Baseball Today
Colorado at San Diego (10:05 p.m.) NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, who is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in his first three starts, pitches for the Padres in the finale of a three-game series. His opponent is struggling Rockies ace Jeff Francis (0-2, 9.53 ERA).
STARS
- Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks, gave up one run and three hits in eight innings, improving to 4-0 with a 4-1 victory over San Francisco. He also had two RBIs.
- Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria, Tigers. Cabrera homered and finished with four hits and five RBIs in a 13-2 rout of Cleveland, while Renteria hit his fifth career grand slam and drove in five runs.
- Felix Hernandez, Mariners, pitched his first complete game in more than a year for a 4-2 win over Oakland. He allowed eight hits while striking out eight.
- Rafael Furcal, Dodgers, went 4-for-4 with a home run in an 8-1 win over Pittsburgh.
- Adam Wainwright, Cardinals, homered and allowed only one earned run in 7 2-3 innings of a 5-4 victory over Milwaukee.
- Carlos Zambrano, Cubs, pitched seven strong innings and helped himself with three hits in Chicago's 12-3 victory over Cincinnati.
LONG NIGHT
The New York Yankees outlasted the Boston Red Sox 15-9 in a glacially paced game that took 4 hours, 8 minutes. The 24 runs were the most in a Red Sox-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium since New York's 14-10 win on April 21, 1956, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And the 15 runs were the most by New York against Boston in the Bronx since winning 17-9 on July 7, 1954. ... Texas' Josh Hamilton went 4-for-7 with two RBIs, including a run-scoring double in the 14th inning of a 7-5 victory at Toronto. Frank Catalanotto scored the go-ahead run on A.J. Burnett's wild pitch in the 14th as the Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak. With the bullpen depleted, Burnett relieved in the 14th. The right-hander, who started in Texas on Sunday, became Toronto's ninth pitcher of the game, tying a team record.
EARLY TROUBLE
Cleveland ace C.C. Sabathia (0-3) gave up nine runs, eight hits and five walks over four-plus innings before leaving to boos in a 13-2 loss to Detroit. The 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner has a 13.50 ERA after four outings.
THAT'S MORE LIKE IT
Roy Oswalt snapped out of an early funk by pitching seven strong innings for Houston in a 2-1 victory at Philadelphia. Oswalt (1-3) finally looked like a three-time All-Star instead of the worst pitcher in the NL. The right-hander gave up one run and five hits to snap a three-game skid and beat the Phillies for the sixth straight time. He entered the game either first or tied for first in the NL in losses, runs and hits allowed.
BAD NEWS BUCS
Pittsburgh has made at least one error in 14 consecutive games. It's the longest such streak by the franchise since a 15-game stretch June 2-16, 1946. Last season, the Pirates set club records for fewest errors (83), consecutive errorless games (11) and most games in a season without an error (99).
IMPRESSIVE COMPANY
Alex Rodriguez hit his 522nd home run in the New York Yankees' 15-9 victory over Boston to pass Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place on the career list.
BREAKING OUT
Jim Thome hit a three-run homer and doubled for the Chicago White Sox in a 3-1 victory at Baltimore. Thome entered the game batting .156 with a homerless drought that had reached 43 at-bats. ... Troy Tulowitzki snapped an 0-for-20 slump with a two-run double in Colorado's seven-run ninth inning, and the Rockies beat San Diego 10-2. Garrett Atkins had four hits and two RBIs for Colorado. ... Carlos Beltran hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot that helped the New York Mets to a 5-2 victory over Washington.
STRONG STARTS
Jose Contreras (1-1) pitched seven innings of four-hit ball for the White Sox in a 3-1 victory at Baltimore. He struck out six, walked none and lowered his ERA from 6.17 to 4.34. Chicago has won nine of 12. ... Armando Galarraga gave up two runs and one hit over 6 2-3 innings in his Tigers debut, retiring 16 straight batters during a 13-2 victory at Cleveland. Acquired from Texas in a February trade, the right-hander was recalled from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day.
SWINGS
Derrek Lee hit his sixth home run of the season, sending the Chicago Cubs to a 12-3 rout of Cincinnati. Lee, who finished with three hits and raised his batting average to .393, had only six homers in the first half last year before finishing with 22. ... Baltimore has lost six of eight after a 6-1 start. ... The Tigers have scored 30 runs while winning their past three games following a 2-10 start. Right before this outburst, they were shut out in consecutive games by the Chicago White Sox.
STREAKING
Gil Meche pitched six solid innings for his first win of the year and Kansas City beat the Angels 3-2 to extend its winning streak against Los Angeles to six games in a row, five of those last year. Joakim Soria struck out two in a perfect ninth for his fifth save. He has retired his past 17 batters, eight on strikeouts. ... Mike Jacobs hit his sixth home run and Mark Hendrickson (3-1) won his third start in a row, leading Florida to a 6-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins (9-5) are tied for last in the National League in ERA (4.97) but they're 9-0 when scoring at least four runs. They lead the NL East despite the lowest payroll in the majors. Tim Hudson (2-1) lasted only three innings for the Braves, who lost their third in a row and fell to 0-7 in one-run games. They're 2-7 on the road.
SPEAKING
``I got the win? It's cool. It's very nice.'' a surprised LaTroy Hawkins on earning the victory in the New York Yankees' 15-9 over the Boston Red Sox.
Soriano placed on 15-day DL with strained right calf
April 16, 2008
CHICAGO (AP) -Alfonso Soriano hopped onto the 15-day disabled list Wednesday as the Chicago Cubs lost their star leadoff hitter with a strained right calf muscle.
Soriano was put the DL after an MRI confirmed it was just a strain, an injury he got Tuesday night just seconds after making his familiar hop to catch a first-inning flyball.
Soriano developed the quirky hop when he first moved from second base to the outfield with the Washington Nationals in 2006. He said after he missed some routine flyballs, he incorporated the hop for several reasons: to help him relax, to get to the ball sooner by lurching upward and to make it appear more difficult, thereby increasing his concentration.
But as he wore a boot on his right foot Wednesday, Soriano insisted his latest injury was not caused by the hop.
``No, no, no, no. It was afterward. I did two little jumps and then when I started normal running, that's when I felt it. It's not the jump,'' Soriano said, adding it started bothering him last week in Pittsburgh.
``It's not because of the hop. I felt it before and felt it last week. ... As soon I got moved to left field, that's what I did in Washington and nothing happened. I did it last year and nothing happened. It's not because of the hop.''
Soriano caught a flyball from Ken Griffey Jr. in the first Tuesday night and then had to limp off the field seconds after he landed. Soriano never came to bat as Mike Fontenot hit for him in the bottom half.
``What happened last night was a freak thing,'' Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.
``You can blame it on the hop or you can blame it on whatever you want. But I think truthfully, if it hadn't happened there, it would have happened doing something else. I don't think the hop was the sole reason for it.''
Mark DeRosa, who switched from second base to left field on Tuesday night, was back in left Wednesday night. Fontenot was batting leadoff, and the Cubs recalled infielder/outfielder Eric Patterson from Triple-A Iowa.
``That's the way he catches flyballs,'' DeRosa said of Soriano.
``You don't expect him to get injured doing it. He'll be sorely missed, no doubt. He's one of the biggest reasons we won the division last year.''
Soriano was off to a slow start with a .175 average and just two homers and five RBIs this season.
A year ago in his first season with the Cubs after signing a $136 million, seven-year deal, Soriano batted .299 with 33 homers and 70 RBIs, although his steals were way down because of leg problems.
The trip to the DL is just the second in his career, both with the Cubs. He also landed there last August when he strained a quadriceps muscle running the bases. Early last season he also missed five games with a hamstring injury. He finished with 19 stolen bases after swiping 41 in the previous season for the Nationals.
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said the team would take its time with Soriano to make sure he's ready to play when he returns.
``It's just a situation where we don't want to rush this and get him ready in seven or eight days and take a chance of him re-injuring it,'' Hendry said.
Hendry said he doesn't think Soriano's hop necessarily causes injuries and that athletes with lean muscular frames sometimes have muscle pull problems.
``I don't mind the hop as long as he catches them all. That's how I look at it,'' Hendry said. ``That's his thing. It makes him relax and focus better and for the most part he plays good solid defense for us and throws a lot of people out.''
Weaver inks deal with Brewers
April 16, 2008
ST. LOUIS (AP) -Jeff Weaver would get a $1.25 million salary if added to the Milwaukee Brewers' major league roster, and he would have the chance to earn $2.75 million in performance bonuses.
Weaver agreed Tuesday to a minor league contract that pays him $12,000 a month. In the majors, he would get $100,000 bonuses for 25, 35, 45, 55 and 65 innings, and $250,000 bonuses for 75 innings and each additional 10 innings through 135.
The 31-year-old Weaver was 7-13 with a 6.20 ERA for the Seattle Mariners last season after helping the St. Louis Cardinals win the 2006 World Series.
Rays reliever Reyes latest to land on DL, Birkins activated
April 16, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Add Al Reyes to the list of injured Tampa Bay Rays.
The 38-year-old reliever landed on the disabled list Wednesday with an impinged right shoulder and Kurt Birkins, out since March 21 with an injured left elbow neuritis, was activated to replace him.
``Al was in that tweener state where we thought it was going to kind of mess us up if we don't do something,'' Rays manager Joe Maddon said. ``We really expect that Al is going to be well. But he's just not right right now so we chose to do this.''
Reyes is 1-2 with a 9.00 ERA in seven games.
Birkins threw two innings in an extended spring training game on Monday. He was picked up on waivers from Baltimore this spring and is 6-4 with a 6.61 ERA in two seasons in the majors.
Tampa Bay has nine players on the disabled list, the most its ever had at one time in club history.
Nats purchase contract of C Nieves, send down RHP Schroder
April 16, 2008
NEW YORK (AP) -With Paul Lo Duca sidelined because of an injured hand, the Washington Nationals purchased the contract of catcher Wil Nieves from Triple-A Columbus on Wednesday.
To make room for Nieves, the Nationals sent right-handed reliever Chris Schroder to Columbus.
Nieves' plane was due to arrive about a half-hour before the Nationals played the New York Mets. Nieves was expected to be available to back up Johnny Estrada.
Lo Duca bruised his right hand when he was hit by a pitch on Sunday against Atlanta. He did not play Tuesday in his first game against his former team since signing a $5 million, one-year deal with the Nationals in December.
Lo Duca was hitting .200 with no home runs and four RBIs for Washington this season.
``It could be a couple of days. We just want to cover ourselves,'' Nationals manager Manny Acta said.
In 63 major league games over four seasons with the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres, Nieves is hitting .161 with 11 RBIs.
``He's never been regarded as a big bat, but that's not how he made a name for himself in this game,'' Acta said.
Schroder made just two appearances this season and gave up a run in 2 2-3 innings.
Boston IF Cora placed on disabled list, Thurston called up
April 16, 2008
BOSTON (AP) -The Boston Red Sox placed backup infielder Alex Cora on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a sprained right elbow and called up Joe Thurston from Triple-A Pawtucket.
Cora, who is 3-for-3 in three games this season, was placed on the list retroactive to last Thursday. Thurston, who spent the past two seasons in the Philadelphia organization, hit .351 with a homer and three RBIs in 20 games at Pawtucket.
Cora joins third baseman Mike Lowell, who has a sprained left thumb, on the disabled list. Rookie infielder Jed Lowrie was called up from Pawtucket to take Lowell's roster spot.
Dodgers activate Nomar Garciaparra, send Troncoso to minors
April 16, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AP) -Nomar Garciaparra was activated from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who optioned right-handed reliever Ramon Troncoso to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Garciaparra, who went 3-for-10 with Las Vegas during his three-game minor league rehab stint, returned to Los Angeles on Tuesday to confer with the training staff and manager Joe Torre. The plan was for the third baseman to play one more game with the minor league club and then get activated for the start of a road trip, but a flu bug was going around down there - so the Dodgers wanted to make sure that what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.
``He was supposed to play there today, but I guess they had a little stomach flu thing going on, so we kept him back here today,'' Torre said after writing Garciaparra's name in the seventh spot on his lineup card against Pittsburgh's Paul Maholm.
``We were going to activate him on Friday, anyway. But with a left-handed pitcher going tonight, there was really nothing to prevent him from playing. So we figured we might as well throw him out there. I checked with him to see how he was feeling, and he was good. Besides, he wasn't going to get any better by Friday,'' he said.
Garciaparra and backup third baseman Andy LaRoche were injured in the same exhibition game March 8 at Vero Beach, Fla. Garciaparra was hit on the right wrist by a pitch, and LaRoche tore a ligament in his right thumb while trying to catch a pickoff throw from catcher Danny Ardoin. LaRoche had surgery three days later.
Tony Abreu also started the season on the DL because of a groin strain, giving non-roster invitee Blake DeWitt a chance to be the Dodgers' fifth opening day third baseman in five years instead of beginning the season with Double-A Jacksonville.
DeWitt started the first 14 games, committing only one error while showing good range and a strong arm. He was batting .261 with five RBIs and eight walks, reaching base in all but one game. When he singled against San Francisco's Barry Zito in the season opener, DeWitt became the first Dodgers player to get a hit in his first big league at-bat on opening day since 1969, when Bill Russell doubled against Cincinnati's Jim Merritt.
``The best thing that's come out of the whole bad luck part of (the rash of injuries to the third base position) was Blake DeWitt,'' Torre said. ``We certainly got a peek at a guy who didn't come to spring training with it, and found himself playing on opening day. So whatever happens for him from here on out has certainly been a positive for him and us both - to watch the way he's handled this stuff and to know that he's there in the event that we need some help.''