Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles' surprising run toward their first playoff appearance since 1997 continued Friday with another unlikely star. Pitcher Chris Tillman, who started the season at triple-A Norfolk and owned a career 7.15 earned-run average before this season, limited the Boston Red Sox to one hit through eight innings as the Orioles won, 9-1. Baltimore retained its three-game lead in the American League wild-card race with five to play and...

BALTIMORE - The Angels had lost 11 of 15 games and were in danger of dropping three straight in Camden Yards when they trailed the Baltimore Orioles by two runs after six innings Wednesday, the situation looking as bleak as any they've faced in this highly disappointing season. "We could have easily said, 'Screw that, we have a day off tomorrow, let's get swept,' but that's not the attitude we have," slugger Albert Pujols said. "Everyone stayed positive. We fought back.

There are no tomatoes growing in the Orioles' bullpen in Memorial Stadium anymore. The team gardener, former manager Earl Weaver, has retired. It's probably just as well, though, because few tomatoes would survive long enough to reach a salad the way the Orioles have the bullpen under constant bombardment these days. Weaver's gone, but his long-ball approach to the game remains the franchise's trademark.

BALTIMORE -- One of the few bright spots for the Angels this season has been reliever Kevin Jepsen's strong return after sitting out six weeks of April and May because of a shoulder strain. In eight appearances since he was activated in late May, Jepsen has given up no earned runs and three hits, struck out nine and walked two in 72/3 innings, showing excellent command of his 96-mph fastball. Though he was nicked for an unearned run in the eighth inning of the Angels' 9-5 win over Baltimore on Wednesday after Josh Hamilton, battling the sun and wind, dropped Adam Jones' fly ball in the right-field corner for a three-base error, Jepsen retired three of the other four batters he faced.

The New York Yankees, $210-million payroll and all, found themselves in a fight for their playoff lives Sunday. They rallied from a four-run fifth-inning deficit for a 9-6 victory over Toronto that kept them tied with Baltimore atop the American League East with three games to go. Robinson Cano's two-run double keyed a three-run seventh inning that tied the score, 5-5, Derek Jeter capped a two-run eighth with a run-scoring single, and New York pulled...

Pinch-hitter Eric Davis' sacrifice fly in the eighth inning lifted the Orioles over Texas, 1-0, Monday night, dropping the Rangers two games behind the Angels in the AL West. Baltimore has won six consecutive games, including three in a row from the Angels over the weekend. The Orioles are 6 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card hunt, but for the most part their role down the stretch will be that of a spoiler. Cal Ripken Jr.

The Dodgers completed one deal and pursued another on the eve of the non-waiver trade deadline, acquiring reliever George Sherrill from the Baltimore Orioles and negotiating with the Toronto Blue Jays in a last-ditch effort to land All-Star pitcher Roy Halladay. The trade deadline is today at 1 p.m. PDT. Sherrill, a 32-year-old left-hander, saved 51 games for the Orioles over the last two seasons, including 20 this year.

Baltimore isn't just knocking the Yankees out of contention for the American League East title, the Orioles are knocking them off the field too. Andy Pettitte was sent to a hospital by Cal Ripken's first-inning liner, and the Orioles pounded Hideki Irabu to win the longest nine-inning game in major league history, 13-9, Friday night at New York. Ripken's liner hit Pettitte's left thumb, face and lip and cut his nose two outs into the game. "It was scary," Yankee Manager Joe Torre said.

Angel third baseman Rene Gonzales helplessly stood on the infield grass Sunday, watching, hoping, actually coaxing the baseball to roll foul. It dribbled up the line, started to creep toward the dirt and then stopped, sitting on the edge of the grass as 45,462 fans in Oriole Park at Camden Yards screamed. Cal Ripken Jr.'s hit with the bases loaded, score tied and two out went all of 70 feet, including the roll.

Jim Traber (who else?) hit a grand slam to highlight a nine-run fourth inning Sunday at Baltimore that carried the Orioles to an 11-3 victory and a sweep of their four-game series with the Chicago White Sox. The Orioles, one of several teams in the American League East suddenly counted as a contender with the collapse of the Boston Red Sox, are only 4 1/2 games out of first place.

BALTIMORE - As long as there are 8-year-olds, there will be baseball. Bud Selig has produced revenue-sharing and value-escalation. He deserves much credit. The mothers of this country have produced a never-ending supply of baseball customers. They deserve more. Once upon a time - Sunday, actually - a grandfather accompanied his 8-year-old grandson to a major league baseball game. His granddaughter was there too, but she had a friend with her. If you are a 10-year-old girl, you cannot be seen in public at a baseball game with your grandpa and little brother without a friend along.

The losses continue coming with historic frequency for the Angels, who equaled a franchise record for futility Sunday when they fell to the Baltimore Orioles, 8-4. The loss, the ninth in 12 games, leaves the Angels with only 11 victories after 31 games, matching the worst start in franchise history. And only five weeks into the season it leaves them facing what would appear to be a crucial six-game trip to Houston and Chicago beginning Tuesday. If the Angels can't stop their slide against the Astros and White Sox, who are a combined 21 games below .500, what has already been a bleak season figures to get quite a bit bleaker.

Jason Vargas may have finally come up with a solution for the troubles plaguing the Angels' bullpen: Don't use it. The left-hander turned in a masterful outing Friday, shutting out the Baltimore Orioles on three hits in a 4-0 Angel victory. It was his second complete game in as many starts - or two more than the rest of the staff combined - and this time he made sure no reliever had to do so much as warm up until there was one out in the ninth. "Our job as starters is to go out there and try to finish the game every time around," said Vargas, who got 15 ground-ball outs.

More than a month into the season, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia admits he's still not sure what kind of team he has. That's understandable, because he really hasn't seen his team much. "It's tough to evaluate exactly what our team's going to be because the team hasn't been out there," said Scioscia, who has lost his top starter, the left side of his infield and his starting center fielder and leading hitter to injuries in April. "So it's tough to say, 'Well, this will happen or that will happen.'" It would have been extra tough to predict all the things that happened in the Angels' 5-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, mainly because many of them hadn't happened all season.

BALTIMORE - The elements offered Hyun-Jin Ryu an opportunity to observe some American customs. After the start time of his start Friday night was pushed back because of rain, Ryu had to wait almost two hours before he was informed he wouldn't pitch that night. The Dodgers are now scheduled to play a split doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, with Ryu pitching the first game at 10 a.m. PDT and Josh Beckett the second at 4 p.m. "In Korea, this would have been called much sooner," Ryu said through an interpreter.

BALTIMORE -- Encouraged by a power-hitting display he put on during an early batting practice session Friday, sidelined shortstop Hanley Ramirez said he hoped he could be in the Dodgers' lineup on his April 30 bobblehead night. “I want to be in there,” Ramirez said. Is it possible? “Hopefully, yeah,” he said. When Ramirez tore a thumb ligament last month, he was initially expected to be out until mid-May. Ramirez said it's unlikely he will be activated during the six-game trip that begins Friday and includes three games in Baltimore against the Orioles and three games in New York against the Mets.

Earl Weaver's desire to return next season as Baltimore manager has been strengthened by the collapse of the Orioles, whose rotation has a cumulative earned-run average of 4.81 contrasted with Eastern Division-leading Toronto's 3.36. "The more they lose, the more I want to come back and punish them," Weaver said of his players in a story in the Baltimore Morning Sun. "Oh, what a spring training it will be. We'll start at 7 in the morning and go to 7 at night.

Baseball's dog days, the time when tired, frustrated players get into fights over any old brush-back, have arrived early this year. It used to be August when knockdown pitches meant free-for-alls. But Saturday at Baltimore, the third brawl of the week erupted between the Orioles and the Chicago White Sox, in the sixth inning of the Orioles' 2-1 victory. Last Tuesday, fights broke out in games at St. Louis and Cincinnati.

PHOENIX - The Dodgers did not play a game Monday, but right-hander Aaron Harang threw three innings in a minor league game, giving up only a second-inning double. He threw 45 pitches, getting more efficient each inning. Harang is vying for a rotation position, but barring an injury or blowup, the Dodgers seem to prefer five others and Harang could become trade bait. The Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers each had a scout watching Monday's outing. Extra bases The Dodgers, even without a hit from either Matt Kemp or Carl Crawford , lead all teams with a .398 on-base percentage in spring exhibitions and top National League clubs with a .314 batting average, 45 walks and an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .853.