Shorebirds

SALISBURY -- Each time Peter Kirk supervises the construction of a minor-league baseball park, his spirit is renewed.And Kirk is excited right now because Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, the home of the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Single-A South Atlantic League, lacks only the finishing touches."

The Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds will send three players to the 43rd South Atlantic League All-Star Game, to be played June 18 in Lakewood, N.J. One of them is starting pitcher Ben Knapp, a former second-round draft pick. Another is closer Rommie Lewis, a fourth-round choice. Then there's catcher Trey Salinas, fresh from the Alexandria Aces of the independent Texas-Louisiana League. He'll turn 27 this month and never has played above Single-A, making him an unlikely all-star. Talk about crashing a party.

HAGERSTOWN -- A year has made a major difference in the fortunes of the Orioles minor-league affiliates.In 1997, five of them qualified for postseason play and three won championships. In 1998, there are no more survivors.The Hagerstown Suns insured that last night at Municipal Stadium, eliminating Delmarva in the first round of the South Atlantic League playoffs, 4-0, behind left-hander Clayton Andrews.Hagerstown, a Toronto Blue Jays farm club, whipped the Shorebirds for the 10th time in 14 meetings at its home park and advanced to the semifinals against an opponent to be determined.

Calvin Pickering singled home the game's only run with one out in the ninth inning, as the Delmarva Shorebirds won their first home game as an Orioles franchise, 1-0, over the Capital City Bombers last night in a Single-A South Atlantic League game in Salisbury.Pickering, the Orioles' Minor League Player of the Year last season, came to the plate against Osvaldo Coronado with Darrell Dent and Maleke Fowler on first and third via singles."I don't expect them to pitch to me at that time," said Pickering, who lined the ball to left field to score Dent.

SALISBURY -- The defending South Atlantic League champions are within a loss of relinquishing their title.A tough 2-1 defeat to Hagerstown last night at Perdue Stadium insures that the Delmarva Shorebirds will have to stay alive in the playoffs on the road.And they are 4-9 this season at Hagerstown, where the best-of-3, first-round series switches for Game 2 tonight.The Suns, first-half winners of the Northern Division, came from behind with two eighth-inning runs to capture the opener with the winner scoring on Eddy Garabito's throwing error.

SALISBURY -- In their maiden season as an Orioles affiliate, the Delmarva Shorebirds have a tough act to follow.Last summer, while wearing Orioles-type uniforms, the first-year franchise was in the talent-rich Montreal Expos system. The team jumped to a 13-1 start and wasn't through until losing in the South Atlantic League championship series."We had a pretty good club," said general manager Keith Lupton. "Now, there are big shoes to fill."Fortunately for the Shorebirds, the Orioles have stocked them with some outstanding prospects who will be on display for the first time tonight in the home opener against the Capital City Bombers.

SALISBURY - Chilly weather and a treacherous infield conspired against left-hander Adam Loewen in his 2004 debut with the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds. Given a second chance to impress last night, the Orioles' top pitching prospect had to contend with a long layoff and a plate that kept moving on him. Going a week between starts because of rain-related postponements, Loewen walked seven batters in five innings in Delmarva's 7-4 win over the Lexington Legends at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

Dave Haehnel of the Delmarva Shorebirds leads Orioles minor leaguers in saves with 11 despite not having the typical profile of a closer. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound left-hander has a fastball in the 88- to 91-mph range, which is below the typical 90s to mid-90s for closers. Deception is his forte in getting hitters out with the game on the line. "David uses a lot of deception," said Shorebirds manager Gary Kendall, a Sparrows Point High graduate. "He hides the ball well, is very aggressive, has an excellent slider and keeps the ball down.

SALISBURY -- Three years ago, Joyce Dunn didn't know baseball from backgammon. She couldn't tell a line drive in the gap from a routine pop-up to center field, a cutoff throw from a drag bunt.That was before the Shorebirds came to town, before the Wicomico County elementary school principal volunteered to become a combination housemother, booster and Section 115, right-behind-the-dugout, season-ticket zealot for a couple dozen ballplayers she calls "the boys."Yes, "the boys" all dream that the grueling 15,000-mile season of bus rides to bush-league parks in six states will eventually pay off with a shot at baseball's big time.

VIRGINIA PRIDES itself on state's rights, but if ever there was an advertisement for federal control, it is our bay neighbor's destructive, cynical and stupid insistence on overfishing the horseshoe crab. Destructive, because the eggs of the crabs, which spawn throughout the Chesapeake but most heavily in Delaware Bay, are vital to many of the Western Hemisphere's migratory shorebirds. Great flights of red knots, ruddy turnstones, palmated sandpipers, dowitchers, sanderlings and other species travel up to 5,000 miles each spring between South America and northern breeding grounds.