Yankee Stadium

NEW YORK - The day began with the reading of the most solemn, sad roster imaginable. We shall not forget. Absolutely. From the hole in the ground where the Twin Towers once stood, name after noble name was breathed into the air yesterday. And the air stirred. It whipped and spun all over sunny New York City, making people here believe that the souls of the lost were restless. One year later, one year to the day that 2,801 victims were killed at the World Trade Center, it was impossible not to at least consider that the calling of those names was why tree branches snapped off and crashed to the ground; why dirt blew up in mini-twisters; why hats flew and hair swirled.

NEW YORK -- The Texas Rangers survived the onslaught. Now they must survive the Bronx.The Rangers held off a furious late-season charge by the Seattle Mariners to win their first division title in franchise history. They overcame 25 years of historical insignificance only to find themselves in a highly charged playoff matchup against the New York Yankees in a place where the historical significance is as daunting as the opponent.No one knows just what it will be like, but if the head-to-head series between the Yankees and the Orioles is any indication, Yankee Stadium still is a very difficult place to play pressure baseball.

NEW YORK -- Yesterday morning, Andrea Soren-Miller buttoned her Derek Jeter jersey, tugged on her Yankees cap, and walked toward the Shea Stadium turnstiles. She couldn't help but rub her eyes."I can't believe it: the Yanks playing a home game on the Mets field," said the 26-year-old store manager. "The sky really is falling."In New York, it certainly looks that way. A 500-pound steel beam that fell out of Yankee Stadium's upper deck Monday rocked an already shaky city. The 75-year-old ballpark has closed until April 24 for inspections and any repairs, the Bronx Bombers had to play the Angels yesterday in Queens, and New Yorkers everywhere are talking about the latest piece of Big Apple architecture to come crashing down to earth.

Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts loves playing at Yankee Stadium, though he expects today's visit for the start of a three-game series to have a vastly different feel. It was seven months ago yesterday when Roberts was helped off the Yankee Stadium field, wincing in pain and clutching his dangling left arm, severely damaged in a collision with Yankees base runner Bubba Crosby while he was covering first base on a bunt play. Today marks the All-Star second baseman's return to the scene where he first considered that his career could be over.

SEATTLE -- Maintaining the rhythm of his first four starters while protecting his fifth from hostile settings, manager Davey Johnson announced last night that Mike Johnson will make his next start May 25 in Cleveland.Johnson, who made his first major-league start Wednesday in Anaheim, was originally scheduled to make his second start at Camden Yards on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers.However, starting Johnson then would also have locked him into a May 27 start against New York at Yankee Stadium, hardly the environment for an impressionable talent.

NEW YORK -- It is a place where young relievers tend to fold, where mystique and aura and one of baseball's most vaunted lineups traditionally takes over, rendering pitchers powerless to avoid timely hits and clutch comebacks. That, and 51,282 loud fans, was what 24-year-old Orioles closer Chris Ray was facing last night at Yankee Stadium. Orioles@Yankees Today, 1:05 p.m., Comcast SportsNet, 1090 AM Starters: Orioles' Daniel Cabrera (1-1, 5.40) vs. Yankees' Shawn Chacon (1-1, 8.03)

The 1968 football game between Baltimore's Morgan State and what was then Louisiana's Grambling College was a good one - a nail-biter that went down to the wire. But the history and sociology of the event are what truly matter. And hats off to CBS Sports for committing the resources to telling that story with so much sensitivity and cultural context in a documentary, "1st & Goal in the Bronx: Grambling vs. Morgan State, 1968," premiering 7 p.m. Wednesday on the CBS Sports Network.

Umpire Rich Garcia took the field last night at Camden Yards and took his medicine.He said he knew when he arrived in Baltimore that he would get the Roberto Alomar treatment, so he was prepared for the worst when he trotted out to his position at third base for Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. Cheered wildly at Yankee Stadium one day, flip side at Oriole Park the next."Actually, the booing is going to feel better than the applause [in New York]," he said before the game.

NEW YORK - With little else to look forward to before putting the baseball gear away for a while and beginning the process of erasing a last-place season from their memories, the Orioles were thrilled they were the opposition the weekend Yankee Stadium closes. So many of the Orioles had experienced so much pain and suffering here over the years, and what better way to bid their goodbyes? Manager Dave Trembley went as far to say the Orioles, who are used to being irrelevant at this point of the year, could salvage what is left of their season by taking the series against the New York Yankees and delivering the final blow to their already faint playoff hopes.

NEW YORK - The rain fell so hard and so steadily here yesterday that Orioles manager Davey Johnson never bothered coming to Yankee Stadium. Game 1 will be played today at 4 p.m. and Game 2 tomorrow at 3 p.m.But Johnson used the extra day in altering his pitching rotation. David Wells, who had been scheduled to start Game 3 Friday in Camden Yards, will start Game 2 tomorrow, with Mike Mussina moving from Game 2 to Game 3. Rookie right-hander Rocky Coppinger will start Game 4 Saturday.Johnson made the switch because of Wells' tremendous history in Yankee Stadium, where he is 9-1 with a 2.85 ERA in his career; the Yankees have batted .218 here agaisnt Wells.