Tigers

MINEOLA, Texas -- The Rathburns are the kind of indulgent pet owners who treat their animals like children -- bottle-feeding them as babies, building them a pool with a waterfall, posing with them for Christmas photos. That their pet cats happen to be Bengal tigers probably would raise eyebrows in most places but Texas, where exotic animals have become such a part of the landscape that they even have their own name: "Texotics." This, after all, is the state where hunters flock to bag scimitar-horned oryx and aoudad sheep, restaurants casually offer elk and wild boar and having a really big cat in your back yard has gotten so trendy, some say more tigers live in Texas than their ancestral home of India.

After upsetting No. 4 seeded George Mason in the CAA baseball tournament this morning, No. 6 seeded Towson plays again tonight. Freshman Brendan Butler was 3-for-3 and scored four runs and sophomore Zach Fisher was 3-for-6 and knocked in two runs in the Tigers' 16-8 victory over the Patriots. Towson, which lost to Delaware in 12 innings Wednesday night, will face the lowest-seeded one-loss team in the next round this evening. Towson (27-30) eliminated George Mason (33-24) from the tournament.

People have been able to go to the zoo in Aschersleben, Germany, to catch a glimpse of these two, playful cuties. They're on view for one hour every day. The cubs don't have names yet. They were born on Oct. 28.  

Tiger Woods will be holding a news conference this afternoon at Congressional Country Club to promote the return of his AT&T National tournament. The event moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia last summer while theU.S. Open was being played at the Bethesda club. In researching a story for Tuesday's newspaper, I came across an interesting stat: Woods is currently in the worst three-tournament stretch of his legendary 16-year career. After winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March by five shots -- prompting even the cynical Johnny Miller to proclaim that "He's back!"

To find the catalyst for Towson's second-half dominance against Loyola's women's lacrosse team Saturday, you had to look far from the Tigers' attack. Goalie Mary Teeters made several critical plays through the middle of the second half to keep the No. 17 Tigers rolling to a 14-10 victory over No. 9 Loyola at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field. After trailing by three goals late in the first half, Towson (2-0) emerged from the break with free-position goals by Nikki Marcinik and Jess Dunn to take a 9-8 lead.

Like Rudolf Nureyev , the Tigers have turned on a dime. They appeared to be downsizing less than two years ago when they traded Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson in moves that seemed to show owner Mike Ilitch's concern over a bloated payroll. But that viewpoint passed before the 2010 season started, with free agent Johnny Damon added from the flexibility created by that provocative three-team trade. General manager Dave Dombrowski said the Tigers were only regrouping.

Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz overcame a rocky start in the first inning against the Tigers Friday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium, but settled in for another steady spring start. Matusz yielded hits to the first four batters he faced and gave up three runs in the first inning, but allowed just one base hit after that. "(I) just came out of the gates amped up with a lot of energy," Matusz said. "The first inning, it killed me not getting ahead in the count, gave up some two-strike hits.

Detroit beat the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday to win the three-game series. The Tigers have won nine of their past 12 games since they were swept by the Minnesota Twins in the middle of the month. A major reason has been the performance of their pitching staff, which entered play Wednesday with a 3.88 ERA. Ace right-hander Justin Verlander, whom the Orioles will see Saturday, has won his past five decisions and given up one earned run or fewer in four of them. Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera leads the American League with a .374 batting average to go along with 10 home runs.

The Orioles travel to Lakeland today to play Detroit in Tigertown. Left-hander Brian Matusz will make his third Grapefruit League start after throwing four shutout innings in his last outing. The O's will face reigning AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, who is also making his third spring start, here at Joker Marchant Stadium. Some other notes from clubhouse this morning: Catcher Taylor Teagarden, who had an epidural for his ailing back Wednesday, wouldn't count himself out of Opening Day. He said he's had a back injury before, back in 2005.

SARASOTA, Fla. - Tigers outfielder Tony Plagman drove in three runs, including a two-run triple in the ninth inning off Orioles reliever Jim Johnson to hand the Orioles a 6-4 loss Friday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. Orioles left-hander Brian Matusz, a favorite to win the team's No. 5 rotation spot, allowed three first-inning runs but yielded just one hit over the next four innings. "(I was) able to go out and come back after a tough first and still be able to go deep in the game and keep my team in it," Matusz said.

BETHESDA - A victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March seemed to signal Tiger Woods' return to a short list of the world's best golfers. His five-shot win was reminiscent of what Woods had done for more than a decade - right down to the signature fist pump. That victory - his first in 2 ½ years on the PGA Tour and his 72nd overall - seems almost as distant as his last major championship, nearly four years ago at theU.S. Open. The win has been quickly overshadowed by what has been the worst three-tournament stretch of Woods' legendary career.

Kent Desormeaux, who was taken off his mounts Friday at Belmont after failing a Breathalyzer test, will not ride Sagamore Farm's Tiger Walk in the Preakness. Sagamore manager Tom Mullikin said Ramon Dominguez will get the ride. "We just can't have that," Mullikin said Friday after watching Sagamore filly Millionreasonswhy finish second in the eighth race. "We're trying to be professional. We don't need those distractions. " Dominguez is tied for the best winning percentage among all jockeys this year (with Javier Castellano, at 25 percent)

Tiger Woods, welcome to my world. You say the PGA Tour needs to speed up the pace of play? Try playing a round of golf on the weekend on the kind of courses where hackers like me play. By the third hole, when the course is backed up like the JFX during the morning rush hour, your head will be ready to explode. Under six hours? Not a chance. You might as well pitch a tent -- you'll be there all day. Everyone's talking about all the waggles Kevin Na broke out during The Players Championship last weekend.

Kevin Plank can't help himself. The Under Armour CEO might know, in his heart of hearts, that his horse is a long shot against the world's finest 3-year-old thoroughbreds. His farm manager, Tom Mullikin, describes the dark bay colt as more "grinder" than star. But Plank's own rise, from blindly ambitious college kid to billionaire apparel mogul, is an underdog tale. So he can't help but play Joe Namath and talk big about his colt's chances in the 137th Preakness Stakes. "Tommy, did you guarantee on Tiger Walk?"

Penn State women's lacrosse coach Missy Doherty enjoyed her first trip back to Towson since leaving the Tigers two years ago to take over the Nittany Lions' program. The Tigers didn't enjoy the visit so much. From the fourth minute of Saturday's game, eighth-seeded Towson had to play catch up and never made it all the way back as Penn State took a 15-8 victory in the NCAA Division I tournament first round at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Instead of the Tigers advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time, the Lions will travel to No. 1-seeded Florida on Saturday . The game figured to be closer with two of the nation's top goalies, Towson's Mary Teeters and Penn State's Dana Cahill , but the Lions were the only team other than Maryland and Syracuse to slip 13 goals past Teeters.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with an area college lacrosse player to help you become more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Towson junior midfielder Kelly Custer from Aston, Pa., which is south of Philadelphia. As the Tigers prepare to host Penn State on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Custer is tied for the team lead with 33 goals, but she contributes all over the field, leading the Tigers with 41 draw controls and ranking among the leaders in ground balls and caused turnovers.

Orioles home opener chat with Matt Vensel

When Orioles manager Buck Showalter juggled his lineup an hour before Thursday night's game to insert previously hobbled Luke Scott into left field, he considered having struggling Adam Jones take a seat. Showalter could have used the opportunity to get left-handers Scott, who had missed three games with a strained right groin, and Felix Pie in the lineup together against Detroit right-hander Brad Penny. Showalter, though, sat Pie and stuck with the right-handed-hitting Jones, and the center fielder busted out of his early-season slump in a big way, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth and adding a game-deciding sacrifice fly in a five-run seventh as the Orioles topped the Tigers, 9-5. "To say it never crossed my mind wouldn't be completely honest, but it wasn't something I did," Showalter said about resting Jones, who entered the game 2-for-19 in the season's first five games.

Towson accomplished its preseason objective of qualifying for the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. But as the No. 4 seed, the Tigers get the unenviable assignment of trying to upend top-seeded Massachusetts in Wednesday's semifinal round in Amherst, Mass. The Minutemen are the only remaining unbeaten team in Division I, going 13-0 overall and 6-0 in the conference. They routed Towson, 14-3, in Amherst on April 7. The odds would not appear to be in the Tigers' favor, but coach Shawn Nadelen predicted that the players would not be intimidated by the task before them.

Towson achieved its preseason objective of qualifying for the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament. But the Tigers didn't do it with the kind of flourish they might have been hoping for. Towson (7-7 overall and 2-4 in the CAA) is in the midst of a four-game losing streak - capped by Saturday's 6-3 loss to conference foe St. Joseph's, a program that had yet to beat a league opponent. That all changed Saturday as the Hawks shut out the Tigers in the second and third quarters.