Second Inning

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. -- In one inning, Orioles pitcher Garrett Olson needed to be rescued. Then it was his opponent's turn. Starting for Team 1 in yesterday's intrasquad game, Olson had trouble locating the plate in the first inning while allowing a run, two hits and a walk and hitting a batter. But in the second, he struck out two and got a fly ball. The left-hander threw so many pitches in the first, he reached his limit with two outs and the bases loaded. Under relaxed intrasquad rules, players were pulled from the field and the game moved to the second inning.

Doug Linton's concentration was being pulled in so many directions yesterday, it's a wonder he didn't stumble into the wrong clubhouse. There were scouting reports to review on the afternoon's opponent, and weather reports to check that would determine if he made his first major-league start since 1996 or began packing for the minors.This wasn't just a game, it was his career.Waiting through a 32-minute rain delay, Linton turned in five serviceable innings and left with a 4-2 lead. With his first victory since Sept.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Orioles nearly recovered from a seven-run deficit last night, but lost, 10-9, to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The closer they got, the more it hurt.While a Tropicana Field crowd of 17,796 celebrated its second-year franchise's dominance against a team lost within its own division, the 49-63 Orioles bemoaned a game in which starting pitcher Jason Johnson (3-6) suffered a beating without rescue.Trailing 10-3 after five innings, the Orioles scored in the last four at-bats and ended the game with leadoff hitter Brady Anderson having stolen his way into scoring position.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Toss another question atop the Orioles' season of riddles: Whatever happened to Scott Erickson?Erickson's lost April continued last night in a traumatic 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before 17,660 at Tropicana Field. Before his 1 2/3 innings were done, Erickson had tried everything in his power to defuse a lineup that refused him a breath. But the damage occurred too quickly for the Orioles to avoid tumbling to 3-10.Two games remain on this road trip's forced march.

Highlights and lowlights from the Orioles' 5-4, 10-inning win over the New York Mets in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.UP -- Doug Linton: The scoreless-innings streak is up to 12. One of the real feel-good stories of spring.DOWN -- Esteban Beltre: Gets picked off first with two outs in the ninth, forcing extra innings. Not what you want to see from a pinch runner.UP -- Mike Bordick: This is getting ridiculous.UP -- Jesse Garcia: Ended the madness with a two-out, 10th-inning single. He wasn't the only one with arms raised as the ball cleared the infield.

NEW YORK -- If they were playing any other team, the Texas Rangers might be in excellent position to advance to the American League Championship Series. Instead, they are on the brink of elimination after last night's 3-1 playoff loss to the New York Yankees.Only the Yankees -- the super team of 1998 -- could sweep the first two games of the best-of-five Division Series without getting one meaningful hit from the first six spots in their batting order.Only the Yankees have enough organizational depth to put a guy with 27 games of major-league experience into the starting lineup in the playoffs or keep a guy with a .300 average and 98 RBIs in the ninth spot for most of the year.

Highlights and lowlights from the Orioles' 9-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins yesterday in Fort Myers, Fla.Ups and downsUP: Eric Davis. Took over the club lead with his third and fourth home runs this spring. An amazing comeback story expands by the day.UP: Jeffrey Hammonds. An RBI double, two-run homer and two singles. Wears the travel well.DOWN: Batting practice. Who needs it? The Orioles certainly didn't yesterday.UP: Doug Drabek. A fifth starter getting people out and giving the club innings.

On the field: The Orioles lost for only the fifth time this season when scoring four runs or more. They are 24-5 in such games. The loss also left the bullpen with eight losses compared to seven for the starting rotation.In the dugout: Orioles interim manager Rick Down had Brian Williams loose in the second inning but opted for Arthur Rhodes when he pulled starter Mike Johnson after three. The struggling Rhodes and Terry Mathews allowed a combined six hits, four walks and four earned runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Last night at Camden Yards was so cold that it froze Chicago White Sox manager Terry Bevington to his bench. Worse for the Orioles, it was cold enough to tease them with a miracle win only to smack them with a 10-inning, 11-9 loss.Trailing 9-2 after 5 1/2 innings, the Orioles rode Eric Davis' grand slam to a seventh-inning tie against numbed White Sox starter Jaime Navarro. Three innings later the White Sox waited out Armando Benitez for two runs on two walks and two singles, halting the Orioles' season-opening home win streak at seven.

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners paid a heavy price to upgrade their bullpen last week, giving up top prospect Jose Cruz Jr. to acquire two pitchers from the Toronto Blue Jays and making a separate deal to acquire closer Heathcliff Slocumb.They certainly are better for it, and last night they matched a strong Orioles bullpen pitch-for-pitch in the late innings until third baseman Russ Davis homered in the bottom of the ninth to give them a sudden-death 4-3 victory in the first game of a three-game series at the Kingdome.

NEW YORK - -It isn't even July yet, though the past two nights here have certainly had that bitter feel to the Orioles, for whom lopsided losses and long swoons have become an annual rite of late summer. The Orioles are still not a quarter into their season, but things are getting progressively worse as May unfolds. In another humbling defeat to the surging New York Yankees, this one by an 11-4 score Wednesday night, Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie gave up three consecutive home runs in the second inning before steadying himself to get through seven innings.

Seemingly every few days this early season, young Orioles center fielder Adam Jones does something to highlight his continuing maturation as a baseball player. It happened in a big way Tuesday, when the 23-year-old had his first career multi-homer game in a 7-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. His solo home run in the first was on a dipping curveball from Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine (1-4) that he yanked 396 feet. Jones came back in the second with a three-run blast - his eighth of the season - in a five-run inning that essentially gave the Orioles the win. "I have confidence every single day," said Jones, who is batting .363 this season.

Virtually the same Orioles lineup that was completely overpowered 24 hours earlier by New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia was practically lining up at the bat rack Saturday, the players eager to get their swings in and see what they could do next. A night after managing just five base runners in a shutout loss, the Orioles had 10 men reach base and eight of them score in the second inning alone. There were a few anxious moments that followed, as there always are when the Orioles try to close out a game against the Yankees.

No. 1 North County, perfect for five weeks, lost its second game in two days Tuesday, as No. 4 Severna Park capitalized on five errors to beat the Knights, 7-4. "We took advantage of missed plays in the field," said Severna Park coach Jim McCandless, whose team improved to 13-1 and took the lead among Anne Arundel County teams. "We have the capacity to make big innings when opposing teams give us extra chances at the plate." Severna Park shortstop Kyle Convissar, a junior, led the attack.

BOSTON -When Koji Uehara walked off the mound after becoming the first Orioles starter this season to get through the seventh inning, Dave Trembley waited at the top step of the dugout and gave him a hug. Uehara had just delivered the exact outing the Orioles manager had envisioned when he discussed before the game what would make for an ideal Sunday afternoon at Fenway Park. The Japanese right-hander certainly did his part, but for one of the few times this young season, the Orioles' lineup didn't hold up its end. Shut down for seven innings by the Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester, the Orioles left the tying run at second base in the ninth and dropped their fourth straight game, a 2-1 loss before an announced 37,869.

The Orioles had been down this road before, the nightmare of being the only franchise besides the long-scattered Cleveland Spiders to have dropped almost half a month of games to end the season. Hours after their boss said this lost year wasn't as bad as he expected it to be, the Orioles sidestepped infamy and broke a 10-game losing streak thanks to an unrelenting rain and a pitcher trying to make a splash. Rookie Brian Bass pitched six strong innings, and the Orioles caught a break when their 2-1 game was called because of rain with a Toronto runner on second and nobody out in the top of the seventh and much of the announced crowd of 18,378 under cover.

Who is that guy? : Indians ace Cliff Lee won't pitch in this series, but fellow left-hander Jeremy Sowers did quite an impression of the American League Cy Young Award favorite. Sowers, who had won two of 16 starts since being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo, allowed just a run and four hits in eight innings. He had allowed three earned runs or more in 13 of those starts. Roberts robs them: : The Indians had eight hits off Orioles starter Radhames Liz, but it could have very easily been 10 if not for some nifty defense from second baseman Brian Roberts.

This time, there was no one-run loss to lament. It wasn't one at-bat or one pitch that resulted in another Sunday defeat, continuing a streak that grows more confounding by the week. The Orioles were simply overpowered by a talented young pitcher who was on top of his game. On a steamy afternoon at Camden Yards, right-hander Justin Verlander finished one out shy of a complete game, limiting the Orioles to three hits in the Detroit Tigers' 5-1 victory before an announced 23,278. It was the Orioles' 15th straight Sunday loss.

A recap of the Orioles' 7-4 win over the Tigers last night: Early gift The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, with a little help from the Tigers. Shortstop Edgar Renteria misplayed Adam Jones' pop-up for a two-base error - credit Jones with nice hustle to wind up at second base after the ball deflected off Renteria's glove - and the mistake proved costly. Nick Markakis drove a ball over left fielder Matt Joyce's head for a double that easily scored Jones. The Orioles needed only three batters, and an unearned run, to strike first against Tigers starter Armando Galarraga.

A recap of the Orioles' 8-1 loss to the Rays: Gutting it out Matt Albers might not have brought his best stuff into last night's game, but he made do with what he had and kept the Orioles close. Albers allowed a run in the second inning and two more in the fourth, but he retired the side in order in the first, third, fifth and sixth. He put away the last seven batters he faced and left with the Orioles trailing 3-1. Close calls against them The Orioles ran into two outs in the first two innings, and they disagreed with the call on both occasions.