Sammy Sosa

With the abscess and staph infection on the bottom of Sammy Sosa's left foot not healing as quickly as the Orioles had hoped, the club placed the outfielder on the 15-day disabled list last night and purchased the contract of Triple-A Ottawa outfielder Keith Reed. The announcement came during last night's game against the Minnesota Twins, the fifth straight contest in which Sosa was out of the lineup. He had started the Orioles' first 27 games, hitting .269 with four home runs and 13 RBIs.

The meteoric rise to prominence of Brian Roberts came at a personal cost. His cover is blown. A torrid April earned American League Player of the Month honors, but the Orioles second baseman has surrendered a measure of anonymity in the process. "It's a little harder to get around without being noticed," Roberts said before last night's game. "I don't really care for the attention all that much." Compared with slugger Sammy Sosa - "I can't relate to what Sammy and those guys go through," he said - Roberts has it easy.

BOSTON - Because of yesterday's rainout, Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said right-hander Daniel Cabrera, who was scheduled to start the series finale against the Boston Red Sox, will have his spot in the rotation skipped. Cabrera's next scheduled start is Tuesday at home against the Toronto Blue Jays - 11 days after his last start. Cabrera (1-1, 7.65 ERA) walked six and gave up five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings on Friday against the Blue Jays, though he didn't factor in the decision. "This has nothing personal to do with Daniel," said Orioles pitching coach Ray Miller.

THIS WAS his moment, especially on a night when the Orioles did not want to be shut out by the Red Sox again. It was a chance for Sammy Sosa to dig himself a little deeper into the skin of the fans of his new team. Two outs, bottom of the eighth, the Orioles trailing 1-0 and his buddies, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada, on first and second, Sosa was at the plate. On a 2-0 count, he took a wicked swing that produced a loud "ohhh" from the crowd. Maybe ol' Sammy was due ... Or maybe not. On the next pitch, Sosa slapped a grounder back to the mound.

Sammy Sosa went out of his way to win over the Orioles' crowd yesterday. It wasn't just his two singles or his nifty catch in right-center, either. You could tell the Orioles' newest slugger was eager to ignite a new love affair right from the start. In the top of the first inning, he bolted from the dugout and sprinted hard - head down - toward his position in right field. Twice en route he reacted to fans by pointing toward the seats in foul territory. When he got to right field, he made a hard left and kept sprinting to the bleacher seats in center.

Among the many photos that adorn Sam Perlozzo's home is a snapshot taken five years ago, on the night that Cal Ripken collected his 3,000th career hit in Minnesota. Ripken is standing beside Perlozzo, then the Orioles' third base coach. His signature is scrawled across the bottom. And each time a replay is shown of Eddie Murray rounding third base after hitting his 500th home run, also in an Orioles uniform, he's reaching to shake hands with Perlozzo. "It's pretty neat stuff," Perlozzo said.

IT'S OPENING DAY and you're a huge Orioles fan, so you plan to be at Camden Yards this afternoon, ignoring all the dilettantes yakking on their cell phones and swilling their $7 microbrews and elbowing their friends to ask: "Which one is Sammy Sosa again?" But you have questions about this team. Oh, do you have questions. To you, the Orioles are The Da Vinci Code of baseball, and you're dying to know the following: How good will this team be? The short answer: Who knows? The Orioles added the mighty bat of Sosa to a lineup that already had opposing pitchers chugging Maalox before they took the mound.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The man does not do still. He will not -- cannot -- stop moving. Not for anyone. He has tried before, but it is much too difficult. Even when he is relaxed, he is laughing, fidgeting, speaking rapidly and making wild gestures with his hands. He has been this way all his life. Sammy Sosa has always looked more anxious than stoic in the batter's box, an odd distinction for a man who has hit more home runs than all but six men in the history of major-league baseball.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The man does not do still. He will not -- cannot -- stop moving. Not for anyone. He has tried before, but it is much too difficult. Even when he is relaxed, he is laughing, fidgeting, speaking rapidly and making wild gestures with his hands. He has been this way all his life. Sammy Sosa has always looked more anxious than stoic in the batter's box, an odd distinction for a man who has hit more home runs than all but six men in the history of major-league baseball.