Baseball Today - April 3
Tue, Apr 3, 2007
By Associated Press
SCOREBOARD
Tuesday, April 3
San Diego at San Francisco (4:05 p.m. EDT). Barry Zito gets his first regular season start for the Giants since coming over from the Athletics.
STARS
Monday
-Edgar Renteria, Braves, homered twice and Atlanta beat Philadelphia 5-3 in 10 innings.
-Ben Sheets, Brewers, allowed one run and two hits in Milwaukee's 7-1 victory over the Dodgers.
-Adam Dunn, Reds, hit two homers and had three RBIs in Cincinnati's 5-1 win over the Cubs.
-Felix Hernandez, Mariners, struck out a career-high 12, leading Seattle to a 4-0 win over Oakland.
-Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez, Marlins. Cabrera went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs and Ramirez finished 4-for-6 with two doubles, two stolen bases and four runs scored in Florida's 9-2 victory against Washington.
PITCHER PERFECT
Ben Sheets gave up an early home run, then retired his next 22 batters in a two-hitter Monday, leading Milwaukee over the Dodgers 7-1. It was Sheet's 12th complete game in 167 career starts and, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first opening-day complete game of two hits or fewer in 15 years. Tom Glavine two-hit Houston in 1992 whe he was with Atlanta. ... Seattle's Felix Hernandez, the youngest opening day pitcher in the major leagues in 22 years, allowed three hits and struck out a career-high 12 in eight innings of a 4-0 win over Oakland. The 20-year old threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 29 batters he faced.
FOR SALE
Tribune Co. said it plans to sell the Chicago Cubs at the end of the 2007 baseball season, putting one of its most valuable assets on the block as it simultaneously announced Monday that real estate magnate Sam Zell was acquiring the media conglomerate. Analysts have estimated that the Cubs could fetch $600 million or more. Tribune bought the team in 1981 for $20.5 million.
CURT CUT SHORT
Curt Schilling lasted only four innings in Boston's 7-1 loss at Kansas City on Monday, his shortest start since May 1997 other than a game interrupted by power failure. He gave up five runs and eight hits and walked Ryan Shealy with the based loaded in the first inning - just the second bases-loaded walk of his career as the starter, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other was Pittsburgh's Brian Giles on July 23, 2000.
SCORING
Cleveland beat the White Sox 12-5 on Monday. The 12 runs were the most for the Indians on opening day since 1925, when they scored 21 against St. Louis.
SNAPPED
Arizona beat Colorado 8-6 on Monday, stopping a four-game losing streak on opening day.
STRONG START
Seattle beat Oakland 4-0 on Monday after the Mariners had lost 17 of 19 games - including 15 in a row - to the A's while finishing last in the division for the third consecutive year last season.
STREAKING
Justin Morneau is 8-for-14 in his career against Erik Bedard, including a home run in Minnesota's 7-4 win over Baltimore on Monday.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Elijah Dukes homered in his first big league at-bat, and fellow Tampa Bay prospect B.J. Upton had two hits, an RBI and a stolen base, but the Devil Rays lost 9-5 to the Yankees on Monday.
SAMMY'S BACK
Former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa, back after taking a year off, went 0-for-3, struck out once and did not hit a ball out of the infield for the Rangers in a 4-1 loss to the Angels. The 38-year-old Sosa is fifth on the career list with 588 home runs and the only player to have three 60-homer seasons.
DEBUTS
Florida's Fredi Gonzalez (Cuba) and Washington's Manny Acta (Dominican Republic) became the first pair of managers born outside the United States to make their major league debuts in the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, when the Marlins won 9-2 on Monday. ... Gil Meche went 7 1-3 solid innings to lead Kansas City to a 7-1 victory over Boston. Meche, who signed a club-record five-year, $55 million contract in the offseason, struck out six and walked only one in the longest outing by a Kansas City starter on opening day since 1988.
SPEAKING
''I know he will be better; he can't be worse than that.'' - White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen about Jose Contreras after Chicago's 12-5 loss to Cleveland on Monday. Contreras left with no outs in the second and the White Sox trailing 7-2 after allowing seven hits, walking one and striking out one.
Hernandez out for Orioles with strain
Mon, Apr 2, 2007
By Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Baltimore Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez was scratched from the lineup Monday against the Minnesota Twins because of a strained left oblique muscle.
The Orioles take on the Twins again on Tuesday as +121 underdogs. Oddsmakers have the total set at 9 1/2.
The Orioles purchased the contract of catcher Alberto Castillo from Triple-A Norfolk for insurance and sent left-hander Brian Burres to Norfolk. Paul Bako replaced Hernandez behind the plate and batted ninth.
Manager Sam Perlozzo suggested before the game that Hernandez could be in the lineup later this week.
''We're going to be a little cautious with him. He's available, but we just want to make sure it's not a long-term thing,'' Perlozzo said.
Last season, his first with Baltimore, Hernandez established career highs in home runs (23), RBIs (91), doubles (29) and games played (144).
Bako wasn't too surprised by seeing his name in the lineup, since he learned earlier that Hernandez was hurting. Castillo was already traveling with the club in case he was needed.
''Word spreads pretty quickly when Ramon's banged up,'' Bako said.
Hernandez's injury left Baltimore without two regulars for opening day. Left fielder Jay Payton, who was put on the disabled list Sunday, has a strained right hamstring. Jay Gibbons was in the lineup in left field, with Kevin Millar replacing him as the designated hitter.
Guzman, Logan injured in opener
Mon, Apr 2, 2007
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Five innings into the first game of the season, the Washington Nationals lost two starters to injuries Monday: Shortstop Cristian Guzman strained his left hamstring and center fielder Nook Logan hyperextended his left foot.
''I was talking to the umpire on third, and he said, 'You guys are going to have to call people up already,''' third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said after Washington's 9-2 loss to the Florida Marlins.
The Marlins cashed in as -101 road favorites as the teams played over the 8-run total set by books.
Manager Manny Acta indicated Guzman's injury was the more serious - he pulled up while running out a groundout in the fifth inning and will be re-evaluated Tuesday.
''A hammy just doesn't heal overnight,'' Acta said.
Guzman, who missed all of 2006 after right shoulder surgery, was replaced in the game by Josh Wilson.
Acta said that if Guzman is out for ''a long period of time,'' then Felipe Lopez would shift back from second base to shortstop - his position until this season - and Ronnie Belliard would play second.
Lopez didn't sound thrilled by the prospect of going back to shortstop.
''I'm playing second. I don't want to switch. I don't want to start all over again,'' Lopez said. ''If I have to, if they ask me - but right now I want to stay at second. ... I've already got my mind set and got our game plan. I'm comfortable now.''
Logan got his foot stuck in the padding when he leaped against the wall to grab Dan Uggla's fly ball in the fourth inning. After throwing the ball to the infield, Logan hopped along the warning track for a bit before sitting down.
The game was delayed for about five minutes while a Nationals trainer and Acta went out to the deepest part of the park to check on the outfielder. Logan refused to take a ride on a cart, instead slowly walking to the dugout with the trainer's help.
The Nationals said an X-ray showed there wasn't a break, but that Logan would later have an MRI exam.
Ryan Church shifted from left field to center, and Chris Snelling entered in left. It's possible the Nationals will call up outfielder-infielder Kory Casto from Triple-A Columbus; he was the last position player cut from the 25-man roster at the end of spring training.
Neither Guzman nor Logan was available for comment.
''It's almost better that it kind of happened now, instead of maybe halfway through the season, where you can kind of put some of these young guys out there, like (Wilson) and Snelling and maybe Casto,'' Zimmerman said. ''The thing about this team is this year is going to be about getting guys ready to be good in the future.''
In the eighth inning, reliever Jesus Colome was examined on the mound by a trainer for what appeared to be a left shin problem but he stayed in the game. Acta said Colome has a condition related to a car accident from a few years ago, but that he's OK.
OF Chris Denorfia has elbow surgery
Tue, Apr 3, 2007
By Associated Press
CINCINNATI -- Reds outfielder Chris Denorfia had surgery Tuesday to repair a torn ligament in his right elbow and is expected to be out of action about six months.
Denorfia was the Reds' minor league player of the year in 2005 and appeared in 49 games for Cincinnati last season, hitting .283 with one home run and seven RBIs.
Nationals place Logan on DL
April 3rd, 2007
Washington, DC (Sports Network) - The Washington Nationals placed outfielder Nook Logan on the 15-day disabled list after he suffered a left foot strain on Opening Day.
Logan crashed into the outfield wall after making a leaping catch in the fourth inning of Washington's 9-2 loss to Florida on Monday and left the game with pain in his foot.
An MRI exam confirmed the foot strain, while X-rays came back negative. Logan is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks.
Logan, 27, was acquired from Detroit on September 1, 2006. He started 25 of Washington's 29 remaining games last season in center field. The switch-hitter batted .300 with 13 runs scored.
In a corresponding roster move, the Nationals recalled outfielder Kory Casto from the minors.