Friday, May 31, 2002
Notes from Thursday's games
The Associated Press
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Angels-Twins
ANAHEIM: Following Wednesday night's game, the Angels sent infielder Alfredo Amezaga to Triple-A Salt Lake and activated infielder Benji Gil from the disabled list. Gil was on a rehab assignment, so manager Mike Scioscia didn't expect that Gil would need much time to readjust. Gil was out with a sprained left ankle. “He's ready to go out there and play,” Scioscia said. ... Amezaga had four hits in his last game with the Angels, Wednesday night in Kansas City. ... C Bengie Molina had thrown out a major-league best 55 percent of base stealers. He's 18-for-33. ... The Angels entered their four-game series against the Twins having won 23 of 29 games. They started 6-14.
MINNESOTA: With interleague play a few weeks away, Twins pitchers took some batting practice before Thursday's game. The session was rather awkward, to put it politely. Closer Eddie Guardado hit a handful of balls straight up that hit the roof of the batting cage and a wave of laughter from his teammates. “Eddie! Start swinging!” manager Ron Gardenhire cracked from the infield.
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Athletics-Devil Rays
OAKLAND: OF David Justice (right groin strain) said he hopes to be activated from the 15-day disabled list next week. He hasn't played since May 7. ... RHP Cory Lidle (right shoulder strain) was activated from the 15-day disabled list and will start Friday night against Tampa Bay. ... RHP Erik Hiljus was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. In his past four starts, Hiljus (3-3) went 0-3 with a 10.69 ERA. “He told me he saw it coming,” manager Art Howe said. “He has a good attitude. He knows he has things to work on.” ... After playing in Baltimore Wednesday night, Howe decided to give RF Jermaine Dye a break and have him DH Thursday. ... Rookie RHP Aaron Harang will make his second major league start Monday against AL West-leading Seattle.
TAMPA BAY: The Devil Rays started the day hitting a major league-worst .225. “This is probably as low as I've witnessed,” manager Hal McRae said. “Generally, .250 is kind of low. Our hitters have been in a hurry. We've been chasing a lot.” ... 1B Steve Cox will likely DH for two days and then get Saturday off. He started the game mired in a 4-for-33 slump. ... McRae has given some consideration to having OF Randy Winn hit leadoff. ... OF Carl Crawford (ribs), considered one of the Devil Rays' top prospects was activated from the disabled list by Triple-A Durham. ... Minor league INF Wilmy Caceres cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Durham.
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Tigers-Indians
DETROIT: 2B Damion Easley is continuing his rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo and could rejoin the Tigers this weekend. Easley has been on the disabled list since pulling a left oblique muscle April 16. ... RHP Danny Patterson also is expected to rejoin the Tigers this weekend. He has pitched a scoreless inning in each of five appearances with Toledo. Patterson has been on the disabled list since April 4 with right elbow inflammation. ... OF Bobby Higginson was only available as pinch-hitter again Thursday night with a high left hamstring injury.
CLEVELAND: Manager Charlie Manuel said as long as other teams in the Central Division aren't pulling away, he thinks the Indians can repeat as division champs. The Indians entered Thursday night's game 5 1/2 back in the Central Division. They have an opportunity to make up some games in the next week against Chicago and Minnesota. ... The Indians' four complete games have surpassed the 2001 club total of three. RHP Bartolo Colon has three of this season's complete games. ... RHP Chad Paronto pitched the eighth inning during Wednesday night's loss to Detroit, then came back after a 1-hour, 41-minute rain delay to retire the side in the ninth. Paronto, claimed on waivers in November has a 3.45 ERA in 15 2-3 innings — second-lowest in the Indians bullpen behind setup man Paul Shuey. ... C Einar Diaz was benched Thursday after another hitless night Wednesday, extending his slump to 0-for-22. Diaz is hitting .197 and has just seven RBIs in 137 at-bats.
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Mariners-Orioles
SEATTLE: 2B Bret Boone, who is 1-for-6 lifetime against Orioles right-hander Scott Erickson and 19-for-88 career against Baltimore, got Thursday night off. SS Carlos Guillen was moved to the third spot in the batting order. “Carlos has been swinging the bat as well as anybody we have,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Let's hope I don't jinx him in the three hole.” ... Piniella is still searching for the right spot in the lineup for rookie OF Chris Snelling, who hit fifth Thursday. Piniella would like to hit Snelling second, but is uncomfortable moving Mark McLemore out of a spot where he's produced. ... OF Ichiro Suzuki entered Thursday's game tied for the AL lead with nine intentional walks. Piniella isn't surprised opponents are showing respect for Suzuki's abilities. “That's more associated with the eighth-place hitter in the National League with the pitcher coming up, or the 3-4-5 hitters in the American League,” Piniella said. “But you've got to remember — he's very hard to double up and you're not going to strike him out.” ... About 25 members of the Mariners' traveling party will visit the Pentagon on Friday.
BALTIMORE: Jay Gibbons is seeking to turn around a power shortage: He hit only two homers over 33 games through Wednesday. “I'd call it a drought. I hit some off the wall, but it's just one of those things,” he said. “I'm not getting any lift on the ball.” ... RHP Jason Johnson will pitch for Double-A on Saturday in what could be his final rehabilitative assignment before returning to the Orioles. Johnson is on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured middle finger. ... C Brook Fordyce got a rare start Thursday. He has started only 15 games this season, six of them while starter Geronimo Gil was nursing a leg injury. ... RHP Calvin Maduro remains the Orioles' probable starter Sunday, but his spot in the rotation is shaky. Maduro (2-5) has only one win since April 14.
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cubs-Pirates
CHICAGO: The Cubs have won eight of 12 since losing nine in a row. ... Mark Bellhorn has five homers, three left-handed and two right-handed. Both of his right-handed homers were in PNC Park, off the Pirates' Dave Williams and Jimmy Anderson. ... RHP Jason Bere (1-7) makes his second consecutive start against Houston on Friday afternoon. He worked six shutout innings Sunday against the Astros, but was pulled with a 5-0 lead and the Astros rallied to win 7-5. Several Cubs players later were critical of manager Don Baylor for lifting Bere. ... Fred McGriff has homered in a major league record-tying 40 parks, but didn't homer in the Cubs' first seven games in PNC Park this season. The Cubs have three more games there in September. McGriff has yet to homer in PNC Park, Bank One Ballpark or Pacific Bell Park.
PITTSBURGH: The Pirates have lost their last seven afternoon games. ... 2B Pokey Reese (injured right index finger) remained out of the lineup for a fifth straight day Thursday. ... The Pirates, losers of 16 of 20 to the Cardinals over the last two seasons, open a three-game weekend series in St. Louis on Friday. ... LHP Scott Sauerbeck has pitched 11 2-3 scoreless innings in 11 games in PNC Park this season. ... Slumping bench: utility infielder Mike Benjamin has one RBI in 52 at-bats and Keith Osik has only three hits in 25 at-bats despite getting a game-winning RBI pinch-single Monday against the Cubs. ... LHP Jimmy Anderson is 1-6 with a plus-7.00 ERA in PNC Park this season but is 3-1 with a 2.02 ERA on the road. His next scheduled start is Tuesday in Montreal. ... The Pirates play only three of their next 15 games at home amid a pair of weeklong road trips, including a first-of-its-kind trip to Cincinnati and Anaheim.
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Reds-Marlins
REDS: RHP Jose Rijo, nursing a tired arm, will start Saturday against Atlanta. “He'll be on a pretty short leash,” manager Bob Boone said. “We'll see where he is. The extra time off may have helped him.” ... RHP Joey Hamilton, who pitched and beat Florida on Wednesday despite a sore back, is expected to make his next start as scheduled. ... OF Austin Kearns, bothered by a sore thumb, didn't start Thursday and may sit out Friday's game as well, Boone said.
MARLINS: Florida is in the thick of the NL East race even though its touted young rotation has failed to meet expectations. “We haven't gotten it all together yet,” manager Jeff Torborg said. “That's what gives me such hope.” ... Rookie RHP Josh Beckett said the troublesome middle finger on his right hand was “a little tender” Thursday, the day after he was knocked out in the second inning against Cincinnati. Beckett has had four blisters on the finger this season.
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Diamondbacks-Giants
ARIZONA: C Damian Miller, who left Wednesday's game with a hip flexor, was not in the lineup Thursday against the Giants and was listed as day-to-day. He said he expected to play Friday in Los Angeles ... Luis Gonzalez's 11th home run of the season went just fair of the right field foul pole and splash landed into McCovey Cove. Gonzalez has hit into the cove twice: The first time was back on Sept. 23, 2000. In addition to Gonzalez, only two other batters have reached the bay beyond the right field wall, Todd Hundley and Mark Grace. Barry Bonds has 18 home runs into the drink for the Giants. ... Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly was grateful for Gonzalez's home run when it was all over. “It's a darn good thing he did or we'd still be out there playing.”
SAN FRANCISCO: Tsuyoshi Shinjo had a contusion on his left forearm where he was hit by Curt Schilling's pitch Wednesday night, and was not in Thursday's starting lineup. ... Thursday's starter, Kirk Rueter, allowed one run on five hits over eight innings in the Giants 1-0 loss to the Diamondbacks. Rueter has lasted more than seven innings in eight of his 11 starts. “Kirk Rueter threw a tremendous game,” manager Dusty Baker said. “The only difference was Gonzo's home run.” ... Attendance at Thursday's game was announced at 41,156, putting the Giants over the 1 million mark at Pacific Bell Park this season. They are the fourth team in the majors to attract 1 million fans this season.
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Expos-Braves
MONTREAL: The Expos named Dave Barnett manager of their Double-A Vermont farm club. He joins the organization after serving as head coach and athletic director at Flagler College, an NAIA school in Florida. In 15 seasons, Barnett posted a record of 483-366. Vermont begins its season June 18. ... Vladimir Guerrero went 10 games without a homer before driving one out against Kevin Millwood in Wednesday night's 4-3 victory. The longest such streak for Guerrero last season was 13 games, which occurred twice. He batted .231 in his last 10 games prior to Thursday, with only two extra-base hits. ... LHP Scott Stewart had saves in three straight appearances, matching his total in 62 games last season.
ATLANTA: RF Gary Sheffield wasn't in the lineup for the seventh game in a row, but he plans to return Friday when the Braves begin a three-game series at Cincinnati. Sheffield has been sidelined by a sore left hamstring, which he pulled running to first in a May 22 game at Montreal. “I've been anxious to play for a couple of days,” he said. “But we've been playing good, and I didn't want to go out there and blow it out again.” ... CF Andruw Jones was kidding around with Chipper Jones during batting practice, calling him “Larry.” That's his actual first name, of course, but is usually heard only from heckling fans on the road. “What's that I heard,” hitting coach Terry Pendleton said with mock indignation. Chipper Jones didn't even seem to notice.
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Rockies-Padres
COLORADO: With a double, single and a walk, Todd Helton increased his career average against Bobby Jones to .652 (15-for-23) with four homers and 12 RBIs. ... Juan Pierre struck out four times in the four-game series against San Diego. He struck out just 29 times last season, an average of one strikeout every 23.6 plate appearances.
SAN DIEGO: Slugger Phil Nevin has a broken left arm and is expected to be out for six weeks, a huge blow to a team struggling to get out of last place in the NL West. The 3B was hurt Wednesday night diving for a grounder in the Padres' win over Colorado, and the original diagnosis was a bruised rotator cuff. Nevin had an MRI on Thursday and doctors thought they saw a fracture, trainer Todd Hutcheson said. They did a CT scan, which confirmed the break. ... Before Thursday's game, the Padres activated RHP Bobby Jones from the 15-day disabled list, purchased the contract of INF Julius Matos from Portland of the Pacific Coast League, outrighted C Javier Cardona to Portland and placed 3B Sean Burroughs and RHP Brian Tollberg on the 15-day disabled list.
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Notes from Thursday's games
