Phils’ Moyer hopes to return this season
July 24, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Jamie Moyer(notes) stood at his locker Friday afternoon, speakingof pitching again not retirement.
Faced with the possibility of a career-ending elbow injury, the 47-year-oldleft-hander said he owes it to himself to try everything to return to thepitching mound this season.
“That’s my goal,” he said. “But without a full diagnosis—I think that’sonly fair—but the competitor in myself, I want to pitch. If my arm doesn’tallow that to happen, it’s not going to happen. I believe I’m going to make somesort of a, I don’t want to say comeback, but I’m going to make some sort ofattempt to get back out there.”
Moyer left his July 20 start in St. Louis when he strained his left elbowafter making a pitch. He is headed for the disabled list—likely on Saturday—and is in having tests to determine the severity of the injury.
“It’s best until all the testing is done,” Moyer said. “Without all thetesting, I don’t feel it’s appropriate to comment on something halfway through.I know it’s a strain. I think it’s my flexor pronator (forearm) and it soundslike it’s a sprain in my ulnar collateral (ligament), but I think we’re going todo some further testing to determine the severity of the sprain.”
Moyer has made 686 appearances in a 24-season big-league career, starting628 games. He is 267-204 for his career, and was 9-9 this season with a 4.84ERA. He started Game Three of the 2008 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
While he prefers not to think about the inevitable end to a storied run—Moyer knows he will eventually have to walk away from the game he made he debutwith on June 16, 1986.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it, but I haven’t spent awhole lot of time thinking about it, because I’m not there yet,” he said,holding back tears. “It’s one of those situations that you don’t want to havehappen, but if it happens, it happens. There’s nothing I can do about it. Ican’t turn back and change anything. I feel like I can look myself in the mirrorand know that if that was my last outing, so be it. I’ve given it my best and Ienjoyed my career. At this point, I’m not looking at it as that being the case.
“I’m still under contract, so I feel obligated to make every effort toallow this to heal and give myself that chance to pitch. (But) when it’s over,it’s over.”
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Athletics sign Suzuki through 2014
July 23, 2010
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—The Oakland Athletics have signed catcher Kurt Suzuki(notes) toa new four-year contract that keeps him locked up through his arbitration years.
The deal announced Friday supersedes his previous 2010 contract and includesa club option for the 2014 season. The option year is the first year Suzuki iseligible for free agency.
The 26-year-old Suzuki is a key part of Oakland’s future. He has led all ALcatchers in games started the past two seasons and became only the secondcatcher in franchise history to lead the team in RBIs with 88 last season.
He is hitting .257 with 37 RBIs and a team-leading 10 home runs in 68 gamesthis year.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Yankees missing Swisher due to sore heel
July 23, 2010
NEW YORK (AP)—Right fielder Nick Swisher(notes) was a late scratch from the New YorkYankees’ lineup because he woke up with a sore left Achilles’ heel.
Swisher was initially set to bat second Friday, but when he arrived atYankee Stadium before the game against the Kansas City Royals he told the teemhis heel was hurting. He says he couldn’t figure out when he hurt it.
Swisher says he is available to pinch hit.
Colin Curtis(notes) will take his spot in right field and bat ninth. Brett Gardenerwas moved from the No. 9 hole and will bat leadoff. Derek Jeter(notes) moved from firstto second in the order.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Royals OF DeJesus out at least 10 weeks
July 23, 2010
NEW YORK (AP)—David DeJesus(notes) will have surgery to repair a torn tendon in hisright thumb and the Kansas City Royals outfielder will miss at least 10 weeks.
DeJesus sprained his right thumb crashing into the fence in center fieldThursday night in Yankee Stadium, a play that resulted in an inside-the-parkhomer for Derek Jeter(notes). The Royals initially called the injury a sprain Fridaywhen he was placed on the disabled list. But DeJesus saw a specialist inCleveland and it was determined he would have surgery Monday.
“We lost two pretty good hitters yesterday,” Royals manager Ned Yost saidof DeJesus and Alberto Callaspo(notes), who was traded to the Angels on Thursday forright-hander Sean O’Sullivan(notes) and a minor league pitcher.
DeJesus was batting .318 with five homers and 37 RBIs this season and wasthe subject of trade rumors as the July 31 deadline approached.
“He’s had a great year, at a really high level,” Yost said. “Anall-around player of his caliber is rare.”
The Royals recalled outfielder Alex Gordon(notes) from Triple-A Omaha on Friday andinserted him into the lineup as the right fielder against the Yankees.
Gordon was sent to Ohama in early May to convert him to an outfielder.Gordon’s glove at third base was considered a plus when he was drafted No. 2overall in 2005 out of Nebraska. But has made 44 errors in 329 major leaguegames at third, including four in 10 games this year.
The 26-year-old Gordon was hitting .315 with 14 home runs and 44 RBIs in 68games for Omaha. He practiced playing balls off the wall in right field earlierFriday.
Kansas City also designated Anthony Lerew(notes) for assignment to make room forO’Sullivan, who will make his second start in five days Sunday against theYankees. On Tuesday, O’Sullivan gave up two hits and two runs in six innings inhis first start of the season for the Angels.
“He’s going to have to make adjustments, like (the Yankees) are going tohave to make adjustments for him,” Yost said.
O’Sullivan posted a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings for the Angels. The 22-year-oldwas one of the Angels’ top pitching prospects.
“Just take it one pitch at a time,” he said about facing the Yankeesagain.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Slumping Phillies dismiss hitting coach
July 23, 2010
PHILADELPHIA (AP)—Phillies manager Charlie Manuel dismissed hitting coach MiltThompson on Friday and replaced him with Greg Gross, hoping to jump start anoffense that’s been struggling for nearly two months.
Gross has been with Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the past three seasons, andDouble-A Reading before that. He was the hitting coach for former Philliesmanager Larry Bowa from 2002-04, and played for World Series teams withPhiladelphia in 1980 and 1983.
“I looked at our hitting and thought something had to be done,” saidManuel, a former hitting coach with the Cleveland Indians. “If you would havetold me we would have hit this way, I would have argued with you forever.”
Thompson had been Philadelphia’s hitting coach since 2005, when the teamfinished second in the National League in runs. The offense has been a bigreason that the Phillies have been such a success the past few seasons, leadingthe league in runs in 2006, ’07 and last season.
“Milt didn’t swing a bat for us, didn’t chase those balls in the dirt ortake fastballs down the middle. It was one of the hardest decisions I evermade,” Manuel said. “He’s a good friend of mine, but at the same time, I feltwe had to try something.”
Injuries to Jimmy Rollins(notes), Chase Utley(notes), Placido Polanco(notes) and Carlos Ruiz(notes) havehurt the team’s consistency this season. Philadelphia ranks just 12th in the NLin batting (.254) and on-base percentage (.322) and sixth in runs, and have beenheld to one or less 23 times in 95 games.
“You don’t expect anybody to be out,” Polanco said before Friday night’sgame against the Colorado Rockies. “We’ve been around long enough to know whatwe’re supposed to be doing.”
The Phillies entered Friday trailing Atlanta by seven games in the NL East,after leading by five games on May 17. Philadelphia has a reputation forcharging back in September, as they did against the Mets in 2007 and ’08, andManuel reminded his players of that Friday.
“When we see how our at-bats are, I think we need more focus, morepreparation,” Manuel said. “We need to go back and play baseball the Phillyway. We had it and it’s gotten away from us. It doesn’t mean that changing thehitting coach will bring that part back, but I felt like we need a new person.Something like that might make a difference.
“I talked about out team. We have 67 games to play,” Manuel said. “I’veseen us make up seven games in 17 games and win our division (in 2007). All wehave to do is get back to playing baseball like we can, or the way that we’veplayed before.”
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Wells pitches Cubs past Cardinals 5-0
July 23, 2010
CHICAGO (AP)—Alfonso Soriano(notes) hit a two-run homer and Randy Wells(notes) pitched sevenshutout innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 5-0 victory over the St. LouisCardinals on Friday.
Tyler Colvin(notes) and Geovany Soto(notes) added solo shots for the Cubs, who trailfirst-place St. Louis by 10 games in the NL Central.
Chicago Cubs' Geovany Soto… The Canadian Press – Jul 23, 5:11 pm EDT A baseball fan cools off as he… AP – Jul 23, 5:05 pm EDT
Chicago Cubs starter Randy Wel… AP – Jul 23, 3:52 pm EDT YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index = 2; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_lazy_images = [http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100723/capt.eaadb4141eaa4018886de35a4060992c-eaadb4141eaa4018886de35a4060992c-0.jpg?x=180&y=200&xc=88&yc=1&wc=237&hc=263&q=70&sig=JCjw9koUWeW48.WLj0NNmA--,http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100723/capt.b9c3bee19a9345dfadcac511bd315661-b9c3bee19a9345dfadcac511bd315661-0.jpg?x=180&y=200&xc=31&yc=1&wc=350&hc=389&q=70&sig=U_pclwav5AzKab99qE44rA--]; YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(window,load,YAHOO.Sports.articleLazyLoadCarousel.init); 1 of 3 StL-ChC Gallery function prev_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index > 0) { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index – 1); } else { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index); }}function next_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index 0) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next); }*/}function goto_photo(p) { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { for(i = 0; i < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos.length; i++) { if (i == p) { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, ); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, none); } } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page) { YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page.innerHTML =(p + 1); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = p; } } update_buttons();}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init = function () { YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_prev, click, prev_photo); YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_next, click, next_photo); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = 0; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page = YAHOO.util.Dom.get(carousel_page); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName(item, div, leadphoto); if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { goto_photo(0); }}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init(); Series at a Glance St. Louis 0 Chi Cubs 5 Fri, Jul 23 – Final St. Louis at Chi Cubs Sat, Jul 24 – 1:05 pm ET St. Louis at Chi Cubs Sun, Jul 25 – 8:05 pm ET
The Cardinals failed to get a run for the second straight day afteroutscoring opponents 46-17 during an eight-game winning streak. Albert Pujols(notes)was hitless in eight at-bats in the two losses, both coming in uncomfortablyhot, humid conditions.
Wells (5-7) allowed five hits—one single in each of the second throughsixth innings—and struck out seven. It was the polar opposite of hisperformance against the Cardinals on May 28, when he gave up hits to the firstsix batters and left trailing 5-0.
Wells, who has a 1.30 ERA in his past five starts after compiling a 5.21mark in his first 15 outings, has allowed no runs in his past two games.
The biggest threat came in the sixth, when Jon Jay(notes) singled, went to secondon Pujols’ grounder and advanced on Wells’ errant pickoff attempt. Wells thenstruck out Matt Holliday(notes) and got Colby Rasmus(notes) to pop out.
Sean Marshall(notes) wrapped up Chicago’s first shutout since June 13 with twohitless innings.
Jeff Suppan(notes) (0-6) allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings. He fell to0-4 since rejoining the Cardinals last month after Milwaukee released him. St.Louis is 39-22 in games started by Adam Wainwright(notes), Chris Carpenter(notes) and JaimeGarcia(notes) but 15-21 otherwise.
Not only did Suppan’s teammates fail to score, they also made defensivemistakes leading to three Chicago runs.
The Cubs already led 2-0 in the fifth when St. Louis second baseman SkipSchumaker(notes) botched a double play relay. Soriano then lined a homer into theleft-field bleachers. In the sixth, nobody caught Starlin Castro’s(notes) infield pop,which fell for an RBI single.
Colvin opened the game with his first career leadoff homer. He is the firstleft-handed-hitting Cubs rookie with 14 home runs since Rafael Palmeiro in 1987.
Soto hit his 14th on the first pitch of the fourth inning and has homered inthree straight games. He went deep only 11 times last season after hitting 23 asthe 2008 NL rookie of the year.
Notes: Cubs RHP Carlos Zambrano(notes), suspended by the team after a June 25altercation with teammates, could return by late next week after a few moreminor league conditioning appearances. At that time, manager Lou Piniella said,Zambrano is expected to apologize. … RHP P.J. Walters(notes) pitched two perfectinnings for the Cardinals after being called up from Triple-A Memphis. …Piniella, who will retire at season’s end, didn’t have a prototypical leadoffman during his four seasons in Chicago. “That’s something that has to beaddressed,” he said, with GM Jim Hendry standing close by. … Both Piniellaand childhood buddy Tony La Russa had brief apprenticeships before becoming bigleague managers and both said Ryne Sandberg’s lack of experience shouldn’t workagainst him as Hendry searches for Piniella’s replacement. “It just depends onwho believes in you,” La Russa said. Added Piniella: “Either you can manage oryou can’t.”
Selig: San Jose’s push for A’s premature
July 23, 2010
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)—Baseball commissioner Bud Selig says a proposed ballotmeasure on a stadium in San Jose for the Oakland Athletics is premature.
Selig said Friday he was “disappointed” to hear that Mayor Chuck Reedwants to put a measure on the November ballot to approve a stadium for the team.Major League Baseball has yet to decide whether the club can relocate.
Selig says a committee looking into the move will meet with him againMonday.
The A’s need the approval of baseball and other team owners to move to SanJose because the San Francisco Giants hold territorial rights to the area.
But the mayor said Thursday he will ask the City Council to approve aballpark measure for the ballot regardless of where the process stands.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Wigginton banned 3 games for ump contact
July 23, 2010
BALTIMORE (AP)—Orioles first baseman Ty Wigginton(notes) received a three-gamesuspension and an undisclosed fine for “making contact” with an umpire duringan argument in Thursday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins.
Wigginton says he will appeal the ruling, which was rendered by Major LeagueBaseball on Friday.
“The way I look at it, I got thrown out of the game,” Wigginton said.“They chose to suspend me and now I have the right to appeal.”
The punishment stems from a confrontation between Wigginton and umpire GaryDarling following a call at first base.
Darling ruled that J.J. Hardy(notes) got back to the bag on an aborted attempt tosteal second. Wigginton threw off his cap and yelled until he became red in theface, stopping only after interim manager Juan Samuel forcefully pulled himaway.
As he walked off the field after being ejected, Wigginton tossed the ballinto the stands.
Replays showed Darling missed the call, and the umpire confirmed that afterthe game, saying, “He missed him the first time and on a close play, he got himthe second time, it looked like.”
Wigginton’s punishment, according to a release issued by Bob Watson, VicePresident of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, was “for hisinappropriate actions, which included making contact with umpire Gary Darling.”
Wigginton said, “It wasn’t like a definite bump. I feel like if I bumpsomeone, they’re going to move back. … If I did and didn’t realize it, my bad.But I think it was more of a brush if anything.”
The fine, Wigginton said, was “more than I was expecting.”
Wigginton could recall being ejected from a game only once, and said henever has been suspended before. Had Wigginton not appealed, the suspensionwould have started on Friday night.
Samuel and pitching coach Rick Kranitz were also ejected.
Samuel said Wigginton’s tirade probably stemmed from frustration over havinganother call go against the Orioles, who own the worst record in the majors.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve seen Wiggy like that. We thought he wasout and it was one of those that went against us. And there’s just many thathave gone against us,” Samuel said. “I think guys have probably gotten sick ofthat because we are basically not getting a whole lot of breaks.”
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Brewers’ Uecker back after heart surgery
July 23, 2010
MILWAUKEE (AP)—Bob Uecker is back in the booth with a fixed-up ticker. Hissense of humor never changed.
A fit and trim looking Uecker held a 30-minute press conference Friday todiscuss the return to the job he loves.
“I’m ready to rock and roll,” he said.
The 75-year-old broadcaster underwent surgery April 30 to replace his aorticvalve, aortic root and part of his ascending aorta, and had a coronary bypass,too.
He said that he felt great, he admitted that his two doctors, AlfredNicolosi and Jim Kleczka, might not agree.
He joked that they let him return because he promised they could throw out aceremonial first pitch as the Brewers play the Washington Nationals on Fridaynight.
“I hope they do better than they did on my incision,” he said.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!
Orioles activate and start 2B Roberts
July 23, 2010
BALTIMORE (AP)—The Orioles activated second baseman Brian Roberts(notes) from the60-day disabled list and put him in the starting lineup for Friday night’s gameagainst the Minnesota Twins.
Roberts hasn’t played in the majors since April 9. He was sidelined by astrained abdominal muscle and a herniated disk in his back. His return wasdelayed by a series of epidural shots for his back and a bout with pneumonia.
Popular sports stories Tigers secret tribute
The two-time All-Star has been lobbying since Monday to return, and the teamcomplied with Roberts’ request after his abbreviated three-day rehab assignmentwith Double-A Bowie.
Roberts was back in his customary leadoff spot Friday night.
To make room for Roberts on the 25-man roster, the Orioles designatedutility infielder Scott Moore(notes) for assignment.
Its game time! Sign up for Fantasy Football 10 today!