Outfielder Alfonso Soriano stayed with the Nationals and shortstop Miguel Tejada remained with the Orioles as two of baseball's biggest names didn't budge as the trading deadline passed yesterday.

Soriano made his way through the clubhouse to his locker walking on a makeshift red carpet, a pathway constructed of white towels taped to the floor.

Hours after learning that Washington's star leadoff hitter and left fielder would be staying put, teammates greeted Soriano with cheers and chants of "Soriano! Soriano!" when he arrived for a game against the Giants last night at San Francisco.

"I'm happy," said Soriano, who got word from Nationals special assistant Jose Rijo about 20 minutes before the deadline. "It will be more easy to focus on playing every time because it passed. I was very excited they wanted to keep me here. . . . I love my teammates, too. I think they were happy to see me walk in here."

From his locker hung streamers in team colors, a special chair replaced the standard clubhouse offering, and a giant fruit basket and bottle of Dom Perignon champagne waited at his feet. "Vive Soriano!" -- "Soriano Lives!" read one sign. "We love you!" stated another.

"We got a chance tonight!" hollered Robert Fick.

"Trading deadline's over! He's ours!" screamed Damian Jackson. "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Eventually, Soriano tore down the party favors and pulled on his navy blue undershirt to get ready for work.

"I think it's a period of time now when everybody can exhale out there and go out and focus on the game," manager Frank Robinson said. "I wasn't nearly as sure it was going to happen. I've been around this game long enough to know nothing for sure until it happens. . . . It's nice to put his name down on the lineup, absolutely."

Now, Soriano's up-and-down tenure with the Nationals will last at least until the end of this season. The five-time All-Star was thought to be the most prized player available on the market, but the Nationals decided to keep him rather than swapping him for prospects.

"We felt the best deal we could make is no deal," general manager Jim Bowden said in a conference call. "He wants to stay in D.C. and did not want to be traded."

Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the Orioles failed to make a deal, leaving Tejada delighted and Javy Lopez exasperated.

The Orioles listened to several offers for Tejada, the 2002 A.L. MVP and the team leader in batting average (.330), homers (19) and RBI (77). But no one came up with a proposition that served as a better option than keeping their All-Star shortstop.

"It was our obligation to listen to proposals, and there were many and varied," executive vice president Mike Flanagan said. "We never felt that there was any strong enough that (garnered) consideration to take to the owner."

That was just fine with Tejada, who asked to be traded during the offseason but decided in February that he wanted to stay in Baltimore. He reiterated that stance over the weekend, but spent some anxious moments before yesterday's 4 p.m. deadline.

"I didn't sleep pretty good last night, just because I was thinking that yesterday could've been my last game here," he said. "What can I do? I woke up early today in the morning and make a phone call to my agent to see if anything happened.

"I'm an Oriole. I can be an Oriole. I told them before that I don't want to go anywhere. If I'm going to win, I want to win here," said Tejada, who is signed through 2009. "Now, they show me they really want to win. They kept me here."

Lopez, conversely, wanted out of Baltimore. He was displaced as the starting catcher by Ramon Hernandez at spring training and recently lost his job as designated hitter to Jay Gibbons, which means he won't be getting much playing time in the foreseeable future.

"I've got no position on this team. I don't see why they really need me," Lopez said. "I'm not meant to play once a week. . . . I cannot be happy in this situation. They probably have their plan, and I don't think they're going to keep me like this until the end of the season. They're probably going to do something sooner or later."

Lopez thinks he would be better off if the Orioles released him.

"That would be a better option for me, since I didn't get traded. I don't want to get released -- I'm just saying it would make more sense," he said. "The last thing I want to do here is not even play."