Simon

WASHINGTON -Luke Scott played first base in Thursday's exhibition game and will be an option there during the regular season, Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I think he's an option there for us, though I don't think he's the first one by any means," Trembley said before Saturday's exhibition finale against the Washington Nationals. "The key with Luke is to get his bat in the lineup." With Felix Pie in left field, Scott will probably get most of his at-bats at designated hitter. He has never played first base in the major leagues and ranks behind Aubrey Huff and Ty Wigginton on the club's depth chart.

NEW YORK -- Chana Taub peered through a gap in the recently built plasterboard wall that sliced her three-story house in two. Straining to look at what used to be her living room, she worried that her husband was lurking on the other side. "I can't be near him," she whispered, just in case he was eavesdropping. "If I see him, I run the other way." Chana and Simon Taub are in the middle of a bitter divorce. Out of stubbornness - and to irritate each other - each refused to move out of the house they shared for 18 years.

"Homicide: Life on the Street" may have been canceled, but a new television production may soon begin filming in the same Fells Point location.Baltimore housing officials have scheduled a news conference today to announce that the Rec Pier in Fells Point -- the red brick building on Thames Street that was used until recently as the main production facility for the TV drama "Homicide" -- will continue to be available for filmmaking.One possible project, industry representatives say, is a proposed six-hour HBO mini-series based on "The Corner," an account of addicts' lives by David Simon and Edward Burns that was published in 1997.

It might seem appropriate that a theater company called Second Stage is doing the play "Chapter Two" this month. It seems even more appropriate when you realize that Second Stage used to be St. Martin's Players.For eight years before last fall, the company performed at St. Martin's in the Field Episcopal Church. When the church didn't renew its lease last fall, St. Martin's Players became Second Stage Playhouse Inc., starting a new phase in its history.President Mary James is still looking for a permanent home in Severna Park, but for now the troupe will work out of the Community Center at Woods, space owned by Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park.

At that moment, when the big shark finally was under control, Donnie Simon wanted more than anything to stand and walk aft to look over the transom of Yankee Babe as it rolled in the Atlantic's heavy swell off Ocean City.But when he tried to stand, he nearly fell. So he sat down again in the fighting chair and waited for the torturously tight muscles in his arms, back and legs to uncoil."I had been in the chair for 2 1/2 hours," said Simon, who earlier this month made his first shark-fishing trip and hooked up with a 585-pound thresher.

A woman who paid $65,000 for a dilapidated Forest Park house five weeks after it was acquired for $15,000 filed suit yesterday against the seller, who has made similar deals on about 80 Baltimore houses in the past three years.Ingrid Simon, a $7-an-hour security guard and single mother of a teen-age daughter, sued River Mortgage Inc. and Chuck Famous, the firm's president, in Baltimore Circuit Court.The suit also named the first mortgage lender, the settlement company, the appraiser and others involved in the deal, accusing them of fraud, conspiracy to defraud, violation of the Maryland Consumer Protection Act, and unfair or deceptive trade practices, among other things.

Pasadena Theatre Company promises to brighten our summer when it presents Neil Simon's 1976 comedy hit "California Suite" beginning tomorrow.One of America's most successful playwrights, Simon is the author of 30 plays, beginning with "Come Blow Your Horn" in 1961.Before writing plays, Simon was making us laugh as a successful television comedy writer. He once had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway, a record not likely to be broken soon. He is a shrewd chronicler of the American scene who can make us laugh at our foibles.

The return of Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" to the Colonial Players stage as part of the group's 50th anniversary celebration brings with it impressive debuts of three performers and a director at the theater on East Street in Annapolis.Todd Withey, a veteran of Anne Arundel Community College's Moonlight Troupers, and Denise Levien give strong performances as Corie and Paul Bratter, the beleaguered newlyweds living in a fifth-floor walk-up in a building full of eccentric characters in New York.

If you check into "California Suite," as depicted by the Pasadena Theatre Company, you will find fascinating company among the guests in Rooms 201 and 203 of the Beverly Hills Hotel.Neil Simon's characters are amusing, wise, witty, touching, and introspective as they explore past and present relationships with friends, lovers and mates.The first segment, "Visitor from New York," is classic Simon with Hannah's put-downs of former husband Billy, once a New Yorker, now a youthful and fit Californian.

The family of an 8-year-old Columbia boy who was crushed by a garage door at his home in 1995 is suing the manufacturer and seller of an electric garage door opener.The suit was filed by the family of Simon Decker against Sears Roebuck & Co., Chamberlain Manufacturing and Underwriters Laboratories Inc. The suit alleges the door opener was deficient and dangerous -- one of many similar suits filed in the past decade.Electric garage doors now require safety devices to prevent accidents, said Matthew Zimmerman, the Deckers' attorney, but that did not help the Deckers, whose opener was made between 1975 and 1979.

Writer-director Atom Egoyan's "Adoration" plays like a post-9/11 talk show done as modernist cinema. All it does is relentlessly pose questions about terrorism, prejudice, family dynamics, the subjectivity of experience, the objectivity of facts, and the speed and shallowness of communication on the Internet. The movie's fractured structure and contrived subplots obscure a potentially affecting story and do nothing to advance the debate on any of its incendiary issues. Egoyan hooks the audience with a fiction within a fiction.

On Friday, July 24, 2009, F. LESTER SIMON, JR., age 91 of Towson and Longboat Key, FL.; beloved husband of Mary Elizabeth "Libby" (nee Eatmon) Simon; devoted father of the late Randolph Simon. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends at the family owned Peaceful Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Center, P.A., 2325 York Road, Timonium, MD, 21093 on Thursday, July 30 from 11 A.M until 12 P.M. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Lester's name may be made to The Nature Conservancy, 4245 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 100,

F. Lester Simon Jr., a retired Peterson, Howell and Heather executive who enjoyed photography and painting, died Friday at St. Joseph Medical Center of complications from a fall. He was 91. Mr. Simon was born in Baltimore and raised in Windsor Hills. He was a 1935 graduate of Forest Park High School and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1939. During World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and served as an officer in the Pacific aboard the USS Sabine, a fleet oiler that had been built and launched at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point shipyard.

Alfredo Simon's long-awaited opportunity in a major league rotation lasted just two starts as the Orioles right-hander has decided to get ligament-reconstruction surgery on his pitching elbow, putting him out for at least a year. Simon, a 27-year-old whom the Orioles signed out of the Mexican League in August and watched pitch well enough this spring to earn the No. 3 spot in the rotation, was 0-1 with a 9.55 ERA in two starts. He was removed from his outing April 14 at Texas after just 1 1/3 innings because of elbow pain.

ARLINGTON, Texas -Needing reinforcements for a taxed bullpen, the Orioles on Wednesday recalled relievers Radhames Liz and Matt Albers from Triple-A Norfolk to take the roster spots of third baseman Melvin Mora and starting pitcher Alfredo Simon, who were placed on the 15-day disabled list. Mora has a left hamstring strain and won't be eligible to return until April 28. Simon, the Orioles' No. 3 starter, who left Tuesday's start after 1 1/3 innings because of elbow pain, is expected to be out for at least a month if not much longer after tests done Wednesday in Baltimore revealed damage in his right elbow.

ARLINGTON, Texas - The Orioles were well aware of the long-term ramifications, like the elbow injury to No. 3 starter Alfredo Simon and the taxing of their bullpen, but they opted to overlook them to celebrate an impressive and unlikely win considering the circumstances Tuesday night. The hero of the moment was Adam Jones, whose mammoth two-run homer off Texas Rangers reliever Eddie Guardado broke a 10th-inning tie and was the big hit in the 7-5 victory before an announced 14,041 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

WASHINGTON -Luke Scott played first base in Thursday's exhibition game and will be an option there during the regular season, Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I think he's an option there for us, though I don't think he's the first one by any means," Trembley said before Saturday's exhibition finale against the Washington Nationals. "The key with Luke is to get his bat in the lineup." With Felix Pie in left field, Scott will probably get most of his at-bats at designated hitter. He has never played first base in the major leagues and ranks behind Aubrey Huff and Ty Wigginton on the club's depth chart.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Right-hander Alfredo Simon rose to the occasion Monday night, pitching solid six very solid innings with a place in the Orioles' starting rotation apparently hanging in the balance. Simon carried a no-hit bid into the fourth inning against a representative Mets lineup and dueled New York left-hander Oliver Perez into the late innings at Tradition Field. The Mets won the game, 2-1, but the outcome paled in significance to the performance that might have locked up a major league job for a pitcher who didn't appear to be in serious consideration for a place in the rotation when training camp opened.

Simon impresses Orioles starter Alfredo Simon did his part to keep the Orioles in a game they eventually lost in the bottom of the ninth inning in Viera, Fla. An error by Justin Turner with two outs allowed Anderson Hernandez to score and complete a two-run comeback in the ninth. Simon, however, kept the Nationals off the board for the first four innings. He retired the first 11 batters he faced and allowed one hit and one walk overall as he competes for one of the three open rotation spots.

On March 6, 2009, NORMAN R. SIMON; loving companion of Vivian H. Dixon; devoted father of Charlotte Montgomery, Michael Simon, Mandy Moxey, and Bonnie Higgins. Also survived by 14 grandchildren, one great-grandchild, five sisters and three brothers. Friends may call at the Connelly Funeral Home of Essex, 300 Mace a p