Scout

Before sunrise Monday, Kevin and Shelley Taylor set out from their Millersville home to a new employment center for the Maryland Live! Casino, a slots parlor next to the Arundel Mills mall seeking workers for 1,500 jobs. Having tracked the progress of what will be the state's largest casino, the Taylors believe the facility could provide opportunity for their five-member family. Though Kevin Taylor has a job, he wants a better-paying one. And Shelley Taylor has been out of work for several months.

WESTMINSTER - This weekend, Boy Scouts from area troops have been distributing food collection bags to homes as part of the national Scouting for Food drive. Residents are asked to fill the bags with non-perishable food items and leave the filled bags outside their doors for the Scouts to collect on Saturday, April 21. The food will be used to replenish the empty shelves of local food pantries and feeding programs. Last year, the effort by more than 10,000 individuals throughout the Scouts' Baltimore Area Council provided more than 500,000 pounds of food to pantries throughout central Maryland.

The Orioles are still interested in outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and want another look at the highly touted Cuban defector. The Orioles weren't able to scout Cespedes at last week's Carribean Series because his Dominican Winter League team didn't make the series field, but the organization plans to scout him again soon. Orioles executive director of international scouting Fred Ferreira said the club is planning a trip to the Dominican Republic to watch Cespedes within the "next week to 10 days.

Bob Ferry could spend his days on the deck of his Annapolis home that looks out onto the Chesapeake Bay, but he's not big on sitting still. He gave up boating when his three kids left the house and stopped playing basketball more than five years ago, at age 69, after he tore his rotator cuff. He and his wife of nearly 52 years, Rita, dote on their eight grandchildren, but on many of their visits, Ferry finds himself watching a basketball game on television. So why not continue doing what he has been paid to do for most of the past 45 years, which is evaluate NBA prospects?

The Toronto Blue Jays named former Orioles executive Jim Beattie a professional scout. Beattie, 55, who pitched for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, was general manager of the Montreal Expos from 1989 to 1995 and executive vice president of the Orioles from 2002 to 2005. Nationals: General manager Mike Rizzo said right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg , the No. 1 pick in June's draft, would make his first exhibition start on March 9 against the Tigers at Space Coast Stadium and will pitch every fifth day, regardless of where the game was to be played.

Life is good for Phil Albert. He is trimmer than a man of 50 should look. He talks with the optimism of a teen-ager. He is enjoying his return to the classroom, where he teaches five physical education classes a week at Towson State.On top of that, Albert is excited about his reunion with an old friend -- football.More than two years have passed since Albert stepped down after 20 seasons as coach at Towson State, where he guided the Tigers to 117 victories, four national playoff appearances and an unbeaten season, not to mention a progression from Division III to I-AA status.

Ron Nay remembers the days when he scouted Ozzie Newsome at Alabama, before Newsome went on to become the Cleveland Browns' career leader in receptions and the NFL's all-time leading pass-catching tight end with 662 receptions over 13 seasons.Nay hopes to be reunited with Newsome, the director of pro personnel for Baltimore's NFL team.A 25-year veteran NFL scout who was out of pro football last year, Nay, 55, has expressed interest in a front office job with Baltimore. Newsome said if he makes any changes in his staff, it will not happen until after the NFL draft on April 20-21.

Pitches / / His fastball tops at 97 mph and he usually throws it at about 93, 94. His No. 2 pitch is a slider. He's got a version of a splitter, a slider and a [changeup] he mixes in. His fastball explodes and hitters don't hit it. It's not a movement where it tails or cuts; it's a movement all over the place. Weaknesses / / He is either on or he isn't. Clubs hope you can catch him when he isn't throwing strikes. When he doesn't throw strikes you can work the count and get him out of there.

Congratulations to Daniel Puryear, Centennial High School sophomore, who became an Eagle Scout on Dec. 29.You may recall that to become an Eagle the Scout must plan, organize and supervise a large project, but he must direct the project, not perform it himself. For his project, Daniel organized and supervised the construction of three trails in Patapsco State Park, Hollofield Area, in Catonsville.Members of Troop 361, consulting with ranger Beverly Collins, helped Daniel to clear and mulch 550 feet of trails to provide outer campsites access to the restrooms.

The Ravens' scouting system, envied around the league, has remained remarkably consistent under General Manager Ozzie Newsome . There have been a few tweaks along the way to adapt to technology and the times, but the organization still doesn't belong to the two main national scouting services, and still does put the onus on their own area scouts to do the bulk of the heavy lifting. "We still have our area scouts responsible for every player that's being drafted in their area.

Towson's 12-11 comeback win against UMBC Wednesday night did not involve John Fennessy, and it's not clear when the redshirt sophomore defenseman will return to the team. Fennessy, a member of last year's All-Rookie Team in the Colonial Athletic Association, is dealing with a back injury that flared up in the Tigers' 10-9 double-overtime victory over Hofstra last Saturday, and the ailment is problematic enough that coach Shawn Nadelen is worried about whether Fennessy will play again this season.

  SARASOTA, Fla. -- Roughly a dozen years after he fled the Orioles for the greener pastures of the rival New York Yankees, leaving behind a bitter fan base and a franchise that hasn't been competitive since, Mike Mussina will return to Baltimore this summer to be inducted into the club's Hall of Fame. The Orioles announced Wednesday that Mussina, who pitched 10 of his 18 big league seasons with the club, and former infielder Rich Dauer, whose entire 10-year career was spent in Baltimore, will be inducted into their Hall during an on-field ceremony Saturday, Aug. 25, at Camden Yards.

Happy 100th Birthday, Girl Scouts of America. Founder Juliette Gordon Low organized the first Girl Scout Troop on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Ga. Today, scouts can earn a senior cook's Locavore badge. The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland (GSCM) celebrate 100 years of women's leadership at the sixth annual Women's Leadership Forum Monday night at the GSCM Seton Urban Program & STEM Center, located, 4806 Seton Drive between 5:45 p.m and 8:15 p.m.  A special one-woman show, "Women: Back to the Future, will be presented by acclaimed performer, Kate Campbell-Stevenson . " The event is open to the public; admission, which includes the performance, is $25 for adults; girls ages 14 and up are asked to bring two non-perishable items for Girl Scouts' annual Harvest for the Hungry campaign.   For tickets contact Maria (Johnson)

Life Scout Matt Rafferty, a member of Boy Scout Troop 328 at Timonium United Methodist Church, is hard at work on his Eagle project, which involves collecting used musical instruments, in any condition, to benefit the under-funded music programs of Baltimore City Public Schools. Matt reports that the schools are happy to have all band instruments, from recorders to tubas, as well as any and all brass, woodwinds, percussion, strings, guitars and electronic keyboards - but no pianos, please!

The football world's focus returns to Indianapolis this week, where more than 300 NFL hopefuls will participate in the annual scouting combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Starting Wednesday and running through next Tuesday, the event, which comes two weeks after the city played host to the Super Bowl, is the biggest showcase for prospects before late April's NFL Draft. It also represents one of the first opportunities for teams to start shaping their game plans for the offseason. The Ravens' top decision makers and scouts will be on hand, studying the draft class with a particular eye on finding help for the offensive line, passing game and pass rush.

The NFL scouting combine starts Feb. 22. In advance of the annual meat market in Indianapolis, staff writer Matt Vensel will examine each position and give Ravens fans the 4-1-1. In this post he looks at cornerbacks . The top prospects: Tyrann "Honey Badger" Mathieu, who is still in Baton Rogue, got most of the attention in the LSU secondary, but Morris Claiborne is a complete corner with good size, speed and instincts. At 6 feet 2, Alabama's Dre Kirkpatrick is a big, physical cornerback.