Toronto

TORONTO -- A strike could cripple Hollywood next summer, but the tension was already simmering at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. "I think there's a feeling in the air, a bit of a frenzy," actor Joaquin Phoenix said. Threatened strikes by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), after its contract expires on May 2, and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) when its contract expires on June 30, could shut down production of movies and television shows indefinitely, costing the entertainment industry billions of dollars.

TORONTO -- This time, the Los Angeles Kings showed up fo the third period.Two nights earlier, they had disappeared in the final 20 minutes of a tied game, getting outshot, 22-1, in a mysterious non-performance that led to a defeat in Game 1 of the Campbell Conference finals.Last night was different. With the score tied against Toronto after two periods, the Kings came out strong in the third, got the winning goal from Tomas Sandstrom, held the opposition to one shot in the first 14 minutes and hung on for a 3-2 victory before a sellout crowd of 15,720 at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Thunder, knocked out of first place for the first time all season with a loss in Toronto on Friday night, answered with a vengeance last night.It was not unlike a spiffy sports car matching maneuverability and horsepower with a farm vehicle with historic plates the way the home team handled the Syracuse Smash, a team the Thunder lost to on the road two months ago.Everybody, or just about everyone wearing a Baltimore uniform, got involved, as the team...

TORONTO - Orioles right-hander Sidney Ponson finally received the long-awaited approval for a minister's permit, allowing him to travel here and make his scheduled start tomorrow. Ponson caught an afternoon flight from Baltimore and arrived at Rogers Centre during the eighth inning of last night's game. "We're just glad it's all resolved, and we'll go from here," said Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli. "I think the ballclub ... worked very hard at getting this done. You always want to get him in the clubhouse.

A 40-year-old Baltimore doctor who developed symptoms of SARS after a trip to Toronto was admitted yesterday to Johns Hopkins Hospital - two days after he showed up sick for work at another local hospital and was sent home. Health officials said the doctor, a resident at Sinai Hospital working a rotation at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, did not come into contact with patients while he was on the job Monday, although his supervisor was sent home as a precaution. Meanwhile, fears about another possible SARS case in Baltimore eased yesterday as a 26-year-old Hong Kong woman with symptoms of the deadly respiratory illness improved at Maryland General Hospital.

TORONTO -- Washington Bullets guard Mark Price knew there was a problem even during the pre-game warm-ups. His intentions were to increase his minutes gradually, but, in his first attempt to play back-to-back games, Price last night suffered his first setback since his return."

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Since 1984, when his original team, the Chicago Cubs, swapped him to Cleveland, Joe Carter, one of baseball's most reliable run producers, has been traded three times.So, he wasn't overly surprised last December at the blockbuster deal that brought him to the revamped Toronto Blue Jays with second baseman Roberto Alomar."I was never upset about being traded to Toronto," he said. "The only thing that bothered me about San Diego was giving up free agency to sign a three-year contract with them."

TORONTO -- Officially painting the American League East orange and black, the Orioles last night captured their first division title since 1983.They did it by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-3, at SkyDome. They also became only the sixth team in major-league history to lead from the first day to the last."This is something rare something extremely special, and I think everyone connected with it from Mr. [Peter] Angelos on down appreciates it," said Orioles assistant general manager Kevin Malone.

The Toronto International Film Festival commemorated Sept. 11 yesterday in the best way it knew how: through cinema. The Guys, about a fire captain (Anthony LaPaglia) who works with an editor (Sigourney Weaver) to write eulogies for his men who died that day, screened after a popular run as an off-Broadway play. The critical consensus was that Jim Simpson's small-budget film, adapted from his staging at New York's Flea Theater, lacked emotional heft, but that LaPaglia turned in an authentic performance.

TORONTO - Just when health officials think they're close to controlling the SARS outbreak here, leaks have developed in their containment plan. In recent days, they've scrambled to track down more than 100 mourners at the funeral of an elderly man who infected his family. They had to shut down three schools because two students may have come into contact with SARS patients. And, most exasperating of all in this civil nation, they had to order a dozen people into quarantine who refused to go voluntarily.