Sacrifice

Kevin Gregg has had a resurgence of sorts after a slow start this season and a rough year in 2012. He had strung together seven scoreless outings totaling 9 1/3 innings pitched. That all came to a halt in the seventh inning Monday. Entering in relief of Tommy Hunter (6 IP, 9 hits, 5 earned runs), Gregg allowed a one-out single, double and then intentionally walked David Ortiz. Adrian Gonzalez broke the 5-5 tie with a sacrifice fly and Will Middlebrooks added a RBI single to give the Red Sox a two-run lead.

Breast ImplantsIf all would follow it, the world would be a better place.Frank T. Prenger.Baltimore.Spreading PainEditor: Kurt Schmoke wants to spread the pain caused by his and the previous city administration's fiscal bungling and ineptitude.How fair-minded of him. We who are about to pay the price salute him.All city employees must sacrifice five days' pay through a furlough plan. This appears to spread the pain equally but there are at least two groups of city employees more equal than others, when it comes to sacrifice.

Jason Hammel made a couple mistakes in his six innings on Tuesday, but otherwise gave the Orioles what they were hoping for on Opening Day: A quality start. The 30-year-old right-hander lasted six innings, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out two and retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced before giving up a Ben Zobrist solo homer in the fourth. His big mistake came in the sixth when he walked the leadoff man in the inning, No. 9 batter Kelly Johnson.

The following is the complete prepared text of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's inaugural speech.Today, Baltimore celebrates a new beginning. Today, we stand on the threshold of a great opportunity. Today, we have a chance to renew our city. For as Teddy Roosevelt once said: "Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."With hope and optimism, we look ahead, asking ourselves: What do we want for our city? What is it about this place that makes it a place worth fighting for?

As David Segui took his place in the batter's box in the eighth inning, his task was only to right everything that has suddenly gone so very wrong with the Orioles. That's all. Everything."I was feeling it," Segui said. "Big-time pressure."He didn't need to get a hit. He needed to drop a bunt on the ground. Perform a fundamental. A sacrifice bunt. Move a runner from first base to second."I couldn't go back to the dugout without getting that bunt down," Segui said. "It was going to be real ugly if I didn't."

From: Bonnie K. JonesEllicott CityAn open letter to County Councilman Charles C. Feaga, R-5th:Last week I had the opportunity to hear each member of the Howard County Council sum up his or her position regarding the actions taken to set the budget for next year.Although I appreciate the difficultyof the task and understand why so cuts were made in budgets proposedby each department, I was shocked to hear your assessment of the reaction of teachers to cuts in the education budget.Teachers are understandably outraged that their contract agreement was broken and that their step increases and increases in salary were eliminated.

DO YOU need it, or do you want it? So my father always replied to my childish request for some material thing.Usually, I had to admit, I just wanted it. Sometimes he'd buy whatever it was -- a reward for honesty, perhaps. Most times he'd decline and let the lesson sink in.I was reminded of the question recently as I read a letter to the editor of an Illinois newspaper from "Bill," husband of "Sue" -- fictitious names to protect the ignorant. Bill was complaining about state welfare laws that weren't measuring up to his and Sue's expectations.

Hammond's Jeff Price pitched two-hit ball through six innings and closer John Yezek worked a 1-2-3 seventh to lead the third-seeded Bears past fourth-seeded Hereford, 5-1, in the Class 2A, Region II final yesterday at Dundalk Community College.It was the eighth straight win for the Bears, who advanced to Tuesday's state semifinals with a 14-5 mark. Hammond will be seeded fourth and will meet top-seeded Rockville at McCurdy Field in Frederick or Dundalk Community College.Yesterday's loss ended Hereford's nine-game winning streak as it closed out its season at 13-5.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer's 15-minute tell-it-like-it-is message to Maryland last night can be summed up in a sentence: Do it now and do it together. He proposed a six-point plan to attack the specter of a billion-dollar shortfall in tax revenues which the state confronts over the next two years. These include:* Put people to work through an accelerated public works program.* "Reform" welfare -- a euphemism for cutting support that goes to the neediest.* Cut health-care costs by keeping people from getting sick rather than treating them after the get sick.

WHEN Ross Perot quit he freed President Bush and Governo NotBush to avoid the subject, and they have since been avoiding it with zest. The subject, of course, is: "What's it going to take to haul the economy out of the pit?"Mr. Perot decided the answer was, "Sacrifice." The word gives off noble vibration, but everybody knows that, after we enjoy the pleasure of being called to sacrifice, pain cometh swiftly to all but the canny and the well connected. That's why seasoned politicians handle sacrifice gingerly.