Waiting

While the Orioles await the results of this morning's MRI on second baseman Brian Roberts' injured right hamstring, utility man Ryan Flaherty is in the starting lineup at second base for today's home opener against the Twins. Roberts was able to move up the MRI to get the test done at 10 a.m., but it still needs to be read by team orthopedist Dr. John Wilckens. As a precaution, infielder Yamaico Navarro traveled to Baltimore from Triple-A Norfolk last night and arrived at the Orioles clubhouse this morning.

The losing became so persistent that Martha Macgill pulled herself from the rotation of Episcopal clergy who regularly attended ball games at Camden Yards. She remembers one defeat in particular; it was Mother's Day 2007 and Jeremy Guthrie pitched eight sparkling innings only for the Orioles bullpen to squander a five-run cushion in the ninth against the Boston Red Sox. Her son Jack Kelleher fell to the floor in despair. "It just got so depressing," says Macgill, the rector at Memorial Episcopal Church in Bolton Hill.

Taylor Cook and Nate Babcock may not be St. Mary's most dangerous midfielders, but they are the team's most athletic. And the Seahawks have enjoyed a three-game winning streak despite the pair's absence. Coach Chris Hasbrouck said Babcock, a sophomore, has been dealing with concussion-like symptoms. The Baltimore and Severn native recorded six goals and two assists in six games, but the concussion-like symptoms raised a red flag. “In today's day and age, you have to be careful with a concussion,” Hasbrouck said.

Every day at 4 p.m., the Labragator follows me around the house and stares me in the eye, throwing in the occasional whimper just in case I didn't notice the 96 pounds of black dog in my face. That, you see, is the beginning of her afternoon routine. Outside for a potty break at 4, dinner at 4:45 (or earlier if she can annoy me enough that I give in), and then immediately to the front door to wait for my husband to get home. The waiting has become my favorite part. She lays just inside our storm door on a throw rug that's just her size (can you say “spoiled rotten Labragator?

Human rights organizations believe that some 70,000 innocent civilians have been killed by the government in Syria's civil war and a million more have fled their country as refugees. Another million internally displaced people are wandering around inside Syria seeking safety. Since World War II, after Hitler's evil attempt to annihilate an entire population, people have been asking why the world took so long to intervene. Yet today, while innocent people are being sent to their deaths in Syria, the world continues to hem and haw while it tip-toes around the politically correct policies of honoring Syria's national autonomy and respecting its "sovereignty.

For years, McDaniel had the enviable comfort level of knowing that when the score was tight, the offense could turn to Gibbs Preston and then D.J. Rickels to take charge on attack. With Rickels graduating after last season, a void opened on attack. Sophomore Pat Bivons (10 goals and seven assists) and senior Pat Woglom (13, 1) have tried to fill the role, but coach Matt Hatton said the team is still looking for that go-to leader. “I don't know if it's necessary, but it's nice to have someone behind the goal or goal-line extended that wants the ball in his stick in critical situations,” he said Thursday morning.

Frostburg State is off to its best six-game start in the program's three-year history, and the team has done it without one of its top midfielders. Junior Lucas Flaig, who led the midfield in scoring in 2011 with 24 goals and five assists but sat out last year after undergoing hip surgery, suffered a broken arm in the preseason and hasn't played yet. Coach Tommy Pearce said the Pasadena native is expected to have the cast on his arm removed this week, but no target date has been set for his return.

The Orioles, the beasts of the Grapefruit League, are in the process of whittling down a list of more than two dozen pitchers into a pitching staff, and the final couple of spots in the Opening Day rotation are up for grabs. One of those pitchers is Dylan Bundy, one of the consensus top-five prospects in baseball and the latest Paul Bunyan of Baltimore baseball. After the Orioles drafted him with their first-round pick in the 2011 draft, the stocky pitching prodigy who cut down pecan trees before his 10th birthday and whose long-toss regime irked some MLB teams, became a myth of sorts.

- Besides trying to hammer out a long-term contract with quarterback Joe Flacco, the Ravens have made starting inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe another one of their top priorities. With Ray Lewis retiring, the Ravens have a void in the middle of their defense. As a pending unrestricted free agent, though, Ellerbe is expected to draw heavy interest following a breakout season capped with a team-high nine tackles during a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Ellerbe's agent, Hadley Engelhard, said he's set to meet with Ravens team officials this weekend at the NFL scouting combine.

There has been much recent debate about Race to the Top (RTTT) and its efficacy in improving K-12 education. RTTT was a competitive federal grant that challenged states to pursue innovative reforms on a rapid timeline from 2010 through 2014. The reforms are designed to ensure that every student is prepared with the requisite skills to succeed in college or in a livable-wage career. Maryland, like other RTTT-winning states, is using its grant ($250 million) to fund a new curriculum and a controversial teacher evaluation model that incorporates student growth, as measured in part by state test results.