Crede to resume rehab assignment
CHICAGO -- Joe Crede's return from the disabled list might be somewhat closer than recently imagined.
The All-Star third baseman will resume his injury rehab assignment with the Triple-A Knights in Charlotte on Tuesday against Indianapolis, according to a report on the White Sox flagship radio station.
Crede was placed on the disabled list, retroactive to June 22, with back lumbar inflammation. He took part in one previous rehab game with Charlotte on Aug. 1, finishing 0-for-3. He then was scratched from the lineup on Aug. 2 and has been inactive and basically out of sight ever since.
With Crede's prolonged down time, Ozzie Guillen stated Monday that he doesn't even have Crede on his mind when he comes to the ballpark every day. In fact, if or when Crede were to return, the White Sox manager admitted Crede wouldn't necessarily be starting.
"He wouldn't play," Guillen said. "Yes, [Juan Uribe's been that good]. I'm not going to play Joe just because he's Joe Crede. I'm going to play the guys out there that do their jobs.
"And I think Uribe's doing a tremendous job right now, playing third base and at the plate. Joe's got to go to the Minor Leagues and give me good at-bats."
Guillen added that Uribe's current defense at third was as good as Crede's Gold Glove-caliber infield performance. Uribe made two barehanded plays for outs against the Mariners on Monday.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Mets skim win off top of Easley's helmet
WASHINGTON -- Perhaps the first batter of the eighth inning reaching on a single might have left things a bit nervy for the Mets on Tuesday, given what had transpired on Monday in a loss. But the next six batters -- and subsequently the next six outs -- assuaged all doubts and salved the wounds of a last-inning loss suffered just hours before.
A trademark start from ace Johan Santana on Tuesday night was followed up with two innings of scoreless relief in a 4-3 win over Washington. The victory snapped a four-game road losing streak.
The topic on everyone's lips before the game was the state of the bullpen, sans Billy Wagner, reeling after Aaron Heilman's blown save a day earlier cost the Mets a valuable game in the midst of a pennant race. Possibilities ran rampant as to what might be done to solve the problem -- move a starter to the bullpen, perhaps, or give rookie Eddie Kunz his first chance to save a game.
In the end, Pedro Feliciano made the decision simple for manager Jerry Manuel's club. Inserted to start the ninth against a fellow left-hander, Washington's Willie Harris, Feliciano stuck through the entire inning, retiring all three batters faced and striking out two.
"I just put it in my head, if I get my lefty, maybe I get the shot to get the save," Feliciano said.
Before the game, Scott Schoeneweis led a bullpen-only meeting, something Feliciano said the Mets relievers do before every series. This time, however, the gathering took a more serious tone, one meant to convey a simple message: Keep your heads up and "don't think about yesterday," to hear it from Feliciano.
"At some point, you need to ... kind of band together," Schoeneweis said after the game.
The only member of the bullpen whose night didn't go quite as planned was Kunz, who Manuel had said before the game would get the save opportunity should the situation arise. After the game, Manuel said his decision to leave Feliciano in instead of turning to Kunz, warmed up in the bullpen, was borne strictly from the situation, specifically the Nationals' abundance of left-handed hitters and Harris leading off.
"Their strength was from the left side of the bench," Manuel said. "I did not want to start Eddie with a guy that I didn't think was a swinger."
Manuel did say his original intention was to bring Kunz in after Feliciano faced Harris, but he said confidence in the veteran left-hander kept him in the game.
For his part, Kunz wasn't disappointed with the way the ninth inning transpired.
"Things happen, he gets out, and they're gonna keep going," Kunz said. "I'm just glad either way. We got the save out of it and the win."
Despite all the talk about the bullpen's ups and down, the Mets picked up their first road win since July 29 on the backs of solid performances from veterans as well on Tuesday night.
Both teams traded a pair of runs apiece in the first and the Mets took the lead in the third, only to have a Ryan Langerhans pinch-hit home run erase that margin in the seventh.
The Mets got the lead back for good in the eighth, but not without some controversy. After back-to-back singles and a strikeout, Fernando Tatis began to go around on a 3-2 pitch inside from Nationals reliever Saul Rivera.
Catcher Jesus Flores appealed to first, where umpire Mike Reilly said the New York outfielder didn't swing, a call Washington manager Manny Acta disagreed with.
The next hitter, Damion Easley, was dropped to the ground in his at-bat by a pitch that sailed above his helmet to the backstop. Wright charged home without need, as home plate-umpire Rob Drake ruled Easley had been hit by the pitch. Acta came out to debate that call, spending a few minutes on the field before finally giving up his argument.
That inning also saw Santana's exit after throwing just 94 pitches over seven innings, striking out six and scattering eight hits and three earned runs. The only reason the left-hander came out after seven, in fact, was because Manuel pinch-hit for him with the bases loaded.
After the game, Santana said he was ready to go longer, but he understood the decision to turn things over to the bullpen.
"We always go by what's good for the team," Santana said. "I respect all the decisions that they're going to make. We have to support each other."
Santana handled the ball off to Joe Smith, who allowed a single to Austin Kearns before setting down the next three Nationals, two on strikes. Manuel said after the game that his comments about possibly moving a starter to the bullpen weren't meant to "light any fires" under anyone, but his pitchers could take it that way if they so chose.
"That's how I took it," Smith said with a smile after the game. "I took it as a move to fire us up."
Copyright 2008 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved.
Harrison outduels Pettitte in victory
ARLINGTON -- In end, this should have been all about Matt Harrison.
This should have been about a 22-year-old left-hander, in his sixth Major League start, outpitching one of the best left-handers of this generation with the usual help of the Rangers' powerful offense and some nice defensive plays by their defense.
And that's really what this was about, even if overshadowed by the side show in the eighth inning when C.J. Wilson made his first appearance as a setup reliever, gave up a grand slam to Richie Sexson and ended up going on the disabled list after the game.
Despite all that, the Rangers were still able to hold on for an 8-6 victory over the Yankees on Tuesday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Josh Hamilton hit a two-run home run in the first inning and the Rangers have won two straight and six of nine on their 11-game homestand to put them six games over .500 for the first time this season.
"That's huge," outfielder Marlon Byrd said. "The only thing we have to do is win the series tomorrow. You don't want to wait until Thursday. Splitting the series still means something but you want to kick them while they're down and get a sweep."
Wilson, who has had two pregame bullpen sessions with new pitching coach Andy Hawkins, entered the game in the eighth inning with an 8-2 and had trouble throwing strikes. He walked two, hit a batter, struck out one, gave up a grand slam to Sexson and then got in trouble with manager Ron Washington for flipping the ball to him when he was taken out of the game.
Jamey Wright had to get the final two outs of the inning and Eddie Guardado ended up closing out the ninth by getting Alex Rodriguez to hit into a game-ending double play for his third save.
When it was finally over, Harrison had added Andy Pettitte to a collection of pitchers that he's beaten, a list that also includes All-Star left-hander Joe Saunders and American League ERA leader Justin Duchscherer. Pettitte isn't quite the pitcher he once was, but he's still a 12-game winner this season and one of the winningest left-handers in the game.
He just wasn't good enough to beat the Rangers' rookie left-hander. Harrison is now 3-2 with a 6.46 ERA in six starts. That breaks down to 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in the three games he has been the winning pitcher and 0-2 with a 12.41 ERA in his other three starts.
"It's pretty exciting," Harrison said. "Being left-handed, I try to model myself like guys like him. I was a little bit nervous because it was the Yankees, I never faced a team of that caliber before. I was nervous at first. I've been watching the Yankees since I was little, to get out there and pitch against them was exciting.
"I felt like I had to prove [the Rangers] didn't make a mistake by leaving me up here. I got a lead, attacked hitters and stayed aggressive."
Harrison allowed five hits and three walks but had his changeup working and was able to get three double plays turned behind him. Third baseman Travis Metcalf started all three. Harrison left to a standing ovation from 34,473 after allowing a walk to Robinson Cano and a double to Richie Sexson with one out in the seventh.
"That's the best I've seen him throw since he got up here," catcher Gerald Laird said. "As the game went on, he got a little swagger going. He commanded all his pitches. It was a huge game for his confidence."
Reliever Josh Rupe bailed him out in the seventh by getting the biggest out of the game. Rupe inherited runners on second and third with one out and proceeded to walk two of the next three hitters (mixing in a pop out) to force in a run.
That brought up Derek Jeter in a 5-2 game with the bases loaded and Rupe fell behind 3-and-1 in the count. Then he threw an outside fastball that Jeter lined right at second baseman Ian Kinsler to end the inning. The Rangers immediately responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally capped by a three-run double from Chris Davis.
Washington, holding an 8-2 lead, thought that was a safe enough lead to let Wilson pitch. That almost proved to be a disaster, and when the game was over, Wilson ended up on the disabled list.
That was the big news of the night. But the big win belonged to Harrison.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Haren wins third straight for D-backs
SAN DIEGO -- Bring on the Dodgers.
The D-backs are feeling pretty good about themselves heading into their big four-game series with the Dodgers after they beat the Padres for the second this time by a 7-3 margin in front of 31,755 at PETCO Park.
Arizona has won seven of its past nine games since dropping two of three to the Dodgers two weeks ago at Chase Field.
"Everyone is swinging it well so we really couldn't have picked a better time to go down there," third baseman Mark Reynolds said referring to the series with the Dodgers, who trail the D-backs by one game in the National League West. "Our pitching has been great. Hopefully, we can win the series, get out of there in first place and keep it rolling after that."
It didn't look good for the D-backs early in this one as starter Dan Haren got off to a shaky start.
"I felt really good coming out of the 'pen," Haren said. "You wouldn't be able to tell by the results, but I felt good. My stuff was a little flat in the beginning, left some pitches in the middle of the plate."
The Padres made him pay as Jody Gerut led off the first with a homer to right and Kevin Kouzmanoff capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to give San Diego a 2-0 lead.
It was a very un-Haren-like start to a game. In his prior seven starts, the right-hander had allowed just one total run in the first five innings.
"We're so used to seeing him mow through the first three or four innings," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "But he got better as he went along, made some adjustments."
Haren got his fingers more on top of the ball and threw at more of a downhill plane after the first and allowed just one more run before departing after the seventh inning.
"The second half of the game he was fantastic," Melvin said.
"My split got better as the game went along, got a lot of strikeouts on it," said Haren, who fanned six. "But the beginning of the game I was leaving it over the middle of the plate and it was burning me. The fifth, sixth and seventh it was my best pitch. I was happy I was able to make an adjustment out there."
The D-backs offense chipped away at the Padres' advantage in the second when Reynolds doubled home Chad Tracy.
In the fourth, the D-backs grabbed a 5-3 lead as they capitalized on a pair of Padres errors to score four runs. Haren was right in the middle of the offense that inning with almost disastrous results.
With Alex Romero at third, Haren hit a grounder to third. Kouzmanoff charged the ball and threw wildly home trying to get Romero. Meanwhile, Haren took advantage of the error to advance to second but seemed to pull up lame when he got to the bag.
"I just needed a second," Haren said. "I was just cramping up a little bit. I got some fluids in me, stretched it out and I was fine. I would be surprised if I felt it at all tomorrow."
Melvin didn't want to take any chances given the way his co-ace has pitched this year, and Haren had a hard time convincing Melvin that his right hamstring was good enough to allow him to stay in the game.
"He guaranteed me he would take it easy coming home and once he got out to the mound he would let me know but didn't have any issues with it the rest of the way," Melvin said. "We were in close contact with him the rest of the way almost to the point where he was tired of listening to me."
Haren retired the final eight batters he faced before giving way to Jon Rauch in the eighth and Tony Pena in the ninth.
In the victorious clubhouse, catcher Chris Snyder praised Haren's effort before turning his attention to the upcoming challenges.
"These guys aren't backing down," Snyder said of the Dodgers. "It's not going to be easy. It's going to be fun."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Orioles' offense comes alive in victory
BALTIMORE -- The Orioles' clubhouse decor got a new addition Tuesday night. Prior to the game, manager Dave Trembley was given a sign by a fan, which he then passed on to closer George Sherrill. The sign read: "Never a doubt, Georgie."
No outing may have been sweeter for Sherrill than Tuesday's, however, as the Orioles dropped the Royals, 7-5. The victory comes just two days after Sherrill blew his fourth and fifth saves of the season.
After the game, Trembley said it was Sherrill's return to his forte -- the fastball -- that helped him get back on track.
Maybe it was Trembley's pregame talk with Sherrill, one that went: "'George, when you come into the game and the game's on the line, we're not going to try to trick anybody. It's you and him. Throw your fastball.'"
Sherrill threw 11 pitches Tuesday, 10 of them for strikes, and almost all were fastballs. The final pitch of the game, however, was a slider.
"The three times he's got beat on home run balls, [the homers] have been on hanging [breaking balls]," Trembley said. "If you're going to get beat, get beat on your best stuff. Don't get beat on your second or third pitch."
"We wanted to go fastball in," Sherrill said. "But that's his swing. I'd been showing [Alex Gordon] a lot of fastballs, so it was time to go breaking ball."
The strategy worked, as Gordon was fooled into striking out to end the game.
The Orioles broke open a one-run lead with a four-run third inning against Royals starter Luke Hochevar. But unlike Monday, Baltimore did not allow Kansas City to chip away at its lead.
The Orioles allowed a run in the first inning for the fourth straight game when Gordon crushed starter Radhames Liz's second pitch over the right-field scoreboard and out onto Eutaw Street. But that was the only inning the Royals would lead.
Liz picked up his third win of the season and, despite giving up two solo home runs, he turned in a quality start for the Orioles.
"I thought Liz probably had the best command since he's been with us tonight," Trembley said. "I thought he showed his breaking pitch and his changeup early in the game, which was a real plus for him."
"I felt very good with all my pitches," Liz said. "All of them were working tonight. Every inning is not going to be perfect. I got in trouble in the fifth inning. I think the home run got on my mind a little bit. But after that, the pitching coach, [Rick Kranitz], talked to me and everything went good."
Liz pitched well enough for the win, going six innings and allowing three earned runs on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
The right-hander was pulled after the sixth, giving way to Adam Loewen, who made his first Major League appearance since April 24. Loewen pitched two commanding innings, allowing just two hits and one walk with one strikeout. It was an important outing for the southpaw -- being his first appearance since coming off the disabled list Monday -- as well as for an overworked Orioles bullpen that features two relievers on the DL in Matt Albers and Jamie Walker.
"Loewen's Achilles' heel has been the base on balls, when he was here earlier, and not enough strike ones," Trembley said. "I thought tonight he showed the ability to command his pitches. He did a real nice job. He did show poise. You've got to give the guy credit, this is the first time he's doing this."
"I had the confidence I could put the ball where I need to, to get an out or a key ground ball," Loewen said. "That just in itself, that kind of confidence, is really big."
After Gordon's solo homer, the Orioles evened the score in the bottom half of the first on Aubrey Huff's RBI single. Baltimore's offense hit Hochevar hard in the third, sending the entire lineup, except Brian Roberts, to the plate in the inning and tagging Hochevar for four runs on three hits to give the Orioles a 6-1 lead.
Roberts added a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh to give the Orioles their seventh and final run of the game.
"We finally got the third out," Trembley said. "We got some big hits, we got some real big hits -- played very well in the field. We got pitching, timely hitting and defense. You get all three, you're going to win."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Sardinha focusing on his approach
DETROIT -- He knows he's just an injury replacement. But that won't stop Tigers catcher Dane Sardinha from trying to take advantage of his opportunity the next few weeks.
"You try to hold your own, and also at the same time, you're glad for the opportunity," Sardinha said Thursday before his second career start and Tigers debut. "Obviously when [Brandon] Inge is healthy, I'll probably go back down, but you want to leave a good impression."
The Tigers purchased Sardinha's contract from Triple-A Toledo before Wednesday's game against the Cardinals. With Inge on the 15-day disabled list nursing a pulled left oblique, Sardinha is the Tigers' new backup catcher.
He will likely catch once or twice a week, depending on the schedule. Tigers manager Jim Leyland usually sits starting catcher Ivan Rodriguez for day games after night games and before off-days. But no matter how much playing time Sardinha gets, he wants to remind team officials they have a pretty good backstop in Triple-A.
"You want to leave in the back of their minds that we can bring this guy up at any time," Sardinha said.
In the 29-year-old Hawaiian, the Tigers have a quiet leader with exceptional defensive skills. He has struggled with the bat during his seven-year career, posting just a .221 career average in the Minors, but there's no denying his receiving and throwing abilities.
"As a catcher, a lot of people look for a guy who can catch and throw, and he's about as good as I've ever seen," said utility infielder Michael Hollimon, who played with Sardinha this season at Toledo. "With blocking balls, throwing guys out, the exchange is so quick. I was talking to a buddy of mine, and I said, 'Every pitch, you watch him and the way he transfers the ball [from his glove to his hand], it's so quick and smooth, it's like it's not even touching the glove.' It's kind of fun to watch."
Sardinha also has a good reputation with handling pitching staffs.
"He's very approachable," said pitcher Eddie Bonine, a recent Triple-A callup. "If you want to go talk to him about hitters, or go talk to him about how you want to pitch that day, or ask questions about certain pitches, he's always open to talking about it."
He sat at his clubhouse locker Thursday morning chatting with the game's starting pitcher, Nate Robertson. Sardinha confessed catching unfamiliar pitchers represents one of the toughest challenges of a midseason callup to the Majors. He said he can only pay extra attention to the pitcher's stuff in the pregame bullpen session and go from there.
He knows from experience. Wednesday marked Sardinha's third Major League callup, with the other two coming at Cincinnati in 2003 and 2005. He made one start in the latter appearance.
"Seems like a long time ago -- a really long time ago," he said.
This time, Sardinha wants to pick up tips from Major League hitters. He admitted he's "still behind" in his hitting approach, as seen by his .205 batting average and .246 on-base percentage this season at Toledo. Among his pregame activities, he conversed with third baseman Carlos Guillen about hitting and bat choice.
It's all part of seizing the opportunity.
"I watch these guys' at-bats and try to pick up things from them, their approach and everything," Sardinha said. "There's some great hitters in here, and I need to work on my approach."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Fans out in droves in win over Cubs
ST. PETERSBURG -- Tuesday night at Tropicana Field exemplified how a baseball game is supposed to feel.
A crowd of 31,607 crammed into the building -- so what if half of them wore Cubs jerseys -- cheering and ringing cowbells while the Rays ruined Lou Piniella's homecoming with a 3-2 win over the Cubs that came down to a bang-bang play at first base that ended the game.
"There were a ton of Cubs fans out there, but the Rays fans were awesome," Rays closer Troy Percival said. "And I'll be honest with you, the Cubs fans we had, it was a good baseball atmosphere out there. Everybody was watching a good ballgame and enjoying a good ballgame, and I don't think anybody went home disappointed."
Added the former Rays manager, Piniella, who now manages the Cubs: "This place was really packed for a Tuesday night, it was good to see. This team over here is playing some really good ball and people are coming out to see it."
The Rays have now won 23 of their last 27 games at home and are 3-1 on their current nine-game homestand, perched on the brink of claiming their ninth consecutive home series. In addition, the win kept the Rays two games behind the first-place Red Sox in the American League East.
Solo home runs by Cliff Floyd and Evan Longoria, along with an RBI single by Eric Hinske, gave the Rays all the runs they needed, while Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, Dan Wheeler and Percival pitched the final 4 1/3 innings in relief of Scott Kazmir to bring closure to the well-played contest -- but not before a few heart palpitations in the ninth.
Percival entered the game looking to protect a 3-1 lead and right from the get-go, the inning got interesting.
Geovany Soto led off with a line drive to deep left field. Justin Ruggiano, who has displayed a blatant disregard for immovable objects since being recalled from Triple-A Durham on May 3, grabbed the drive for the first out before running into yet another wall.
The Cubs kept the heat on. Mark DeRosa singled, and pinch-hitter Kosuke Fukudome doubled to left to put runners on second and third for pinch-hitter Micah Hoffpauir. Percival then cut loose with a high hard one that got away from catcher Dioner Navarro, allowing DeRosa to score.
Percival regrouped to strike out Hoffpauir, prompting Piniella to call on Jim Edmonds to pinch-hit. On the second pitch to Edmonds, Percival let loose a low pitch that went to the backstop. Fortunately for the Rays, the ball ricocheted back to Navarro and Fukudome remained on third.
Edmonds walked on a 3-2 pitch, bringing leadoff hitter Reed Johnson to the plate.
"We were trying to get Longoria to move in, but we're having this new problem: We can't hear," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Our players aren't used to not being able to hear from the dugout, so we have to do some things signal-wise. He was playing too deep."
Johnson took a look at the defense and dropped what appeared to be the perfect bunt down the third-base line.
"I was pressing the panic button," Longoria said. "I mean, that's the game on the line right there. He lays down a good bunt and I was just trying to get it off the turf clean and get it over there."
Longoria barehanded the ball and fired a one-hopper to first base that Willy Aybar somehow managed to haul in for the final out of the game, despite the runner arriving at first the same time as the ball.
"Probably the best bunt play I have ever seen, capped off by the pick by Aybar," Percival said. "That ball right there is typically going to get bobbled just enough for the guy to be safe. That was a do or die play. That's unbelievable right there."
And, ho-hum, chalk up save No. 16 on the season for Percival.
"I don't think he likes the easy save, I think he likes to bring some excitement to the game. And as long as he gets his job done, that's what really matters," Navarro said.
Kazmir started for the Rays, and though he pitched effectively, he could not get enough mileage out of his 110 pitches, and had to leave the game with two outs in the fifth.
Balfour entered the game to face Aramis Ramirez with the bases loaded and caught the Cubs' third baseman looking at strike three to end the inning. Balfour went on to retire the side in order in the sixth to begin the flourishing bullpen succession toward the victory.
"For the most part, what you saw tonight was a typical game for us," Maddon said. "We had chances to break it open. We hit the ball well in situations at people. You can't do anything about that. But we made the big plays when we had to, also."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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