Two Games

COLLEGE PARK -With their most indispensable player suddenly dispensed to a spectator role, the Terps were a team with no options. Fouls handcuffed Greivis Vasquez to the bench, and the Terps' hopes were suddenly shackled to an unfortunate, inescapable reality. Despite the best efforts of players like Adrian Bowie, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne, in the waning moments of last night's 78-67 loss to Duke, Maryland needed a leader, not a cheerleader. The Terps flirted with the possibility of winning without their star player; they winked an eye and played footsie with a chance at upsetting the No. 7 Blue Devils.

Looking to end the NFL's longest current winning streak, the Ravens will continue to start Kyle Boller at quarterback over Troy Smith, coach Brian Billick said yesterday. The Ravens (4-10) have lost a franchise-record eight straight games and could tie the team record for defeats in a season if they lose their final two games (at the Seattle Seahawks and home against the Pittsburgh Steelers). Determined to keep the team's focus on winning, Billick remains committed to Boller despite the former first-round pick suffering a mild concussion Sunday.

Good morning -- Gary Williams -- Be thankful that the past two games - and that 2-for-25 three-point effort - were in November instead of March.

NEW YORK -- After attempting just nine shots in the Indiana Pacers' Game 3 loss, Reggie Miller vowed to be more aggressive last night. But on a night on which Miller again looked ordinary, it was the play of two other struggling players that provided the offensive boost.Jalen Rose rebounded from a postseason scoring low of two points to contribute 19 off the bench, while starting small forward Chris Mullin added 18 as the Pacers defeated the New York Knicks, 90-78, to even the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series at 2-2.In splitting the two games in New York, the Pacers regained the home-court advantage that the team lost in dropping the series opener at Market Square Arena.

NEW YORK -- The Atlanta Braves have one more game to lose, but whatever realistic hope they had of winning the 95th World Series disappeared over the left-field fence at 11: 37 last night.New York Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis launched a fly ball into the left-field bullpen to lead off the 10th inning and carry the defending world champions to a 6-5 comeback victory that put the 1999 baseball season on 24 hours notice.The moonshot off reliever Mike Remlinger was Curtis' second home run of the game and the fourth for the Yankees, who took a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Will Clark knew nothing about the young pitchers he was facing in yesterday's intrasquad game. Dave Evans? Carlos Medina? Richard Bauer? You've got to be kidding.Evans won his battle with Clark, getting a called third strike on a pitch that appeared well off the plate. Clark just grinned as he walked to the dugout, then unloaded on the innocent arms that followed.Appearing in his second intrasquad game, Clark lined a two-run single off Medina and drilled a two-run homer off Bauer that crashed into the empty bleachers in right field during the A team's 12-7 victory.

NEW YORK -- Getting his initials mixed up, Red Sox manager Jimy Williams referred to the American League Championship Series as the ACL instead of the ALCS before Game 2 last night at Yankee Stadium.Williams is infamous for botching names, and this was a good one even by his standards. The ACL is a knee ligament, the anterior cruciate ligament. You don't win it, you tear it up.By the time Williams figures out the right name for the series, it might be over.The Yankees have a 2-0 lead after coming from behind for the second straight night to beat the Sox last night, and, at this point, you have to wonder if the Sox will ever win a game, much less the whole ACL, er, the whole ALCS.

Cubs: Catcher Benito Santiago left after six innings with a bruised right big toe.Mets: Orel Hershiser is 22-9 with a 3.18 ERA lifetime against the Giants. New York has won 17 of 23 and is 36-22 on the road. Mike Piazza had seven straight hits over two games.Phillies: In the first two games of the series, Philadelphia has stranded 12 runners in scoring position. Doug Glanville had two hits and extended his hitting streak to 11 games (17-for-50).

UMBC and Morgan State must be in hog heaven.While others scrap around for games this time of year, traveling to play teams ranging from low-majors such as Liberty to powerhouses such as Connecticut, the Retrievers and Bears each get two games against comparable teams this weekend in the Conference Challenge.The UMBC men and women (both 2-3) are hosting the event at the Retriever Activities Complex, beginning at 7 p.m. today, when the UMBC men play against Drexel.The UMBC women will play Penn at 2: 45 p.m. tomorrow, and the Morgan State men (0-5)

It appears to be one down, three years to go for the America East as it clears obstacles for Towson men's basketball signee Tamir Goodman.In the 2000-01 season, there won't be any Towson regular-season games on Friday evenings or Saturday afternoons. This is good news for Goodman, a senior at Takoma Academy in Takoma Park whose Orthodox Jewish faith forbids participation from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.All that appears to be needed is for Hofstra to sign off on the schedule, more than 11 months before the first tip-off.

Ashley Spivey totaled three goals in two games as the No. 2 McDonogh girls soccer team won both by scores of 2-0 in their invitational tournament at St. Paul's on Saturday. Friday's opening games were canceled and the venue changed because of inclement weather. Taylor Cummings scored 18 minutes into the game and Spivey added an insurance goal at the 30-minute mark as McDonogh beat St. Paul VI of Virginia. Spivey had both goals, one in each half, against nationally ranked Pennington (N.J.

When he failed to get a run in with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, Orioles first baseman Aubrey Huff crouched down and threatened to pound his fist into the ground. Two innings later, after his bid for a three-run homer died on the right-field warning track, the normally stoic Nick Markakis angrily kicked at the dirt. And after Adam Jones grounded out to end a game the Orioles probably should have never lost, the center fielder exchanged words with first base umpire Wally Bell and tossed his helmet toward the dugout.

Orioles manager Dave Trembley expected to be suspended by Major League Baseball after his tirade Tuesday, and so he took in stride Friday's news that he would be sitting out the next two games. "I'm not surprised or shocked. It happened. I did what I did," said Trembley, who was also fined an undisclosed amount and began serving the two-game suspension immediately because there is no appeals process for managers. Bench coach Dave Jauss took over managerial responsibilities Friday, and pitching coach Rick Kranitz was left to handle pitching decisions.

ANAHEIM, Calif -. - If nothing else over the past two days at sun-drenched Angel Stadium, the Orioles succeeded in putting on clinics on how to blow four-run leads in the middle innings. On Saturday, it was two defensive miscues, coupled with an all-around implosion by a tiring bullpen that resulted in a disheartening defeat. In Sunday's 9-6 loss in front of an announced 35,912, Orioles pitchers lost touch with the strike zone at the most inopportune times as a chance to secure a four-game series split went by the wayside.

The Orioles can't wait for the future to get here. But maybe that's because the present has more emotional highs and lows than Real Housewives of New Jersey. Look what happened to this team in less than 24 hours. Tuesday night, at about the time most people were going to bed or watching Conan O'Brien, the Orioles came back from a nine-run deficit to beat the Red Sox, 11-10, at Camden Yards for the greatest comeback win in club history. The players were giddy - well, about as giddy as you can imagine guys like Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora getting.

ORLANDO, Fla. - -The Orlando Magic is riding high after its Game 3 NBA Finals victory Tuesday night at Amway Arena, but history remains against the team as it continues its series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Since the NBA moved to its current 2-3-2 NBA Finals format during the 1984-85 season, the team scheduled to host the middle three games - as the Magic is - has won the championship six of 24 times. Only two teams, the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and the Miami Heat in 2006, have swept the middle three games at home.

The Mariners have won seven of their past 10 games, including taking two of three from the Orioles last week at Safeco Field. They've played 27 one-run games this season and are 15-12 in those contests. In the two games since losing his 27-game hitting streak, Ichiro Suzuki is 5-for-9. Since being slotted into the No. 2 spot in the batting order, first baseman Russell Branyan is 6-for-17 with two home runs. Three Mariners - Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn and Felix Hernandez - rank in the top 10 in the American League in ERA. Left-hander Ryan Rowland-Smith, who has been on the disabled list with triceps tendinitis, was supposed to make his season debut Thursday, but it appears plans have changed after he allowed 12 runs and 14 hits in 4 2/3 innings in a rehab start Friday.

COLLEGE PARK - It's spring time on campus, but the Maryland women's basketball team isn't stopping to smell any roses. There's no time. We've reached the part of the quest in which your heroes are forced leave their home. The hobbits flee the Shire; the Terps walk out of Comcast Center. The journey begins now. It's not easy. Truth is, it's a bit scary out there. Home is safe, comforting, familiar. "I didn't want it to end," Maryland senior Kristi Toliver after Tuesday night's 71-56 win over Utah, the final home game of her career.

Raleigh, N.C. - Entering last night's game, Maryland had a potentially damaging gap in its NCAA tournament resume. The Terrapins, who have beaten potent North Carolina and Michigan State, had only one road victory in six tries in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Last night, Maryland made amends, burnishing its postseason credentials with a 71-60 win over North Carolina State at the RBC Center. "I told [teammates] before halftime, 'If we lose this game, it's pretty much over,' " said forward Dave Neal, Maryland's only senior.

COLLEGE PARK -With their most indispensable player suddenly dispensed to a spectator role, the Terps were a team with no options. Fouls handcuffed Greivis Vasquez to the bench, and the Terps' hopes were suddenly shackled to an unfortunate, inescapable reality. Despite the best efforts of players like Adrian Bowie, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne, in the waning moments of last night's 78-67 loss to Duke, Maryland needed a leader, not a cheerleader. The Terps flirted with the possibility of winning without their star player; they winked an eye and played footsie with a chance at upsetting the No. 7 Blue Devils.