Team Meeting

The usual comedic routine was missing from Kevin Millar's act yesterday. He was nothing but serious, an appropriate tone when a team has lost 13 of its past 15 games and its manager must read about his job security almost on a daily basis. Better to hold the laughter. After a 6-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Camden Yards that completed another sweep and dropped the Orioles a season-worst 11 games below .500, fueling more speculation that manager Sam Perlozzo could be fired this week, Millar chastised reporters for being too jovial in an otherwise-quiet clubhouse and revealed his plans to call a players-only meeting tomorrow in San Diego.

Rather than head onto the field to stretch at 4: 15 p.m. yesterday, the Orioles were kept inside the clubhouse for about 20 minutes while manager Ray Miller conducted his first team meeting.Information was scarce. Miller is adamant about keeping such matters private. But he clearly has become agitated with the club's performance and apparently did most of the talking."It was just a state of the union, a pep talk. How's that?" Miller said.Asked if it was well-received, he said, "I don't know.

When the Seattle SuperSonics signed center Jim McIlvaine last summer to a seven-year, $35 million contract, star forward Shawn Kemp pouted.One would think that by now Kemp would have shaken off his displeasure and begun to play with the pride he displayed during last season's NBA Finals when he had a breakout performance against the Chicago Bulls.Apparently, Kemp hasn't shaken off his displeasure.Last weekend he missed a team flight, and then missed a practice. This week he was late for a team meeting.

NEW YORK -- It's still over.The New York Yankees held another team meeting yesterday, then went out and suffered another in a long series of discouraging losses. The slump goes on. The division title -- which manager Joe Torre so gracefully conceded last weekend -- isn't even a consideration anymore.Now it's just a matter of making sure that the Yankees don't self-destruct and blow their comfortable wild-card lead."It's like looking for a job," Torre said yesterday. "People keep saying no until eventually somebody says yes. The only thing you can do about it is to keep grinding and keep going out there."

ST. LOUIS -- Team meetings in the middle of the summer usually don't amount to much, forgotten in the blur of games that follow. But when you call a team meeting before what could be your team's last game of the season, and your team is the defending world champion, that carries a little more significance.Or does it?Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox called a meeting before last night's 14-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, and his team finally played up to the level -- and above -- most expected from it going into this best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

On the field: Another good day for Roberto Alomar. When he singled to open the fourth inning, he extended his hitting streak to eight games, and in the third inning, Alomar started a nifty 4-6-3 double play when he fielded a grounder hit by his brother, Indians catcher Sandy Alomar, and flipped quickly to shortstop Cal Ripken.In the dugout: Orioles manager Davey Johnson followed up on his plan to hold a team meeting before yesterday's game, perhaps the shortest team meeting ever -- about a minute.

When Georgia Tech lost by 16 points to Georgia, the Yellow Jackets called a team meeting to clear the air.When they lost by two to little Mount St. Mary's on Monday,coach Bobby Cremins gave them the day off -- and dismissed the loss as the price of three games in six days."

The Orioles played like April fools just long enough to make everyone wonder. Is it possible they are not the division contenders everyone assumed they would be?It is a difficult question made more difficult by the schizophrenic nature of baseball. One day, the Orioles are 5-13 and wondering if the next team meeting is going to require sleeping bags. Three days later, they are in the midst of a three-game winning streak that has revived the despairing public.Nevertheless, the team that was supposed to challenge the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League East title needed a three-game losing streak from the Cleveland Indians to get out of the cellar.

TORONTO -- Olie Kolzig's knee wasn't the only thing dislocated on the Washington Capitals after last night's 7-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. There are plenty of problems on this club, winless five games into the NHL season."

Brooke Holland's eyes sparkle when she talks about leading the Westminster girls basketball team down the floor on a fast break for two quick points.The junior guard has done that often enough this season to put up some impressive numbers (12.4 points a game, 4.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists) for the Owls.That part of the game has been fun for Holland. But her enthusiasm dims when she talks about a lack of teamwork on the up-and-down Westminster squad."There are a lot of problems on the team," said Holland.

In the midst of a horrible offensive slump that has sent the Orioles into a tailspin, the question hangs in the air like another soft fly ball with men in scoring position. Who will lead them out of this funk? The answer, unfortunately, might be no one. There is no natural leader in the Orioles' clubhouse - no one to organize a players-only meeting or call a teammate out for failing to run hard or remain focused. Brian Roberts? He's not the in-your-face type, and he's struggling to lead by example at the moment.

Western Howard County's Relay For Life, the overnight fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, will hold a team meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Glenwood Community Center, 2400 Route 97, Cooksville. The theme for the meeting is "You Are the Heart of Relay," and information about Relay for Life will be provided. Everyone is welcome. Friends and relatives of cancer survivors, religious organizations, service clubs, schools and the public are invited to form teams, which raise money during the year for the event.

Dislocated toes to end E.J. Henderson's season NFL Minnesota Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson will miss the rest of the season after being placed on injured reserve because of dislocated toes on his left foot. Team officials confirmed the move yesterday before the Vikings' game against the New Orleans Saints. They said Henderson (Maryland) traveled to Baltimore and had successful surgery at the Institute for Foot & Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Medical Center. Henderson was injured during the Vikings' loss at Tennessee on Sept.

The UMBC men's lacrosse team's recent run - three straight victories and four wins in the past five games - can trace its roots to a loss. Minutes after a humbling 13-4 setback to Rutgers on Feb. 23 that yielded an 0-2 start, the Retrievers held a team meeting. According to coach Don Zimmerman, reserve sophomore defenseman Tim Eagan seized the opportunity, imploring his teammates to play with the kind of energy that the team hadn't shown in losses to Delaware and the Scarlet Knights. Then senior attackman Conor Devlin reminded his teammates of his freshman year when a promising 2005 squad compiled a 7-8 record and missed the NCAA tournament.

The usual comedic routine was missing from Kevin Millar's act yesterday. He was nothing but serious, an appropriate tone when a team has lost 13 of its past 15 games and its manager must read about his job security almost on a daily basis. Better to hold the laughter. After a 6-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Camden Yards that completed another sweep and dropped the Orioles a season-worst 11 games below .500, fueling more speculation that manager Sam Perlozzo could be fired this week, Millar chastised reporters for being too jovial in an otherwise-quiet clubhouse and revealed his plans to call a players-only meeting tomorrow in San Diego.

Billy Reybold, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound junior, has played a big role in the Gators' turnaround season, averaging 15 points and nearly eight rebounds a game in his second varsity season. After going 5-13 last season, Reservoir took a 10-12 mark into this week's regional playoffs. Along with basketball, Reybold has played tight end and defensive end on Reservior's varsity football team the past two years and has been a lacrosse midfielder since his freshman year. He has a 4.0 grade point average with an interest in math and computer science.

College Park -- He told them to play against Clemson - the nation's last unbeaten Division I team - as if their "lives depended on it." In a players-only meeting prompted by Maryland's ugly loss to Miami on Wednesday, senior guard D.J. Strawberry and his teammates spoke of the importance of getting back to the way they had started the season - with eight straight wins. Maryland@Virginia Tuesday, 8 p.m., Ch. 54, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM

COLLEGE PARK -- Everything seemed to be just a little bit behind schedule yesterday at Comcast Center. Senior guard Mike Jones showed up late to the 8:30 a.m. team meeting and therefore did not start, and the Terps waited until late in the first half to make any kind of a surge against American. Mt. St. Mary's @Maryland Thursday, 8 p.m., 1300 AM, 105.7 FM

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Manager Sam Perlozzo saw enough disturbing signs in the Orioles' 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in 10 innings Tuesday that he planned to hold a team meeting before yesterday's series finale. But Perlozzo slept on it and decided to meet just with his catcher and starting infielders, a group that includes several team leaders. Perlozzo spoke with Ramon Hernandez, Kevin Millar, Brian Roberts, Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora for about 15 minutes, urging them to stay positive and play within themselves.

Brian Billick will return as the Ravens' coach next season, a decision that owner Steve Bisciotti surprisingly announced yesterday as the best way to end consecutive underachieving seasons. The Ravens have had their most trying season under Billick, matching the worst start in franchise history at 3-8 to put their Super Bowl-winning coach on the hot seat. But the Ravens' strong finish - winning three of their past four games, including outscoring opponents 78-26 in two prime-time games - likely saved Billick's job. During what players described as an intense, 10-minute speech to open the team meeting yesterday, Bisciotti unexpectedly delivered his first vote of confidence this season, removing months of uncertainty about Billick's job status only four days away from Sunday's season finale in Cleveland.