Toronto Blue Jays

American League East Division champions this decade:Year, Club1990, Boston Red Sox1991, Toronto Blue Jays1992, Toronto Blue Jays1993, Toronto Blue Jays1994, Strike1995, Boston Red Sox1996, New York Yankees1997, Orioles1998, New York YankeesPub Date: 9/10/98

By taking two out of three games on the road against the New York Yankees to improve to 16-9 this season, the Orioles are off to one of their best starts in team history. So, how does this team compare to the squads of yesteryear? Well, for starters, of the 11 times before this season in which the Orioles won at least 16 of their first 25 games, only once have they not finished with a winning record -- in 2005. Through 25 games, the Orioles have 16 wins for the sixth time since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954.

The Orioles today announced their 2006 schedule. The team will open the 2006 season on Monday, April 3 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards (full schedule below). April 3 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7 Boston Red Sox 8 Boston Red Sox 9 Boston Red Sox 10 at Tampa Bay Devil Rays 11 at Tampa Bay Devil Rays 12 at Tampa Bay Devil Rays 13 at Tampa Bay Devil Rays 14 Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 15 Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 16 Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 17 Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 18 Cleveland Indians 19 Cleveland Indians 20 Cleveland Indians 21 at New York Yankees 22 at New York Yankees 23 at New York Yankees 25 at Toronto Blue Jays 26 at Toronto Blue Jays 27 at Toronto Blue Jays 28 Seattle Mariners 29 Seattle Mariners 30 Seattle Mariners May 1 Toronto Blue Jays 2 Toronto Blue Jays 3 at Texas Rangers 4 at Texas Rangers 5 at Boston Red Sox 6 at Boston Red Sox 7 at Boston Red Sox 9 Detroit Tigers 10 Detroit Tigers 11 Detroit Tigers 12 Kansas City Royals 13 Kansas City Royals 14 Kansas City Royals 15 Boston Red Sox 16 Boston Red Sox 17 Boston Red Sox 19 at Washington Nationals 20 at Washington Nationals 21 at Washington Nationals 22 at Seattle Mariners 23 at Seattle Mariners 24 at Seattle Mariners 25 at Seattle Mariners 26 at Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 27 at Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 28 at Los Angeles Angels-Anaheim 30 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 31 Tampa Bay Devil...

Jason Hammel's impressive ride for the Orioles continued Wednesday night. Hammel threw seven shutout innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out seven. In his past two starts, he has fanned 17 batters in 13 innings. Hammel's fastball hit 94 and 95 mph, and he was throwing it at will, with excellent movement, seemingly wherever he wanted. He has not allowed more than two runs in any of his four starts as an Oriole, three of them registering as “quality” - six or more innings and three runs or fewer.

BASEBALLAmerican League * Detroit Tigers -- Signed Tony Bernazard (infielder) to a one-year contract. Released Mike Schwabe (pitcher).* Milwaukee Brewers -- Agreed to terms with Teddy Higuera (pitcher) on a four-year contract. Signed Franklin Stubbs (infielder-outfielder) to a three-year contract.* Toronto Blue Jays -- Signed Pat Tabler (designated hitter) to a two-year contract. Agreed to terms with Ravelo Manzanillo (pitcher) and assigned him to Syracuse of the International League.National LeagueAtlanta Braves -- Signed Sid Bream (first baseman)

Baseball Atlanta Braves -- Added P David Nied to their World Series roster. Dropped P Kent Mercker. Toronto Blue Jays -- Activated DH/IF Rance Mulliniks and added him to their World Series roster. Dropped 3B Tom Quinlan from the roster. Pro basketball Utah Jazz -- Extended the contract of F Tyrone Corbin through the 1995-96 season. Football San Francisco 49ers -- Placed WR John Taylor on injured reserve.

Fleer's special 12-card insert set featuring the game's top fastball pitchers, Smoke 'N Heat, will be available only in the 1992 Christmas baseball set. David Cone, who ended the season with the Toronto Blue Jays, wears a New York Mets uniform in this set. The cards are gold-foil stamped and UV-coated. The rest of the Christmas set is 720 cards from the regular 1992 set.

Brian Roberts was hit on the left foot or ankle by Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Litsch in the bottom of the sixth inning and limped off the field to a loud ovation. Clearly, the crowd recognized the possibility that fans were seeing the last appearance by Roberts in an Orioles uniform. ... I think the Orioles will sign him to an extension in the next few months. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog)

Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth was a first-round pick (22nd overall) by the Orioles in the 1997 draft and was eventually traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher John Bale without having made a major league appearance in an O's uniform. He was traded to the Dodgers for Jason Frasor in 2004 and signed with the Phillies as a free agent two years ago. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/schmuckblog)

Quote: " Maybe I've underestimated how tough it is to get rhythm and experience just coming in as a reliever. It's been one speed and one location out of the bullpen." - Dodgers' Orel Hershiser It's a fact: Barry Bonds' two-homer effort for the Giants was his 43rd multihomer game, tying him with Lou Gehrig and Dave Kingman for 13th on the career list. Who's hot: The Brewers' Jeromy Burnitz, homered against the Cubs for his fourth home run in his last five games. Who's not: The Rockies' Scott Karl allowed five hits, six runs in 4 2/3 innings against Houston, including Ken Caminiti's slam.

After starting with three straight victories over the Minnesota Twins, the Orioles failed their first test of the young season by being swept by the New York Yankees at Camden Yards. They played competitively with the Bronx Bombers -- taking two games to extra innings before losing -- but that won't help the team in the standings. Wins and losses are what count. Right now, the Orioles have three of each. Now they'll need to get ready for the next obstacle -- an extended 10-game road trip against the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels.

The obvious “one that got away” for the Orioles on Tuesday was first baseman Prince Fielder -- though I have been arguing all offseason that you have to be in the game to lose. And the Orioles were never in the game. They never had any intention of spending $214 million or giving a nine-year contact to the hefty slugger, who agreed to those terms with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. A much less heralded signing, but one that should still interest Orioles fans, was the report Tuesday from Fox Sports that the Toronto Blue Jays had agreed to a one-year, $4.5 million deal with reliever Francisco Cordero.

I don't remember exactly when the Orioles became the Kim Kardashian of baseball, the organization everyone loves to take shots at. But this dragged-out search for a new general manager isn't helping matters. Wasn't it back in early October that Andy MacPhail threw his bags in the car and went fish-tailing out of the Warehouse parking lot cackling: "free at last!" So what's taking so long to hire the new guy? I'll give you my stock answer: Who knows? It was former Orioles GM Syd Thrift who famously observed of all the talented free agents who spurned the club more than a decade ago: "It's like we're offering Confederate money.

Adam Loewen said he's not as emotional this weekend as he was Wednesday, when he made his debut as an outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays — more than three years after he pitched his final game for the Orioles. But he's not acting like facing his old club is routine. "I came up with the Orioles. I still watch a lot of their games because I am pretty much a fan of the Orioles. I was drafted by them, I know all the guys. I know the awesome people in the organization that are running it now," Loewen, the fourth overall pick in the 2002 draft who never realized his pitching potential because of injuries, said Friday.

I t's impossible to make sense of the things we will never understand, so let's just remember Mike Flanagan for all the things he did during a very eventful life and a very impressive athletic career that played out on several stages. Flanny, as pretty much everyone called him, played college basketball alongside Julius Erving and pitched for the Orioles in the days when they still smelled of champagne. He went on to become a respected major league pitching coach and a pretty good broadcaster before rising to become the executive vice president of the team that inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1994.

TORONTO - About two hours before tonight's game, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones paced around the visiting clubhouse at Rogers Centre and kept repeating to nobody in particular, “Let's win a series.” It was more playful encouragement than fiery pep talk, but his message was clear. Jones and his teammates just appear incapable of executing it these days. The Orioles remained winless in their past eight series overall, and in their past 10 series here, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-5, before an announced 16,152.

TORONTO -- The Orioles started their first multi-city road trip with a victory in New York and ended it with another one here. As they packed their bags and headed back home, everything that happened in between, including closer Chris Ray's nail-biting ride through the ninth inning last night, hardly mattered. Behind a strong outing from Kris Benson and steady contributions from an offense energized by Corey Patterson, the Orioles downed the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-5, before 18,756 at the Rogers Centre last night, salvaging one victory in the three-game series, and breaking a four-game losing streak.

Blue Jays@Orioles Where -- Camden Yards When -- Tonight, 7:05; tomorrow, 4:35 p.m.; Sunday, 1:35 p.m. What now? -- The Toronto Blue Jays, third in the American League East, are still hoping against hope to catch the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Online -- www.orioles.com Pro Basketball WNBA playoffs: Sun@Mystics Where -- Verizon Center, Washington When -- Tonight, 7 What now? -- In the opener of a first-round WNBA playoff series, the Washington Mystics are looking for their second win over the Connecticut Sun, having lost two of three head-to-head matchups during the season.

TORONTO — For one night, the Orioles got real comfortable in what has been their own house of horrors, turning the series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays into a glorified round of batting practice. On the other end of so many beating at the Rogers Centre, the Orioles delivered one of their own, pounding out four home runs and a season-high eight extra-base hits en route to a 12-4 rout Tuesday in front of an announced 17,477. The Orioles' fourth victory in Toronto in the past 29 games was all but secured by the middle innings when the visitors scored two runs in both the second and third innings, and then three runs in the both the fourth and fifth innings.

This one got ugly early. Really, really ugly. Maybe it's a good thing only 14,032 braved the heat and humidity at Camden Yards to see it. If you're an Orioles fan, here's the announcement you probably don't want to hear in the second inning with one of your promising young starters on the mound: "Mark Hendrickson is now warming in the bullpen." In this case, the promising young starter was left-hander Brian Matusz, who lasted just 52 pitches Sunday and was shelled for five hits and six runs in just 1 2/3 innings in the Orioles' desultory 10-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.