AMERICAN LEAGUE
Mariners-Rangers
SEATTLE: Manager Mike Hargrove and RHP Jeff Weaver talked before the game after Weaver pitched just three innings Sunday, giving up three runs and seven hits. Weaver, who has an 0-3 record and 13.91 ERA, said it was his best start this season, and Hargrove concurred. Added Hargrove: “There are some things we want him to work on. It’s my understanding that he’s committed to do it. Nothing dramatic.” … C Jamie Burke started Monday night’s game against Texas in place of Kenji Johjima, who hasn’t played since leaving Saturday’s game because of a bruised right calf. Hargrove said Johjima might play Tuesday.
, has vacated that spot. “Right now, we’ll keep him at the No. 7 slot,” Washington said. “And he might move up even more notches, although he won’t pass the veteran guys in the middle or the order.”
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Athletics-Orioles
OAKLAND: The Athletics placed OF Milton Bradley (hamstring) and RHP Rich Harden (shoulder) on the 15-day disabled list Monday. Oakland brought up OF Danny Putnam and LHP Dallas Braden to fill the roster spots. … Manager Bob Geren put Putnam in Monday’s lineup, batting ninth and playing right field. “He was playing the best at Double-A,” Geren said of Putnam, who was hitting .327 with two homers and 15 RBIs at Midland. … Braden will start in Tuesday afternoon’s game against the Orioles. It will be his major league debut. Braden missed most of 2006 recovering from a humoral defect in his left shoulder.
Bradford stranded each of the nine baserunners he inherited in his first 11 games through Sunday.
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Blue Jays-Red Sox
TORONTO: Manager John Gibbons paid attention to Boston’s three-game sweep of the New York Yankees in a series that ended Sunday. “Wild weekend, huh?” he said. The Red Sox came from behind in all three wins and tied a major-league record with four straight homers on Sunday. … Closer B.J. Ryan was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list with an injured left elbow. … Toronto was one of just four teams to have a winning record in Boston last season. The others were the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland and the Yankees.
BOSTON: CF Coco Crisp was out of the starting lineup for the second straight day with tightness in his left side. Wily Mo Pena started in his place and struck out in his first at bat. He went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk Sunday. … Rookie 2B Dustin Pedroia broke out of an 0-for-13 slump Sunday when he went 2-for-4 and made a diving catch that preserved the lead in the eighth inning. “Hopefully, he takes that and runs with it,” manager Terry Francona said. … Francona also said he’d like to give a day off soon to left fielder Manny Ramirez, who has played in all 18 games. Ramirez’s 52 homers against Toronto are the most by any player, active or retired.
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Yankees-Devil Rays
NEW YORK: Manager Joe Torre called Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who lives in nearby Tampa. “I just called and said ‘Hello,”’ Torre said. “Obviously, he wasn’t happy with the weekend, but that was the extent of it.” The Yankees were swept in a three-game weekend series that ended Sunday night by Boston. … New York arrived at its St. Petersburg hotel around 5 a.m. following Sunday’s contest that ended around 11:45 p.m. … Japanese LHP Kei Igawa, Monday night’s starter, spent a couple minutes on the mound and plate area four hours before the game.
TAMPA BAY: Monday night’s game was televised nationally in the U.S. and Japan, rare exposure for the Devil Rays. “This is good for us,” manager Joe Maddon said. “As we continue to get better, we’re going to want to see this often in the September, October range. So, this is a nice place to cut your teeth.” … Tampa Bay will not play another home series against a division rival until the Yankees return to Tropicana Field for a four-game set on July 12. … C Dioner Navarro was not in the lineup because of a sore finger. He was injured sliding into third base during Sunday’s loss to Cleveland. He’s expected return for Tuesday night’s series finale.
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White Sox-Royals
CHICAGO: The White Sox lead the league by holding opponents to a .211 batting average in their first 17 games. … The White Sox are 3-0 when RHP Javier Vazquez, who starts Tuesday, pitches. He’s 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA lifetime against the Royals. … Rob Mackowiak made his sixth start in the past seven games in left field. … 1B Paul Konerko went 0-for-6 in the 12-inning loss to the Tigers. It was the second time in his career he went hitless in six at-bats. The first was July 19, 1999, at Milwaukee.
KANSAS CITY: CF David DeJesus was back in the lineup after missing the game Sunday with a sore left ankle. “I’m feeling all right,” DeJesus said. … Rookie 3B Alex Gordon, hitting .136 with 21 strikeouts in 59 at-bats, was held out of the lineup against White Sox LHP Mark Buehrle. “He’ll be back in there tomorrow,” Royals manager Buddy Bell. “I’m going to give Alex a day off here and there.” … LHP Jorge De La Rosa, who picked up the 3-1 victory Sunday over the Twins, and RHP Joakim Soria, who worked the ninth to earn the save, became just the 11th pair of Mexican-born pitchers to pick up a win and save in the same game. The previous was the Pirates’ Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon against the Mets on July 15, 1998, vs. the Mets.
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Indians-Twins
CLEVELAND: With 3B Andy Marte (hamstring) going to the disabled list, Indians manager Eric Wedge will mix and match at a handful of positions during the next couple of weeks. Casey Blake, who switched to 3B when Marte got hurt Sunday, started there Monday. Wedge credited him for saving a victory over Tampa Bay when he made a tricky back-handed stop of a hard groundball hit by speedster Carl Crawford, spun and threw him out in the ninth inning. … LH Cliff Lee (abdomen) will make one more start on his minor-league rehabilitation assignment Friday before rejoining the rotation. Wedge said he expected Lee to throw 80 to 85 pitches in that outing. … OF David Dellucci (calf) was out of the lineup again but available to play, according to Wedge.
el, originally slotted as the primary DH, the regular LF. Kubel has played sparingly against left-handed pitchers, but he was in the lineup Monday against Cleveland’s Jeremy Sowers. “I don’t like him sitting down,” Gardenhire said. “I said I want this guy to get a lot of at-bats.”
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Tigers-Angels
DETROIT: Manager Jim Leyland would like to have a word or two with whomever was responsible for mapping out the Tigers’ schedule, which includes a two-game road series with the Angels sandwiched between a six-game homestand and a two-game series in Chicago. “It’s totally ridiculous, if you want to know the truth,” Leyland said. “You’ve got professional schedule makers that probably don’t know a … baseball from a … football. They probably think we play 16 games a year, for all I know. They rely on that computer and think that everything’s going to come out perfect – and it doesn’t work out that way. We come out to the West Coast four times, and we’re not even in the West Division. We’re in the Central Division. So to come out here four times is a total joke, and you can quote me on that.”
LOS ANGELES: The Angels entered Monday as one of only three teams in the majors without a sacrifice bunt, along with Toronto and Seattle. Last season they had only 31, the lowest total in franchise history, after averaging 48.5 during their first six seasons under manager Mike Scioscia. “Some things in this game you can’t force,” Scioscia said. “We went through probably eight straight games on the road where there wasn’t a situation to bunt, or even try a hit-and-run or a straight steal. A lot of guys in our lineup have `little ball’ in their game, but the opportunity to bunt just hasn’t presented itself. It’s one of the aspects of our offense that has been very frustrating. We haven’t really been able let the little-ball impact our offense the way we feel that it can, but I don’t think you can say that we’re struggling because we haven’t been able to put sacrifice bunts down.”
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Braves-Marlins
ce he came up from Double-A,” Cox said.
FLORIDA: 1B Mike Jacobs, nursing a sore thumb, was available to pinch-hit Monday and might return to the lineup Wednesday, manager Fredi Gonzalez said. … Florida began the week first in the majors with 71 extra-base hits. … LF Josh Willingham began the week batting .474 (9-for-19) with runners in scoring position.
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Astros-Phillies
HOUSTON: Houston’s Craig Biggio and Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins each hit leadoff homers, the first time this season leadoff batters went deep in the same game. Biggio hit Adam Eaton’s first pitch into the left-field stands for his 51st career leadoff homer. Rollins tied it with his 19th career leadoff homer off Chris Sampson. It was the first time two leadoff men homered in the same game since Aug. 17, 2006, when it happened in twice on the same day. … Biggio’s homer with the 284th of his career. … The Astros move on to Pittsburgh for a three-game series as part of a four-city, nine-game road trip.
er, will get some save opportunities and will work his way up to pitching in consecutive games and more than an inning an appearance. … The Phillies celebrated Jackie Robinson Day with a pregame ceremony. David Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s son, threw out the first pitch. Every player on the Astros and Phillies wore No. 42 and was without a name on the back of the jersey.
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Rockies-Mets
COLORADO: The Rockies entered with seven home runs, fewest in the majors. They hadn’t homered in five consecutive games, one shy of the franchise record set twice in 2002. … Steve Finley started in CF. Willy Taveras, batting .192 with one extra-base hit in 52 at-bats, was expected back in the lineup Tuesday night. … 2B Jamey Carroll batted leadoff for the second time this season. … Slumping SS Troy Tulowitzki didn’t start for the third straight game. He took extra batting practice and was expected back in the lineup Tuesday. Clint Barmes played SS and batted eighth. Tulowitzki was hitting .193 with two extra-base hits and four RBIs in 57 at-bats. … The Rockies entered 1-13 in their past 14 games at Shea Stadium, beginning in 2003. … Colorado began a 15-game stretch that includes 12 road games.
NEW YORK: 3B David Wright went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts his first three times up, leaving him hitless in 15 at-bats with eight strikeouts. Before the game, manager Willie Randolph and hitting coach Rick Down both said they’re not concerned about Wright’s slump. “I don’t see anything glaring,” Randolph said. Wright and cleanup batter Carlos Delgado each entered without a homer. … CF Carlos Beltran, normally a slow starter, was selected NL player of the week. He batted .448 with two homers and nine RBIs. He also had 27 total bases. “He’s a tremendous talent and he’s going to win a lot more of those,” Randolph said. “I think he’s going to get better and better.” Beltran turns 30 on Tuesday. … Injured RHP Duaner Sanchez was in the clubhouse and said he “definitely” will return this season. Sanchez had right shoulder surgery April 10. He said he’s pain-free, but there is no timetable yet for when he can begin throwing. “I’m just going to take my time. I’m not going to try to rush,” Sanchez said. “When I’m 100 percent I know I can help this team.” … It was the 25th anniversary of backup 1B Julio Franco’s major league debut for Philadelphia. Franco will turn 49 in August.
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Brewers-Cubs
MILWAUKEE: The Brewers’ starting rotation has been durable so far, throwing 110 1-3 innings in 18 games entering Monday’s contest against the Cubs. Brewers starters are 5-0 with a 3.50 ERA in their last seven games, spanning 43 2-3 innings, and every starter has gone at least five innings, marking a new franchise record. Chris Capuano leads the group with a 3-0 record and a 3.68 ERA. … 2B Rickie Weeks is errorless throughout the beginning of the season and has gone 27 games without an error, dating to last season. Weeks had seven errors in the first eight games of 2006, and 22 overall. … OF Bill Hall went 8-for-20 in his last homestand, with a pair of homers and five RBIs. He’s hit safely in six of his last seven games, going 12-for-28.
left field,” he said. … The Cubs put RHP Wade Miller on the 15-day DL with back spasms Monday, a day after another poor start. They called up 27-year-old RHP Rocky Cherry, who hasn’t pitched in the majors, to fill a hole in the bullpen.
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