O's Rolling Past AL East Foes

When you read the O's would be facing the cream of the crop over and over again this April you pretty much figured they'd be out of the AL East race by the end of the month.

Not true. Even after falling behind by 5 runs to the World Champion Red Sox last night, the Orioles roared back, tallied four runs in the fifth and eighth innings, including booming homers from Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez off Keith Foulke, in an 11-8 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

The Orioles are now an unbelievable three full games in front of the AL East after 21 games.

The offense has been flying high. Sammy Sosa, Miquel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Melvin Mora lead the charge offensively. Between them, they have 115 hits, 21 homers, 69 RBIs in 21 games.

Fat Sid Ponson, despite an ERA as bloated as his physique at 6.85, is 3-1. Bruce Chen has been a suprise with 3.62 ERA and 2-1 record in four starts. Rodrigo Lopez performing up to expectation and higher with a 3.98 ERA and 2-1 record in five starts.

Clearly, the O's are on an upward curve these days.

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You won't see a boxscore like this very often. A-Rod has a month in one game, 4 for 5, three homers and 10 RBIs. Yankees beat Angels, 12-4.

Hard to believe after a parade of sluggers like Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra and Reggie that it is A-Rod who became the first to drive in 10 runs in one game at Yankee Stadium.

Only one Yankee had ever had more runs batted in during one game than Rodriguez: Tony Lazzeri, the Hall of Fame second baseman, drove in 11 on May 24, 1936, at Philadelphia, which is still the American League record. Only one other Yankee, Lou Gehrig, had more homers in a game. Gehrig hit four on June 3, 1932, also in Philadelphia.

Today's Pitching Menu.

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While the NBA Playoffs go on without the Knicks, the Knicks have a little playoff of their own going on in the race for Phil Jackson.

Hard to believe that the Lakers could even BE in this race considering that Kobe's still on the team and was the man behind Jackson's outing last offseason.

The Knicks made the first bold move Monday, when Isiah Thomas, the team president, met with Jackson for several hours in Los Angeles. They each returned home yesterday, but they will probably speak again in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Rockets, Heat and Pistons all took quick 2-0 leads to all but eliminate the Dallas Mavericks, NJ Nets and 76ers all at once.

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Lastly, competing with the Mets-Braves matchup tonight will be the massive Champions League matchup between Liverpool and Chelsea.

Arjen Robben is back for Chelsea and hopefully, that plus playing the opening match at Stamford Bridge will give them a boost.

AC Milan took the other semifinal opener over PSV, 2-0.