It was an odd day for the Orioles. Both on the field and in the front office, they were left with situations that won't be determined for another month.

A monsoon forced Baltimore's game against the Yankees to be suspended in the top of the eighth inning with New York ahead, 8-6. The Yankees took the lead when Derek Jeter hit a bases-loaded single in a driving rain to chase two teammates home. That the umpires allowed the game to continue in a downpour while Chris Ray was trying to get the inning's last out infuriated Baltimore third baseman Melvin Mora, who confronted the umps as they tried to get off the field and was ejected. So he won't eligible to play when the game resumes on July 27.

The game will pick up where it was halted after a rain delay of one hour, 25 minutes. There was an earlier delay of 18 minutes in the bottom of the seventh when the Orioles went on top, 6-4. The resumption is scheduled for when the Yankees are next back in town.

Meanwhile, new team president for baseball operations Andy MacPhail said he was calling off the search for a new manager at least through July. That means interim manager Dave Trembley is getting an extended audition -- without it being called that -- to see if the verve the Orioles have been playing with lately continues. Baltimore is 5-3 since Trembley (right) took over for the fired Sam Perlozzo on June 18 but more importantly, the Orioles seem to be playing with a renewed sense of purpose.

MacPhail invoked the name of Tom Kelly, who was the interim manager in Minnesota in 1986 when MacPhail was in the Twins' front office. With Minnesota apparently responding to Kelly, the interim job became permanent and the Twins went on to win two world championships, in 1987 and 1991.

* Two hitting milestones were reached yesterday.

* Toronto's Frank Thomas became the 21st player to reach 500 homers when he belted a three-run shot in the first inning, but he was ejected late in the game after arguing a called third strike. Most of Thomas' homers came in 16 seasons with the White Sox, but he played with Oakland last year before joining Toronto this season. The Blue Jays lost to the Twins, 8-5. 

* And Houston's Craig Biggio became the 27th player in major league history to reach 3,000 hits after going 5-for-6 last night, but he's only the ninth player to get them all for one team. Biggio has played for 20 years, remarkably all with Houston. The Astros beat Colorado, 8-5.

Photo credit: Associated Press