Orioles

AFTER EIGHT seasons in the minor leagues with three organizations and a stint in the Atlantic League, Mike Costanzo has finally made it to the major leagues. Costanzo, an Archbishop Carroll product from Glen Mills and former Phillies second-round pick, was called up by the Cincinnati Reds from Triple A Louisville on Saturday and added to the active roster when Scott Rolen was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Costanzo, 28, had never played in a big-league game before Sunday.

The Baltimore Orioles, who entered the season with pennant aspirations but finished below .500, fired manager Phil Regan and announced the resignation of general manager Roland Hemond yesterday. The firing of Regan, who led the Orioles to a 71-73 record in his first year as a major-league manager, paves the way for the hiring of former Orioles player Davey Johnson. Johnson, who guided the Cincinnati Reds to the NL Central title this year, interviewed for the Baltimore opening last season.

The Baltimore Orioles have asked for permission to talk to Cincinnati Reds manager Davey Johnson about their manager's opening, the New York Daily News reported today. The Orioles fired Johnny Oates on Monday. The newspaper reported that it is expected Reds owner Marge Schott will grant permission to the Orioles since she never has been enamored with Johnson and is looking to cut the payroll. Johnson, whose Reds were 66-48 and first in the National League Central, has one year left on his contract worth $300,000 plus incentives.

Baltimore manager Phil Regan said Cal Ripken simply took charge of the game that snapped the Orioles' seven-game losing streak. Ripken broke out of a 2-for-24 slump with four hits and two RBI as the Orioles edged the visiting New York Yankees, 5-4, last night. Afterward, he disagreed with his manager's analysis. "If that was true, I'd want to do that every night," Ripken said. "The best you can do is try to play consistently. Tonight was one of those nights where things started to go well.

BRANDON SNYDER homered and had a career-high six RBI against his former team, and the visiting Texas Rangers beat Baltimore, 14-3, Monday night to end the Orioles' five-game winning streak. Snyder, the Orioles' top draft choice in 2005, hit a two-run single in the second inning, a three-run drive in the sixth and an RBI single during a seven-run ninth. He played in only 16 games with Baltimore before the Rangers got him for cash considerations in January. "I'm probably going to have to wake up tomorrow and read something to make sure it happened," Snyder said.

Albert Belle and the Orioles essentially reached an agreement last night on a contract that will bring the free-agent outfielder to Baltimore, the Associated Press reported. While there was no announcement by the Orioles, a source speaking on the condition he not be identified said Baltimore and Belle were "very, extremely close" to an agreement and he expected the deal to be announced in the next few days. The source said the money part of the contract had been agreed to, but the rest of the deal had not been finalized.

Chris Hoiles and Lenny Webster have given Baltimore manager Ray Miller a rather pleasant problem: Just which one of the two hot-hitting catchers should he use? Hoiles hit a pair of two-run homers and drove in six runs as the visiting Orioles routed the Detroit Tigers, 14-2. Baltimore is 16-3 since the All-Star break. Hoiles is batting .385 (25-for-65) with six homers and 19 RBI in his last 21 games, raising his season average from .197 to .264. Webster's been torrid, as well, hitting .442 with four homers and 16 RBI in the last 10 games he's batted.

Third baseman Chris Sabo, who became a free agent when the Cincinnati Reds made it clear they didn't want him back, agreed yesterday to a one-year, $2 million contract with Baltimore. Sabo, a three-time All-Star who made $3.1 million last season, also had been negotiating with the New York Mets. Under the Orioles deal, he can earn up to $400,000 in performance bonuses. "The Mets' deal was clearly superior," said Jim Bronner, Sabo's agent. "It could have been over $7 million for two years.

AFTER EIGHT seasons in the minor leagues with three organizations and a stint in the Atlantic League, Mike Costanzo has finally made it to the major leagues. Costanzo, an Archbishop Carroll product from Glen Mills and former Phillies second-round pick, was called up by the Cincinnati Reds from Triple A Louisville on Saturday and added to the active roster when Scott Rolen was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Costanzo, 28, had never played in a big-league game before Sunday.

BALTIMORE - Josh Hamilton became the 16th player to hit four home runs in a game, launching a quartet of two-run drives against three different pitchers in a history-making performance that carried the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 victory over the Orioles on Tuesday night. Hamilton homered off Jake Arrieta in the first and third innings, added another off Zach Phillips in the seventh and topped it off with a one-for-the-books shot against Darren O'Day in the eighth. During the last at-bat, Hamilton sent an 0-2 pitch over the centerfield wall.

BRANDON SNYDER homered and had a career-high six RBI against his former team, and the visiting Texas Rangers beat Baltimore, 14-3, Monday night to end the Orioles' five-game winning streak. Snyder, the Orioles' top draft choice in 2005, hit a two-run single in the second inning, a three-run drive in the sixth and an RBI single during a seven-run ninth. He played in only 16 games with Baltimore before the Rangers got him for cash considerations in January. "I'm probably going to have to wake up tomorrow and read something to make sure it happened," Snyder said.

The Baltimore Orioles have had "exploratory talks" with free-agent slugger Manny Ramirez's agent, club executive vice president Dan Duquette said Monday. "We are still considering the composition of this club, and some of the challenges of integrating a player like Manny into our ball club and market," Duquette said. Ramirez, who retired last April rather than serve a 100-game suspension for a second violation of Major League Baseball's drug policy, will face a 50-game ban should he sign a contract.

THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES may be looking at the Phillies to fill a front-office opening. And vice versa. It's believed that Phillies assistant general manager Scott Proefrock is on the O's list of potential GM candidates after Andy MacPhail stepped down. They have not asked for permission to talk to Proefrock yet, sources said, but that could happen after a scheduled meeting between owner Peter Angelos and manager Buck Showalter today. Before joining the Phillies, Proefrock worked for 3 years as the Orioles' director of baseball administration.

JOSH BECKETT found a way to beat the New York Yankees this season, over and over again. The Red Sox righthander pitched well enough for host Boston to win, 9-5, last night, improving to 4-0 against the Yankees this season with a 1.85 ERA. Last season, his worst in the majors, he was 1-2 with a 10.04 ERA against his team's longtime rivals. "The Yankee-Red Sox thing has been here before I got here for a long time and it'll be here long after I'm here," Beckett said. "The big thing is we're both really good teams and there's a reason why you've got to play those games a little differently.

AFTER HIS BULLPEN failed to hold late leads on consecutive nights, Kansas City manager Ned Yost knew his team needed a spark. Bruce Chen provided it by holding host Cleveland to one run in 7 1/3 innings in yesterday's 2-1 win. "Bruce really picked us up big time," Yost said. "We needed Bruce to do that, to get us into the eighth inning. He did that. " Chen (10-5) overcame a shaky first inning to win his career-high fifth straight start. He allowed the first four batters of the game to reach base and walked Carlos Santana with the bases loaded to force in Cleveland's only run. And this time Kansas City's relievers did their job. Greg Holland retired both batters he faced in the eighth while Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his 24th save.

First base It's a terrific story that Jim Thome is back in Cleveland, the place where his illustrious 21-year career started with a September call-up in 1991. You just know, however, that Thome would rather have been in Philadelphia again with his old pal Charlie Manuel . The one thing Thome still wants is a World Series ring, and he's not going to get that this season with the Indians, who went into the weekend 61/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.

YANKEES THIRD baseman Alex Rodriguez met with a group of Major League Baseball officials yesterday to discuss allegations that he participated in illegal poker games. Rodriguez said the 2-hour meeting, which was held in Baltimore, "went well. " "They asked questions and I answered them," he said. "I'll let them review it, chew on it and then let them come back to us. " Star magazine reported last month that several people saw A-Rod playing in games hosted at Hollywood hotels and residences.

Former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan was found dead on his property in Baltimore County, Md., yesterday afternoon. He was 59. At 4:26 p.m., police received a 911 call about a suspicious death in the 15000 block of York Road in Sparks, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman confirmed to the Baltimore Sun. Officers found a man's body on a trail leading to a barn, the spokeswoman said. "I am so sorry to hear about Mike's passing. He was a good friend and teammate," said Hall of Fame third baseman Cal Ripken Jr., a former teammate of Flanagan's.