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Baltimore Orioles: My favorite line in the movie Ed Wood is when he's on the phone with the studio executive who has just screened his film. "Worst movie you ever saw?" he says. "Well the next one will be better!" Imagine being able to keep your sunny side up in the face of adversity like that. Such optimism on the heels of bad news is a rare thing. (Although it should probably be pointed out that in real life, Wood was a heavy drinker.) The Orioles are taking just such an approach regarding their failure to land Vladimir Guerrero. "I'm not disappointed at all," vice president Mike Flanagan told Joe Christensen of the Baltimore Sun yesterday. "We went into the Guerrero thing thinking it was a luxury, not a necessity." The general feeling is that the Orioles will now turn their attention to next year's crop of free agents, which includes such luminaries as Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Beltran and Kerry Wood (no relation).

Kansas City Royals: Dick Kaegel profiles Royals assistant general manager Muzzy Jackson in today's Kansas City Star. Jackson, 35, got an undergraduate degree in Industrial Administration and played one year in the Gulf Coast League in the White Sox chain. "I looked around and saw Frank Thomas and other guys and thought it was time to take a job in administration," Jackson told Kaegel.

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