Santiago

With the baseball strike over and the clubs in camp, we're supposed to care once again about things like which pitch a new Oriole considers his best.Frankly, I'm not up for that yet. Not yet anyway.Neither, I'm sure, are a lot of others.The nearly eight-month-long players strike changed the thinking of a lot of people. Now, instead of coming back to the familiar, we find, all too often, that there is no familiar to come back to.The events of recent days have happened with such dizzying speed that it's hard to keep up.The Orioles sign a couple of pitchers named Brown and Jones and one named Orosco and already we're feeling disoriented.

SANTIAGO, Chile -- The meeting of Chilean President Eduardo Frei with President Clinton in Washington this week signals the arrival of this former pariah nation of South America to a position of eminence shared by few other countries in the world.Chile is almost certain to be the next country to join the North American Free Trade Agreement. Or it will sign a bilateral free trade arrangement with the United States, a status enjoyed only by Mexico, Canada and Israel.President Clinton endorses the idea, as did President George Bush before him.Clearly Chile has come a long way, from despised dictatorship to a probable partnership with the world's leading economic power.

Santiago, Chile. -- Last Sunday was May Day, and no newspapers were published here. The only other day the press is silent in Chile is the First of January."

Young people, particularly those of a certain age and sensibility, often ask me to recommend a summer reading list."Look to the classics," I tell them."

Introducing Rod "The Rocket" Castro, the Baltimore Blast forward with an ever-present smile and a soccer portfolio that is hard to match.Castro has played soccer in Santiago, Chile; London; Los Angeles; Bloomington, Ind.; Memphis, Tenn.; San Diego and now Baltimore.He helped Indiana University win the NCAA soccer championship in 1983, played a major role in helping the Memphis Storm capture the American Indoor Soccer Association title (now NPSL) in 1988 and won two Major Soccer League championship rings with the San Diego Sockers the past two seasons.

It used to be that his playing wasn't the only thing about Santiago Rodriguez that was hot. The Cuban-born, American-trained pianist got bent out of shape whenever he saw less talented players achieve celebrity."

SAN DIEGO -- Benito Santiago, the San Diego Padres' All-Star catcher, accused manager Greg Riddoch of treating him like a baby yesterday, one day after Riddoch yanked Santiago out of the lineup for "lack of hustle.""Why do we have to start this [stuff] again?" Santiago said. "Every year, they try to make me look like a little baby. [Riddoch] knows I play 100 percent for him."Riddoch pulled Santiago after the fourth inning Thursday, when Santiago slowed on his way to first after grounding to Houston Astros shortstop Eric Yelding.