Baseball Today - April 14
Sat, Apr 14, 2007
By Associated Press
Kansas City at Baltimore (7:05 p.m. EDT). Odalis Perez allowed four runs on seven hits in 1 1-3 innings in his last start for the Royals.
STARS Friday
-Carlos Lee, Astros, hit three homers, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs, helping Houston to a 9-6 win at Philadelphia.
-Roy Halladay, threw a six-hitter and Toronto beat Detroit 2-1 in 10 innings.
-Barry Bonds, Giants, hit his 736th and 737th career homers and San Francisco beat Pittsburgh 8-5.
-Carl Crawford and Scott Kazmir, Devil Rays. Crawford hit an inside-the-park homerun and Kazmir threw eight sharp innings, helping Tampa Bay beat Minnesota 4-2.
-Bobby Kielty, Athletics, drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded grounder in the bottom of the 11th inning as Oakland rallied for a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees.
TEN SPOT
Roy Halladay threw a six-hitter in Toronto's 2-1, 10-inning win over Detroit on Friday to become the first pitcher with a 10-inning complete game in almost two years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Mark Mulder pitched St. Louis to a 1-0 victory over Houston on April 23, 2005.
STILL CHASING BABE
Barry Bonds hit his 736th and 737th career homers and San Francisco beat Pittsburgh 8-5 Friday night. It was Bonds' 70th career multihomer game, two short of Babe Ruth's record.
SNAPPED
San Francisco's Russ Ortiz ended a 12-game losing streak with a 8-5 win over Pittsburgh on Friday night. Ortiz, who pitched into the ninth inning, last beat San Diego on Aug. 29, 2005, while with Arizona. His losing streak lasted over 31 games and 16 starts, a stretch in which he gave up 75 earned runs in 86 2-3 innings. ... Colorado handed Arizona ace Brandon Webb his first April loss in 15 starts dating back to April 17, 2004, in San Diego with a 6-3 win.
SPOILED
Cleveland lost 6-4 to the Chicago White Sox on Friday, spoiling the Indian's 107th home opener, which took seven days to get completed. After a four-game series against Seattle was postponed by nasty weather, the Indians were forced to move a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels to Milwaukee earlier this week.
STREAKING
Florida's Dontrelle Willis beat Atlanta 11-4 on Friday to improve to 3-0 and is now 12-1 with a .923 winning percentage in April. That's the second-best career percentage in April to the 13-1, .929 of Babe Ruth, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. ... David Wright extended his hitting streak to 22 games in New York's 3-2 win over Washington. ... Tampa Bay matched a team record by hitting a home run in 10 straight games - first done from Sept. 18-28, 2000 - in a 4-2 win over Minnesota.
SANTANA STUNG
Johan Santana lost at home for the first time since Aug. 1, 2005 after a 4-2 defeat to the Devil Rays on Friday. Santana was 17-0 during that stretch, and the Twins won all 24 games their two-time Cy Young Award winner pitched - one short of the major league record set in 1890-91 by Louisville with Scott Stratton, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
MILESTONE
Todd Helton knocked in his 1,000 run in Colorado's 6-3 win over Arizona on Friday.
RETURN
Eric Gagne saved his first game since last June 6 and just his second in the last 22 months in Texas' 5-2 win over Seattle on Friday.
Pavano scratched, Mussina hoping to avoid DL stint with hurt hamstring
Fri, Apr 13, 2007
By Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Yankees right-hander Carl Pavano was scratched Friday from his scheduled start Saturday because of tightness in his forearm.
Fellow New York starter Mike Mussina, meanwhile, is hopeful that his hurt left hamstring will heal quickly enough to avoid a stint on the disabled list.
Pavano was pushed back to Tuesday's game against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium as a precaution. He felt the problem in his throwing arm during his previous start Monday night and informed the Yankees afterward about it, then was told he'd be skipped upon arriving at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday. Right-hander Darrell Rasner will start Saturday in the middle game with the defending AL West champion Athletics.
Pavano threw seven innings in an 8-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday, giving up six hits and two runs for his first victory since May 22, 2005.
''I'm just going to give it a little extra time to get out of there,'' said Pavano, who threw long toss Tuesday and Wednesday. ''It just didn't feel like it should feel. I'm not frustrated at all. It's just something I've got to deal with. That's just the way it is.''
Mussina did some running drills and played catch Friday, two days after leaving a 5-1 loss to Minnesota three batters into the third inning with the injury. He plans to throw off a mound Sunday and then have a better idea of when he might pitch again in a game.
''If I throw Sunday, it will probably be on the homestand when we decide,'' Mussina said. ''It hasn't been 48 hours since I hurt it yet. It's hard for me to tell.''
What he does know is that his leg is feeling much better than he expected so soon after hurting it.
The 38-year-old Mussina, who won 15 games last year for his most victories since getting 17 in 2003, has been receiving regular treatment on his hamstring the past two days.
''We haven't made any target dates,'' he said. ''Yesterday and today, we haven't talked about the disabled list. We're all thinking pretty positively.''
Chien-Ming Wang is scheduled to pitch Saturday in an extended spring training game, his first action since injuring his right hamstring while running on March 23.
Wang will likely throw around 50 pitches against Tampa Bay minor leaguers. The Yankees hope the 19-game winner will rejoin the major league team in late April.
A second injured starter, Jeff Karstens, is slated to pitch for Class-A Tampa on Monday night. He has been sidelined since experiencing right elbow stiffness during a spring training start March 25.
Wang and Karstens played catch and took part in fielding drills Friday at the Yankees' spring training complex.
Furcal activated, Tsao optioned to Triple-A
Fri, Apr 13, 2007
By Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers activated shortstop Rafael Furcal from the 15-day disabled list Friday night before the game against San Diego, and optioned right-handed pitcher Chin-hui Tsao to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Furcal sprained his left ankle in an exhibition game against Baltimore on March 22. He barely managed to avoid a collision with center fielder Jason Repko on Corey Patterson's shallow flyball, but landed awkwardly after leaping over the diving Repko.
''It was very frustrating for me, watching my team play and knowing that there was nothing I could do but just come to the ballpark every day and get treatment,'' Furcal said.
The switch-hitting Furcal, beginning the second year of a three-year, $39 million contract, played in all but three games last season. The eight-year veteran, an All-Star with Atlanta in 2003, batted .300 in his first season with the Dodgers. He had 15 homers and 63 RBIs, scored 113 runs and stole 37 bases in 50 attempts.
''We feel good about the way he's feeling right now, and we'll take that on a day-to-day basis,'' manager Grady Little said after getting his shortstop back from a two-game rehab stint with the Las Vegas club. ''I don't think we'll have to treat him with too much care because he feels like he's ready to go and play nine innings for us.''
Center fielder Juan Pierre, who signed with the Dodgers in November as a free agent, started the Dodgers' first nine games in the leadoff spot during Furcal's absence and was 8-for-38 with one RBI and three stolen bases.
Furcal's injury took place exactly one month to the day that Little announced that Furcal would remain his leadoff man while Pierre would bat second. That's the way the lineup card read for the start of a three-game series with the Padres.
''I never thought anything of it. Grady made the decision early, and that was it,'' Pierre said. ''When I signed here, I knew there was a possibility that it would be Furcal, who's a great leadoff hitter and got them to the playoffs last year. So it would have been crazy for me to think I would just come here and change that.
''Wherever Grady wants me to hit in the lineup, I'm okay with it,'' Pierre added. ''As long as I'm in the lineup, I'm happy. So it's not a big deal. I think the media was hyping it up way more than it should have been, and I guess that was expected because he's a leadoff guy and I'm a leadoff guy.''
Blue Jays place OF Johnson on 15-day DL
Fri, Apr 13, 2007
By Associated Press
TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays placed outfielder Reed Johnson on the 15-day disabled list Friday because of soreness in his back, and recalled outfielder Adam Lind from Triple-A Syracuse.
Oddsmakers list the Blue Jays as -169 home favorites against the Tigers on Saturday.
Toronto's leadoff man, Johnson has appeared in seven games this season, batting .265 with one home run and seven RBIs. He sat out Toronto's 5-4 loss to Detroit on Thursday night. The move was retroactive to Thursday.
Johnson underwent an MRI on Friday, but the team was still waiting for the results.
''We're still evaluating it right now,'' general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. ''We'll know more through the weekend. He's got some discomfort in his back, but we haven't been able to pinpoint it.''
The 30-year-old Johnson, who missed two weeks during spring training with the same injury, set career highs in batting average (.319) and on-base percentage (.390) in 2006. Lind, 23, hit .367 with two home runs and eight RBI in 18 games after being called up last September. He'll take over as the everyday left-fielder.
The Blue Jays are also waiting to see whether third baseman Troy Glaus can make a quick recovery from a sore left heel and a tweak in his left hamstring. Glaus left Thursday's game after just two innings and was held out of the lineup Friday.
''We're going to have to make a judgment in the next couple of days,'' manager John Gibbons said before Friday night's game against Detroit.
Blue Jays 3B Troy Glaus (heel) is doubtful
Cubs 2B Mark DeRosa (back) is questionable.
Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez (wrist) is out of Saturday's game.
Indians C Victor Martinez (quad) is questionable
A's RF Milton Bradley (hamstring) is questionable.
Reds SS Alex Gonzalez (personal) is out of Saturday's game.
Jennings to miss time with elbow injury
April 14th, 2007
Houston, TX (Sports Network) - Houston Astros right-hander Jason Jennings will miss at least two starts due to elbow flexor tendinitis in his pitching elbow. An MRI performed showed no structural damage.
The 28-year-old Jennings, who was scratched from his scheduled start today versus the Philadelphia Phillies, is expected to be placed on the DL within the next week.
Jennings, acquired from the Colorado Rockies in the offseason, is scheduled to undergo rehabilitation of rest, medication and treatment, according to the Astros.
He has a career record of 58-57 with a 4.72 ERA with Colorado and Houston.
Braves place Paronto on DL; send McBride to minors
April 14th, 2007
Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - The Atlanta Braves placed reliever Chad Paronto on the 15-day disabled list and sent reliever Macay McBride to the minors.
Paronto, a 6-foot-5, 250 pound right-hander, strained a muscle near his groin while throwing a pitch in the seventh inning of an 11-4 loss to Florida Friday night.
The Nebraska product, has appeared in six games for the Braves, allowing two runs in five innings.
The Braves also sent McBride to Triple-A Richmond to deal with control problems. The lefty has struggled thus far this season, allowing five runs -- two earned -- and walking 11 over three innings.
Atlanta recalled righty Peter Moylan and left-hander Steve Colyer to fill the vacancies on their 12-man staff.