:First, cease and desist the activity that caused the injury in the first place.And, as Dr. Louis Karitzky, clinical professor of health and family medicine at the University of Florida, states, "Most cases of low back pain are best treated with activity -- walking, swimming, bicycling, etc. -- not medication, rest or physical therapy."

NEW YORK -- The last time Mike Mussina started against the New York Yankees, the conditions were less than ideal.He was pitching with just one day of rest, and he had thrown 15 pitches two days earlier in a game postponed because of rain. It was chilly, he was pitching in a ballpark he loathes and, as Mussina said later, he wasn't focused on the game.Mussina enters Game 3 of the American League Championship Series -- against Yankees left-hander Jimmy Key, who missed nearly all of 1995 with a rotator cuff injury and spent time on the disabled list this year with shoulder stiffness -- under much better conditions.

The new Carroll County Firearms Facility is one of the finest ranges I have ever used.The range has 10 fully covered firing points, each with its own professional-style bench-rest and targeting spots at 25-yard intervals, out to 200 yards. A local sportsman's club donated target stands, so unlike many public and private shooting ranges, there's noneed to craft or carry your own.You will need a few compulsory items. First is hearing protection, and I cannot over emphasize its importance. Quality ear plugs, such as Sonic Ear Valves I usually use in waterfowl blinds, are good.

Pitching coach Mike Flanagan tossed and turned for hours after Tuesday night's loss to the Detroit Tigers, trying to figure out what went wrong with right-hander Ben McDonald.McDonald had pitched well in his first three starts, but he struggled badly with his control Tuesday. He walked four and surrendered five runs in 2 2/3 innings, saved from defeat only by a five-run Orioles rally in the fourth that temporarily turned around the game."I finally woke up at 4 a.m. and started looking at videotape," said Flanagan, whose first year as Orioles pitching coach has not gone smoothly.

Working on the rest of his game

Laid to rest

Remember Johnny Oates' idea to give Cal Ripken more rest while preserving the All-Star shortstop's consecutive-games streak?It's, uh, on hold.Oates said yesterday that he, indeed, plans to rest Ripken more frequently this season, but that the change won't be nearly as dramatic as he proposed last September."

Things looked much better in Garyland on Tuesday, after Debbie Yow's statement of support filled the void left dangerously open in the war of words between her head basketball coach and her athletic department. Then came yesterday. We're right back where we started. Not with another internal feud gone external, thank goodness - but with another scorching on Tobacco Road, this time by North Carolina, the other program against which Maryland had yearned to measure itself, then succeeded in doing so, during the glory days of Gary Williams' tenure.

Think of it this way. Imagine if, in the first game of the John Harbaugh Era and the first game of the Joe Flacco Era, the Ravens had lost. With Hurricane Ike shaking up the remaining schedule (among other things), everybody would have had an extra week to marinate in the gloom and doom. Instead, there's an extra week to bask in the glow of victory. Thank you, Cincinnati Bungles. After that, though, it's hard to find many other benefits to the Ravens - strictly from a football sense, of course - getting a bye in Week 2 of a 17-week season.

OMAHA, Neb. -- For four days, the menu has been propped up in Katie Hoff's hotel room, opened to the picture of a gooey slice of cheesecake smothered in caramel and chocolate. Swiped from a nearby restaurant - perpetrator unknown - it has served as a motivational tool as good as any devised by Vince Lombardi. Hoff made herself this promise: Three best times at the Mutual of Omaha Swimvitational and a slice of that cake was hers. At first glance, the goal might have seemed beyond reach.

WASHINGTON -- After a heated, all-day debate on the Senate floor that pitted combat veterans against combat veterans and one former secretary of the Navy against another, lawmakers failed to require the Pentagon to give U.S. troops as much time to rest at home as they spend in the theater overseas. It was a significant defeat for critics of the Iraq war, who have been trying for months to withdraw troops over President Bush's objection. Democratic leaders had believed that the amendment, offered by a former Navy secretary, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, was the best path for ending the war in Iraq and forcing the administration to quickly bring the troops back home.

Good morning -- Dave Trembley -- Today is the first day of the rest of your season.

Good morning -- Orioles -- The organization's goal was to reach .500 this season. That means 43-32 the rest of the way.

Good morning--Miguel Tejada--Enjoy your rest. You still had 1,480 games to go to catch Ripken.

Good morning --Tiger Woods -- Maybe you just wanted to rest before the Ryder Cup.

PHILADELPHIA -- The bedraggled teenager had just arrived in Philadelphia, a young boomtown in 1723 compared with old, established Boston, the city of his birth. He had little money, few clothes and no friends here. As he walked by a young woman standing in her father's doorway, she thought he made "a most awkward, ridiculous appearance." The 17-year-old wandered the streets, eating a loaf of bread, until he saw a group of well-dressed people walking with purpose. He followed them into the main Quaker meetinghouse and sat down.

ARLINGTON, Texas - He ordered a sacrifice bunt from his lumbering backup catcher, called upon a young reliever with the go-ahead run on base and made late defensive substitutions as if a pennant hung in the balance. Sam Perlozzo worked hard to keep his team's winning streak alive yesterday, uncertain if he was having the same effect on his chances of managing the Orioles in 2006. With closer B.J. Ryan needing a rest after pitching four straight games, all of them resulting in saves, Jorge Julio was entrusted with a three-run lead in the ninth inning.