Sherman Obando

Pacific Trading Cards' Spanish-language baseball set has been expanded with a 330-card second series. Included are 22 members each of the expansion Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies. There are two insert sets, 36 "prism" cards (shown is the Orioles' Sherman Obando) and 20 Baseball Amigos (multiple players on each card).

BaseballAngels: Activated P Mike James from 15-day disabled list. Optioned P Shad Williams to Triple-A Vancouver.Athletics: Placed OF Damon Mashore on 15-day DL.Brewers: Placed C Kelly Stinnett on 15-day DL. Recalled OF Todd Dunn from Triple-A Tucson.Expos: Activated OF Vladimir Guerrero from 15-day DL. Placed ex-Orioles OF Sherman Obando on 15-day DL.Marlins: Recalled P Rob Stanifer from Triple-A Charlotte.Pirates: Recalled 3B Joe Randa from Triple-A Calgary.Twins: Recalled P Travis Miller from Triple-A Salt Lake.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Sherman Obando had three hits and two RBIs, and Rick Krivda pitched seven solid innings to lead the Rochester Red Wings to a 5-3 triumph over the Norfolk Mets last night in a Triple-A International League game.Krivda gave up three hits and two runs, and Armando Benitez pitched 1 1/3 innings for his fifth save.Alex Ochoa had two hits and one RBI for Rochester.Loser Chris Roberts surrendered three runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Scouts are conspicuous in spring training, seated behind home plate, radar guns folded across their laps, the conversation focused on one baseball topic or another. A subject ripe for discussion yesterday was the Orioles' most recent acquisition, outfielder Tony Tarasco.For Tarasco, the Montreal Expos received Sherman Obando, a good hitter who hasn't demonstrated the ability to play defense, and several scouts wondered this: Why? Why would Montreal trade a player with Tarasco's ability for a limited talent like Obando?

BaseballAngels: Activated P Mike James from 15-day disabled list. Optioned P Shad Williams to Triple-A Vancouver.Athletics: Placed OF Damon Mashore on 15-day DL.Brewers: Placed C Kelly Stinnett on 15-day DL. Recalled OF Todd Dunn from Triple-A Tucson.Expos: Activated OF Vladimir Guerrero from 15-day DL. Placed ex-Orioles OF Sherman Obando on 15-day DL.Marlins: Recalled P Rob Stanifer from Triple-A Charlotte.Pirates: Recalled 3B Joe Randa from Triple-A Calgary.Twins: Recalled P Travis Miller from Triple-A Salt Lake.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Harrisburg Senators completed a four-game weekend series sweep of the Bowie Baysox with a 12-4 victory yesterday.The first-place Senators (44-14) scored 11 runs after trailing, 4-1, after 2 1/2 innings. Chris Pride went 5-for-6 with four RBI and Lance Rice went 4-for-4 with four RBI, to lead the Senators.Harrisburg scored four runs in the bottom of fourth, highlighted by a two-run single by Rondell White, which scored Rice and Pride. In the seventh, Pride hit a three-run homer to right, highlighting another four-run rally.

On the field: Orioles left fielder Brady Anderson singled to left in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. But he doesn't have the longest on-going streak in baseball, or even among teams playing in Boston. Red Sox center fielder Lee Tinsley also singled in the third; he now has at least one hit in each of Boston's 12 games this season.In the dugout: With left-hander Rheal Cormier pitching for Boston, Orioles manager Phil Regan went with a lineup loaded with right-handed hitters.

Two nights ago, the Harrisburg Senators scored six runs the first time they batted and wiped out a Bowie Baysox lead to take the suspended first game of a doubleheader.But the uprising also had a reverse effect; it gave the Baysox a wake-up call.Bowie became the first team to shut out the Senators this season in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader, and followed last night by blasting Miguel Batista and his successors for 16 hits to take the rubber game of the Double-A Eastern League series, 11-2, before 1,747 at Memorial Stadium.

Sherman ObandoWhat he would be doing if there were no strike: Obando would be in St. Petersburg, Fla., attempting to pin down a spot on the Orioles' major-league roster. The Orioles were leaning toward keeping Obando this year, to fill in for designated hitter Harold Baines against tough left-handers, and as an extra outfielder and one of their primary right-handed pinch hitters. The feeling of some in the organization is that Obando has paid his dues in the minor leagues. At Triple-A Rochester last year, Obando batted .330 with 20 homers and 69 RBIs in 109 games.

BaseballOrioles -- Placed OF Sherman Obando (strained left hamstring) on the 15-day disabled list. Recalled OF Mark Leonard from Triple-A Rochester.Chicago White Sox -- Recalled P Jason Bere from Triple-A Nashville.Cleveland Indians -- Activated P Ted Power from the disabled list. Optioned P Scott Scudder to Triple-A Charlotte.Florida Marlins -- Signed C Tony Turnbull to a minor-league contract.Montreal Expos -- Placed P Jimmy Jones on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to May 24. Recalled P Mike Gardiner from Triple-A Ottawa.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Sherman Obando had three hits and two RBIs, and Rick Krivda pitched seven solid innings to lead the Rochester Red Wings to a 5-3 triumph over the Norfolk Mets last night in a Triple-A International League game.Krivda gave up three hits and two runs, and Armando Benitez pitched 1 1/3 innings for his fifth save.Alex Ochoa had two hits and one RBI for Rochester.Loser Chris Roberts surrendered three runs and eight hits over 4 1/3 innings.

NEW YORK -- The Orioles' bench was lifeless the first two weeks of the season, and manager Phil Regan suspected that the reason was anxiety over roster cuts that came down May 15.Once those moves were made last week, Regan said, the team seemed much more alive.But there are anxious feelings again, because Andy Van Slyke is due to come off the disabled list Friday, and nobody is quite sure how the Orioles will make room for him."It's hard to get a read on things," said one player. "I don't think anybody has a clue."

NEW YORK -- In air combat, they call it a surgical strike. Identify a target and hit it, again and again if necessary. This is sort of what the New York Yankees did with the Orioles yesterday.Orioles manager Phil Regan once joked that Sherman Obando's best position is at the plate. To keep him in the lineup, however, Regan must play Obando in the field as well. Yesterday, the Yankees identified their target -- Obando -- and kept hitting balls into right field, and they kept falling.Sid Fernandez pitched poorly, again, but he got little help from his defense, from Obando, in the Orioles' 7-2 loss at Yankee Stadium.

Funny. Peter Angelos can go out and spend $40 million-plus on ballplayers, and the Orioles' fortunes seem to rest with $9.95 baseball caps.The night after Kevin Brown destroyed his unlucky black-and-orange cap -- "I hope I never see it in my locker again," he said -- the Orioles mounted a rousing comeback and edged the Tigers, 7-4, last night, before 35,187 at Camden Yards.The Orioles had been 0-7 in the black-and-orange caps, but Brown pitched eight solid innings in an all-black cap, and Jeff Manto, who temporarily has supplanted Leo Gomez at third base -- and perhaps permanently -- went 4-for-4, including a critical two-run homer in the middle of the Orioles' sixth-inning rally.

UPS AND DOWNSRun production -- *DOWN* -- picture concern last week was the bullpen. Now it's whether the slow O's lineup can hit enough singles and doubles to sustain rallies.Sid Fernandez -- *DOWN* --Four of the five starters in the rotation will get regular work, and right now, he's No. 5.Alan Mills -- *UP* -- His three no-hit innings against Boston Tuesday night a big relief to the Orioles.Andy Van Slyke -- *DOWN* --Doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out his strained left forearm is bothering his swing.

On the field: Orioles left fielder Brady Anderson singled to left in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. But he doesn't have the longest on-going streak in baseball, or even among teams playing in Boston. Red Sox center fielder Lee Tinsley also singled in the third; he now has at least one hit in each of Boston's 12 games this season.In the dugout: With left-hander Rheal Cormier pitching for Boston, Orioles manager Phil Regan went with a lineup loaded with right-handed hitters.

NEW YORK -- Center fielder Mike Devereaux still is feeling some aftereffects from the injury that sidelined him for more than three weeks, but he said yesterday he had no reservations about returning to the lineup earlier than expected."

Based on the skimpiest of early evidence, Phil Regan might have trouble finding enough playing time for Sherman Obando.That would hardly constitute a dilemma for the new Orioles' manager, who would like nothing more than to have a multitude of similar decisions to make. Such a development would constitute a pleasant turnaround considering the tribulations of this season's first week.The right-handed hitting Obando made his first start of the year last night, replacing Harold Baines as the designated hitter against Toronto left-hander Al Leiter.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sherman Obando wants to prove he can play a position other than designated hitter. Left field, right field, first base, whatever.He wants to so badly, Obando says, that when he's standing in the field, waiting for a pitch, he's thinking, "Please hit it to me. Right now, hit it to me.""I want the ball so much," he said, "so I can play [more] and show that I'm OK."Obando got his wish in the Orioles' season opener Wednesday in Kansas City. He pinch hit in the top of the eighth, slapping a single through the middle and driving home the O's only run of the game.