Sacrifice Bunt

Raul Chavez was batting leadoff. Luis Terrero was hitting third. Injuries caused so many players to move out of their normal positions, yesterday looked like an exhibition game. So much, in fact, that Warren Miller of Seattle's public relations staff walked over to some Orioles personnel in the seventh inning and asked, "Is the clubhouse open yet?" I was waiting for players to start boarding the team bus for Fort Lauderdale. Doesn't it figure that, once Corey Patterson laid down his sacrifice bunt in the ninth, the game eventually would reach Chavez with two outs?

NEW YORK -- It was starting to look like so many other games in this long and frustrating road trip for the Orioles, with a young pitcher making just enough mistakes to lose, and an offense that simply could not offer enough support when it was truly needed. But in the top of the seventh inning last night at Shea Stadium, the home of baseball's hottest team, the Orioles' fortunes finally changed. It started with two walks and continued with a clutch sacrifice bunt from a player making his first appearance of the season.

Always thinking outside the box, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had his starting pitcher, Todd Wellemeyer, hitting eighth ahead of veteran second baseman Adam Kennedy. He has done it before, with the rationale being it gives his No. 3 hitter, the extraordinary Albert Pujols, an opportunity to drive in more runs. Never mind that Pujols wasn't in the lineup yesterday. "Last time I remember anything like that was when listening to the old White Sox and Gary Peters used to hit sixth," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.

50 FOR B-ROB:: Brian Roberts wasted no time in becoming the first of what the Orioles hope will be a league-record three players to reach the 50-double plateau. Roberts smacked Carl Pavano's first pitch to right field and slid into second safely. Aubrey Huff and Nick Markakis remained with 48 and 47 doubles, respectively. SCOTT ROBBED:: Luke Scott was sure he had hit his 24th home run, and he refused to believe otherwise until Yankees center fielder Brett Gardner held up the ball to show what he had done.

Yesterday Triple-A International League Syracuse 6, Rochester 0 Double-A Eastern League Erie 3, Bowie 2: Kurt Airoso raced home on a dropped fly ball in the ninth as the SeaWolves beat the host Baysox. Airoso drew a leadoff walk against Derek Brown (1-1) and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Brian McClure then lifted a fly ball to deep center. Willie Harris turned the wrong way and lost control of the ball, enabling Airoso to scamper around and McClure to reach third. Tommy Phelps (1-0)

Top-ranked North County scratched across an unearned run in the fourth and Kellie Evans limited Severna Park to two hits as the Knights defeated No. 3 Severna Park, 1-0, yesterday in Ferndale.Evans, a senior, had all her pitches working yesterday, relying on a fastball with good location but using an occasional slow change to keep the Severna Park batters guessing.She struck out three and had plenty of defensive support. She also scored the game's only run after singling in the fourth inning.

How it happened: A day after Michael Gonzalez stranded the bases loaded to convert a save and three days after he blew a save on Opening Day, the new Orioles closer issued a leadoff walk to Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion and then a game-tying double to Travis Snider. After a sacrifice bunt moved Snider to third, Jose Bautista drove in the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly, giving the Blue Jays a 7-6 win Camden Yards in the O's home opener. He said it: "It's definitely not the way I wanted to start off, but I have the utmost confidence in my ability.

Orioles top pitching prospect Dylan Bundy continued his domination of the South Atlantic League on Sunday afternoon with five shutout innings of one-hit ball against the Hagerstown Suns, continuing to fuel talk about whether he's ready to move up to high Class-A ball. Bundy, who struck out four and walked none Sunday, retired the first 12 hitters he faced before allowing a double to Mattew Skole to lead off the fifth inning. Skole moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and Bundy also hit a batter that inning, but he was able to get out of the inning without allowing a run. Bundy, the No. 4 overall pick in last year's June draft, still hasn't allowed an earned run as a professional -- he allowed one unearned run in each of his previous two starts -- and has allowed just five hits in 30 innings, striking out 40 and walking two. Opposing hitters are batting .043 off Bundy and he still hasn't allowed a hit with a runner on base.

The junior catcher led the No. 1 Mustangs (11-0) to four wins last week, batting .666 (8-for-12) with six RBIs, five runs, three doubles, one triple and one home run. In a 2-0 win over Fallston on April 12, Clow had a key sacrifice bunt, moving a runner to third base who went on to score the eventual winning run. In a 3-2 win over Huntingtown last Wednesday, he went 1-for-2 with a homer and walk. In a 7-2 win over Elkton on Friday, he went 4-for-4 with one double and two RBIs. He closed out the week Saturday with a 3-for-4 performance — including two doubles, three RBIs and two runs — in an 11-4 win over Bel Air. Clow, who maintains a 3.3 grade-point average, is hitting .516 this season with a team-high 13 RBIs to go with three doubles, three triples and two home runs.