Runners In Scoring

Cubs: Catcher Benito Santiago left after six innings with a bruised right big toe.Mets: Orel Hershiser is 22-9 with a 3.18 ERA lifetime against the Giants. New York has won 17 of 23 and is 36-22 on the road. Mike Piazza had seven straight hits over two games.Phillies: In the first two games of the series, Philadelphia has stranded 12 runners in scoring position. Doug Glanville had two hits and extended his hitting streak to 11 games (17-for-50).

Blue Jays: Toronto is 0-5 on its current homestand. Shannon Stewart extended his hitting streak to 16 games.Devil Rays: Tampa Bay turned three double plays yesterday after making five Monday, raising its major-league-leading total to 149.Tigers: Detroit relievers have allowed eight runs in their past 42 innings, a 1.80 ERA.Indians: Einar Diaz is batting .429 (18-for-42) with two out and runners in scoring position. Carlos Baerga's homer was his first with Cleveland since July 24, 1996.Rangers: Texas has 17 homers in its past five games.

Quote: "I thought I was going to struggle a little bit. The last-second notice is always tough for anybody, even if you're an everyday player." -- Frankie Rodriguez, who pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings as a last-minute starter for the Twins.It's a fact: Wade Boggs is one hit away from becoming the 30th player with 2,900 hits.Who's hot: The Twins' Pat Meares has hit in 22 of the past 23 games.Who's not: The Devil Rays went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position during the first four innings.

Athletics: Oakland was just 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position in losing the first two games of the series against Boston, but went 6-for-12 yesterday.Pub Date: 8/28/98

Pat Gillick is sick of it. We're all sick of it. Umpires shouldn't decide postseason games. Especially not umpires whose performance during the regular season merits a harsh evaluation, not an October paycheck."

Indians: David Justice was scratched before the game with a strained lower back.Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez failed to reach the 1,000-hit plateau by going 0-for-4.Red Sox: Troy O'Leary is 7-for-14 in the first three games of the series with three homers and five RBIs.Royals: Kansas City has obtained right-handed pitcher Greg Hansell from the Athletics to complete the April 8 trade that sent catcher Mike Macfarlane to Oakland for outfielder Shane Mack. Hansell has been assigned to Triple-A Omaha.

HitsOn the day he signed a two-year, $15.1 million contract, third baseman Cal Ripken homered and doubled twice to accompany a diving stop at his new position. Ripken's homer was his fourth on Opening Day and immediately followed his larceny against Jeff King to end the fourth inning.Brady Anderson answered any question about his fitness to play by singling three times and scoring the winning run on Eric Davis' sixth-inning double. Anderson, who ditched a modified flak jacket, slid into first base for one of his hits.

Driving home at 2:30 yesterday morning after the Orioles' extra-inning loss to Detroit, Mike Mussina realized the importance of his next start, which would begin in 16 1/2 hours. The Orioles needed a victory and the bullpen needed a rest.Mussina provided both, pitching a complete-game shutout, 6-0, before 47,131 at Camden Yards, the first shutout of the year by the Orioles. Mussina (19-9) struck out a season-high 11, and in the first two games of the series against the Tigers, he and David Wells, the Orioles starter Friday, have struck out 22 and walked one."

CLEVELAND -- The Mistake By The Lake once referred to Municipal Stadium, the former home of the Cleveland Indians. But now that the Tribe has moved into Jacobs Field, the phrase can be applied in other handy ways.Such as the Orioles' decision to play three games against the Indians this week. The Mistake By The Lake. Cleveland completed its first three-game home sweep of the Orioles since 1965 last night, with a 5-2 victory, and many of the 41,839 fans who watched left the area blaring their horns in celebration.

On the field: After going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position against Seattle on Sunday, the Orioles got some clutch hitting in a hurry last night. All four runs in the second inning came on two-out hits, first from Brady Anderson and then from Jeffrey Hammonds. Before Hammonds doubled home two runs, he had been 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and two outs.In the dugout: The Orioles are a slow team, but that hasn't kept manager Phil Regan from being aggressive. With a 3-2 count and nobody out on Chris Hoiles in the bottom of the second inning, Regan had Harold Baines, bad knees and all, running with the pitch.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - -After watching for more than a decade as their starting pitchers fall behind hitters game after game, year after year, the Orioles have stressed to their new crop of talented young arms the importance of throwing strikes. Rookie Chris Tillman, who may have the highest upside of the group, is listening. But his yearning to get ahead in the count has had one considerable drawback: In his five big league starts, five of his first-pitch strikes have quickly left the ballpark, including three Wednesday night at Tropicana Field in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Less than two hours before Wednesday's game, manager Dave Trembley summoned the Orioles' 13 position players into his office for a quick talk. Fed up with his team's recent play, Trembley gave a brief and stern lecture that focused on playing hard and smart, but most importantly, playing team baseball. The Orioles then went out and proved why such a talk was needed. Finding different ways to squander scoring chances and getting another uneven start from rookie Jason Berken, the Orioles were beaten, 6-3, by the Oakland Athletics in front of an announced 19,128 Wednesday at Camden Yards.

When he failed to get a run in with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, Orioles first baseman Aubrey Huff crouched down and threatened to pound his fist into the ground. Two innings later, after his bid for a three-run homer died on the right-field warning track, the normally stoic Nick Markakis angrily kicked at the dirt. And after Adam Jones grounded out to end a game the Orioles probably should have never lost, the center fielder exchanged words with first base umpire Wally Bell and tossed his helmet toward the dugout.

NOT THIS TIME An Orioles offense that entered the game hitting .303 with runners in scoring position didn't get the job done. Overall, the Orioles were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Trailing 2-0 in the sixth, they had men on first and second with no outs, but Jon Lester struck out Felix Pie and Nick Markakis, and got Aubrey Huff to hit into a fielder's choice. They had men on first and third with no outs in the ninth and managed only Ty Wigginton's RBI groundout, leaving the tying run at second.

BOSTON - The matchups appeared to favor the Orioles each time third baseman Melvin Mora stepped to the plate yesterday. Their leading hitter with runners in scoring position at .355, he batted five times with a chance to put his stamp on the game. And five times, he failed to produce in a 2-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Mora ended the first, third, fifth and seventh and ninth innings, stranding 11 men in the process. Before yesterday, Mora was hitting .406 with two outs and runners in scoring position.

MILWAUKEE -- There is seemingly no rational explanation for the Orioles' Sunday losing streak, which stands at 11 games after a 7-3 defeat yesterday to the Milwaukee Brewers. However, it was no secret what caused their latest Sunday loss. The Orioles hit into five double plays and the Brewers belted four home runs. Trying to make a statement by taking a road series against one of the National League's better teams, the Orioles watched the Brewers turn the series finale into a glorified round of infield and batting practice before an announced 43,517 at Miller Park.

A recap of the Orioles' 6-3 victory over the Red Sox yesterday: Needed in the clutch Hitting with runners in scoring position hasn't been Nick Markakis' strength this season, but he delivered yesterday with a single to center field in the sixth inning that scored Brian Roberts from second base and reduced Boston's lead to 3-2. Markakis was hitting .212 with runners in scoring position, including .167 with fewer than two outs. His single off Red Sox starter Jon Lester came with one out, after Roberts doubled and Jay Payton produced the Orioles' first run with a grounder to shortstop that scored Guillermo Quiroz.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- It's time for Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels to trade Mark Teixeira, the team's best player. The sooner, the better. Today would be great. Next week would be cool, too. Clearly, Teixeira no longer wants to play for the Rangers. The feeling, however, is mutual. Now, Daniels will never admit that - even if you give him truth serum. Neither will manager Ron Washington. It wouldn't do either of them any good to admit it. But it's true. A few months ago, I would've considered the notion of trading Teixeira, who has been out with a strained quadriceps, ridiculous because of the 27-year-old's prodigious talent.

It wasn't until the seventh inning, when both teams lined up for the playing of "God Bless America," that Double-A Bowie pitcher Radhames Liz glanced at the scoreboard. His team was winning. That much he knew. What Liz discovered at that moment was that his opponent, the Harrisburg Senators, didn't have a hit. Liz was six outs away from making minor league baseball history. Again. Liz had combined with two relievers on a no-hitter last year in his first start at Single-A Frederick. But on Friday night, he got one of his own, walking three and striking out eight along the way. "I wasn't even thinking about that," he said the next day. "I saw the scoreboard and thought, `Oh, a no-hitter.

Gamble backfires With runners on second and third and one out in the eighth inning, the Orioles opted to walk Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek and pitch to center fielder Wily Mo Pena. Pena proceeded to rip Chris Ray's pitch 430 feet into the stands in left-center to turn a one-run deficit into a 5-2 Red Sox lead. Pena's grand slam was devastating, as Orioles pitchers allowed only five hits until Pena's shot broke the game open. Missed opportunities While the Orioles were able to score two runs over the first three innings, their bats often froze in clutch situations.