A's victorious but lose Duchscherer
MINNEAPOLIS -- Highly respected veteran Mark Ellis set the tone with a home run on the first pitch of the game, five pitchers teamed up to keep a first-place team in check, and thousands of disappointed fans were streaming for the exits before the final out.
It was the kind of road win that typically leaves everyone in the winning clubhouse smiling, but even victories are coming with a black lining in this, Oakland's second consecutive strange, injury-riddled season.
Justin Duchscherer, the A's All-Star right-hander, had to leave the opener of a three-game series against the host Twins at the Metrodome on Monday with pain in his right hip. His next start is in serious jeopardy, and given his injury history, the rest of the season also might be in doubt.
"I'm just trying to stay positive," said Duchscherer, who threw 2 2/3 shutout innings before taking himself out Oakland's 3-2 victory. "They think I might just have irritation in the joint. Hopefully that's all it is."
To find out for sure, the A's are sending Duchscherer back to the Bay Area, where he'll be examined by team orthopedist John Frazier on Tuesday.
"I'm very concerned," Oakland skipper Bob Geren said. "It's obviously a big concern. He's our ace and our All-Star."
Duchscherer, who had a Major League-best opponents' batting average of .208 and the second-best ERA (2.59) in the American League entering Monday's game, had a similar issue last season. He was placed on the disabled list with a strained right hip in late May last year and had season-ending surgery in early June.
"From the day I had surgery, everything had gone absolutely perfectly until my last start," Duchscherer said.
The hip tightened on him early in a loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday, but he pitched through it and went six innings. On Monday it bothered him during warmups and got progressively worse during the game, so he stepped off the mound after striking out Nick Punto in the bottom of the third and summoned Geren and head athletic trainer Steve Sayles.
After a brief conversation, Duchscherer was escorted off the field and replaced by righty Kirk Saarloos, who was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento before Monday's game.
"He called us out and said it's too painful," Geren said.
"I felt like I was gonna make it worse than it already was," Duchscherer added.
Duchscherer worked exclusively out of the A's bullpen from 2004-2007 but was moved into the starting rotation this spring in hopes that a more predictable workload would keep him healthier.
He suffered a strained right biceps in his first start of the season, however, and spent three weeks on the disabled list. If Duchscherer's most recent injury lands him on the DL, it will mark the 22nd time the A's have used the list, tying the Oakland record set in 1992 and matched last season.
"It's terrible," Ellis said. "Not just for the team, but for him personally. He's been having such an incredible year. When he's our starter, we're 100 percent sure we're going to win that game."
They still managed to win with only eight outs from their ace, though, and that's why the clubhouse wasn't exactly a morgue. Ellis' homer off Twins starter Nick Blackburn was Oakland's first on the first pitch of a game since Mark Kotsay did it on July 21, 2004, at Seattle.
"We haven't been scoring a lot of runs, period, so to put one up there that quick was nice," Ellis said. "Blackburn's around the plate a lot, so I was looking for something to hit right away."
The A's padded the lead in the fourth inning, when Kurt Suzuki followed a walk to Frank Thomas and a double by Jack Cust with a two-run single to center field.
Saarloos, meanwhile, seemed unfazed by the Twins, who entered the game tied atop the AL Central standings. He went 3 2/3 innings and allowed three hits while striking out three without a walk to pick up his first win for the green and gold since 2006.
"Saarloos came in and did just a super job against us -- changing speeds, his slider, his changeup. We didn't get much going," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You are trying to figure out how to hit [Duchscherer], and then you don't have him out there after he gets hurt, and then you have to make another adjustment. But their bullpen just did super."
The Twins cut the lead to one in the eighth. After a leadoff single by Denard Span off Huston Street, Joe Mauer split the outfielders with a drive to the wall in left-center field for a triple off Brad Ziegler and scored on the play when left fielder Eric Patterson's throw to third skipped into the Twins' dugout.
Ziegler then gave up a single to Justin Morneau before getting Jason Kubel to bounce into an inning-ending double play, and he shook off a two-out walk by striking out a demonstrably frustrated Brendan Harris to lock down his third save in three opportunities since wresting the role from Street.
"He's pretty nasty," Gardenhire said. "The last pitch to Harris, we went and watched it, it's on the black. It cut the outside corner of the plate, the tip of it, and that's pretty nasty.
"That's why the guy gets a lot of people out."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Mauer scratched with stiff neck
MINNEAPOLIS -- Catcher Joe Mauer was not in the Twins' starting lineup on Tuesday night against the Yankees due to a stiff neck.
Manager Ron Gardenhire said that he had originally slotted Mauer into the lineup, but the catcher informed his skipper of the neck problem when he arrived at the ballpark.
Mauer said he's been feeling some discomfort in his neck for the past few days, but it had really stiffened up on Tuesday.
"I woke up this morning, and it was pretty bad," Mauer said. "I was trying to do a few things to get it loose and ready, but I just wasn't able to get it going."
Mauer did not take any swings during batting practice, but he said that he hoped to get a little more treatment on the neck and be ready to play on Wednesday.
"It's getting better," Mauer said. "I'm going to get back up [in the clubhouse] and let the trainers work on me some more."
Gardenhire had originally planned to give Mauer the day off in the series finale against New York on Wednesday afternoon. That would have given Mauer back-to-back days of rest with the Twins' off-day on Thursday. But considering the way Mauer's neck was feeling, Gardenhire decided that it was better to give him the night off on Tuesday and start Mike Redmond in his place.
"There is no sense messing with that," Gardenhire said.
While the hope is still that Mauer can play on Wednesday, Gardenhire acknowledged after Tuesday's contest that he might have to turn to Redmond once again behind the plate. That's after Redmond caught all 12 innings of a nearly 4 1/2-hour contest.
"Mauer's neck wasn't good all night," Gardenhire said. "He couldn't really get anything going, so our veteran catcher might have to catch again."
Copyright 2008 Sporting Life UK Ltd, All Rights Reserved.
Record needed for Rays to top Tribe
ST. PETERSBURG -- Forget about division rivals like the Red Sox and Yankees, the toughest opponent for the Rays this season has been wearing a different shade of red and blue.
And after five straight losses to Cleveland, it was only fitting it would take a record and a slew of arms for the Rays to finally come up on the right side of Tuesday night's 8-4 victory at Tropicana Field.
"We got the monkey off our back with the Indians," Cliff Floyd said. "Weird as that sounds, they've got a scrappy team ... so we will take this one and run."
With one out in the seventh inning, Evan Longoria blasted a 2-2 pitch off reliever Rafael Betancourt to set a new Rays rookie club record with his 22nd long ball this season. Longoria's knock also scored Carlos Pena and was followed by back-to-back solo shots from Floyd and Dioner Navarro to give the Rays some distance on the Tribe.
Just 22 years old, Longoria's poise in the batter's box continues to impress, as the young infielder hit several threatening foul balls off Betancourt prior to the homer.
"When do you ever see a guy hit a home run foul and then hit an actual home run?" Dan Wheeler marveled. "The offense came through big. ... Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come."
Although Tuesday's win involved the Rays' usual recipe of pitching, defense and timely hitting, it was the seventh inning's power blasts that helped take the heat off the pitching staff.
"It's been saving us all year," Floyd said of the Rays' solid pitching. "You kind of know what makes you win and what makes you lose, and what makes us win is our pitching and our defense. And then we have timely hitting. Tonight, we got the hits when we needed it."
While the Rays have played musical chairs with their bench the last few days, Tuesday night was a revolving door of arms as the team used five different pitchers to record the win.
Starter Edwin Jackson batted through 5 2/3 innings -- allowing three runs on seven hits -- before exiting with runners on first and second. Jackson was followed by J.P. Howell, who walked Grady Sizemore to load the bases, forcing Maddon to insert Grant Balfour as the inning's third pitcher.
"It just didn't want to work the way I was seeing it in my mind's eye," Maddon said, adding that Jackson's walk to No 9. batter Asdrubal Cabrera forced Howell into the game. "But it rarely does. So we just had to make the adjustments on the fly and our guys did a great job."
Balfour was brought in to relieve Howell largely for his strikeout abilities, but that didn't go according to plan either. Instead, it was center fielder B.J. Upton's on-the-run grab that retired Ben Francisco and effectively ended the threat.
And when Balfour opened the seventh inning in a jam, it was Wheeler's turn in the merry-go-round of arms. With Cleveland threatening with runners on first and third, Wheeler got the best of Franklin Gutierrez. The right-hander tossed a slider that caused the outfielder to fly out, and the Rays to put the kibosh on another potential Indians rally.
"I really believe we showed a lot of heart," Maddon said. "A lot of want to -- we wanted to win that game. Somehow we did, because these guys have really pressed us hard. So I was really pleased with the effort of our players tonight."
Whether it was Pena twice stretching a single into a double, or Navarro collecting a two-out single to plate a pair of early runs, the Rays' entire lineup stepped up and took some pressure off the pitchers.
With the win, the Rays maintained their three-game lead in the AL East over the Red Sox. And as the calendar creeps closer and closer to October, the club knows how important every victory has become.
"Every win is huge and we need [it] over the course of the season," Floyd said. "In our minds, to get to 90-something wins, you got to win now, as much as you can, every day."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Quentin helps White Sox stay on top
MINNEAPOLIS -- After holding on to first place in the American League Central since May 17, and sitting atop the division for 101 days, the White Sox were not about to give up their lofty perch without a fight on Wednesday night.
It didn't matter that this particular contest came against the Twins, in the Metrodome and in the throes of a three-game losing streak.
Those facts certainly didn't matter to Carlos Quentin, once again the star on offense for the White Sox, during their 8-3 shellacking of Minnesota before the biggest crowd at the Metrodome since Opening Day. In fact, the highly focused and driven young outfielder doesn't exactly have 'Check out standings' at the top of his to-do list when he arrives at the ballpark.
"You could ask me and I still wouldn't know how much we are up by right now," said Quentin, following his fourth four-plus-RBI game and fifth three-hit effort of the 2008 season. "It's different for different people.
"Right now, it really doesn't matter because there are a significant amount of games to play. When we get down to the wire, I'll pay attention to the standings a little more. All I know is we are in a quality division, with quality teams. That's our main focus."
One of those quality teams resides in Minneapolis and had the chance to take over the AL Central lead with a third straight victory in this four-game set and fifth straight overall at home against the White Sox (60-46). Quentin needed three trips to the plate to end any thoughts of that rise to glory for the Twins (59-48).
With two outs in the opening inning, Quentin launched his American League-best 28th home run into the left-field stands off of Minnesota starter Livan Hernandez (10-8). Quentin flew out to medium-deep center, but had his chance to break the game open in the fourth with the bases loaded, two out and the White Sox leading by a 2-0 margin.
Quentin ripped the first pitch from Hernandez into the left-center-field gap, clearing the bases, and giving him 83 RBIs for the season. Hernandez, who played with Quentin in Arizona over the past two seasons, was as impressed as everyone else in the AL with the outfielder's breakout effort.
"He's a good hitter," said Hernandez, who allowed five runs on nine hits over four innings, before exiting after throwing 80 pitches. "He's got a great year. He's hot right now. Something you leave on the top of the plate. ... The first fastball I throw, he hit a home run on top of the plate, and then a slider too. You have to make a good pitch with the guy to get him out right now."
"This kid has done it all year long and carried this ballclub for a long time," added White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen of Quentin, who raised his average to .279.
Alexei Ramirez added his ninth home run in the seventh inning off of reliever Boof Bonser, as the three-run shot coming with two outs all but put the game out of reach. In reality, Quentin's production would have stood up as more than enough with the way Gavin Floyd (11-6) pitched on Wednesday.
Entering his 21st start this season and without a win since July 5, Floyd gave up just one run on five hits over 7 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking one. He improved to 3-1 with a 1.86 ERA in four starts against the Twins this season.
"Whoever I'm facing, I believe in what I can do," said Floyd, when asked about his Minnesota dominance. "I've been working on getting my fastball command a little better, and today was one of those days where I was keeping the ball down and in the zone."
So, the White Sox live to see first place for a 102nd day and maybe beyond, if John Danks can top the Twins on Thursday and help the White Sox earn a four-game split. But going by a mantra Guillen's crew has lived by all year, the contest played on a given day is the most important one.
Wednesday's victory, behind Floyd, Quentin and Ramirez, not to mention two hits apiece from Nick Swisher, Jim Thome and A.J. Pierzynski, just happened to mean a little more on this particular evening.
"We need this game badly, for momentum for the ballclub and for enthusiasm," Guillen said. "This was a great win for us."
"Our team lost two games and the lead trickled down to one-half game and people start saying, 'Oh man, the Twins are coming back,'" Swisher added. "We don't think that way. There's still a lot of baseball left to be played. This series is huge but it's not the end of the world."
That statement rings especially true for a team that has grown accustomed to having everyone else chase it in the AL Central.
"We no take anything for granted. Just go out and play," said Guillen.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Cabrera has incident in Triple-A game
BUFFALO -- Asdrubal Cabrera could face fines, suspension or both after an altercation with home-plate umpire Jason Klein on Wednesday night at Dunn Tire Park.
After he was called out on strikes in the ninth inning of Triple-A Buffalo's 5-4 extra-inning loss to Rochester, Cabrera raised his bat over his head in the direction of Klein. Cabrera stepped toward the umpire as he continued to shout, while third baseman Andy Gonzalez tried to restrain him. It was to no avail, as Cabrera was ejected.
While walking off the field, Cabrera tossed his helmet and then threw his batting gloves behind his back without looking, hitting first-base umpire Justin Vogel.
"I don't know exactly what he was doing," Bisons manager Torey Lovullo said. "I was trying to just define what happened. I don't think there was any intention as to him trying to throw his equipment. He was trying to hit his helmet on the bat and [Klein] heard the sound. [Klein] actually didn't see the play, and that's what I was trying to talk to him about.
"We'll have to look at it. I'm sure there's replays and there's tapes, and if it gets to that point, I'm sure [International League president Randy Mobley] will get involved."
Cabrera was unavailable for comment afterward.
A defensive standout, Cabrera began the 2008 season as the Indians' starting second baseman, but he struggled mightily at the plate. The 22-year-old switch-hitter was batting .184 when the Indians demoted him to Buffalo on June 11.
The move seemed to be benefiting Cabrera, who held a .384 batting average going into Wednesday's game with the Red Wings.
Cabrera first was called up by the Indians in August 2007. Boasting a .283 average, he played in 45 games, which included starts in all 11 postseason games.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Pujols returns to fold at DH in finale
DETROIT -- The Cardinals activated Albert Pujols from the 15-day disabled list on Thursday, a week sooner than originally anticipated. Pujols was in the starting lineup for Thursday afternoon's game against the Tigers, batting third and playing designated hitter.
Pujols had been targeting a Thursday return for several days, so his insertion in the lineup came as little surprise. The corresponding roster move, however, was somewhat unexpected.
To make room for Pujols on the active roster, St. Louis placed left-handed reliever Randy Flores on the disabled list. Flores has soreness and swelling in his left ankle, and the team is officially calling the condition peroneal tendinitis.
"It swelled up on me a little bit after a run a few days ago," Flores said. "And after the game [Wednesday] when I came in, there was swelling in there. I wanted to see how it reacted today. From what I understood, it was a deal that could be a few days to let it calm down, and we might not have a few days."
Flores has been struggling lately, but he drew no parallel between the injury and his slump.
"You had a few games where I was pitching a little too careful for the situation," he said. "It had nothing to do with my leg. I just wasn't getting the job done."
Both Flores and manager Tony La Russa said they do not expect Flores' injury to take a full 15 days. The reliever likely would be ready to pitch in about a week.
"It looks like he's going to be out five to seven days, so we just disabled him," La Russa said. "We can't pitch short."
More to the point, the Cardinals didn't want to ply with even more limitation on their position-player roster than they already have. St. Louis had only 12 active hitters before adding Pujols to the roster, and Pujols will be somewhat limited for a day or two. So if they had sent a hitter out, the squeeze would be even tighter.
It is expected that Pujols will not serve as the designated hitter for more than a day or two. Having him in that spot on Thursday, meanwhile, necessitated a highly unusual lineup for St. Louis.
Troy Glaus played first base rather than third, a move that La Russa regards as giving Glaus a "half-day off." Glaus would have been the DH if Pujols had played first base. Aaron Miles took Glaus' spot at third, with a middle infield made up of Adam Kennedy at second and Brendan Ryan at shortstop.
Pujols missed a total of 13 games due to a left calf strain, which he originally sustained in early June in Washington, then aggravated on June 10 in Cincinnati. It was the second DL stint of his eight-year career. At the time of the injury, most forecasts called for the slugger to miss at least three weeks.
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
A 'Crystal' clear love for the game
Billy Crystal has had a lifelong love affair with the game of baseball.
It began in Long Beach, N.Y., on the South Shore of Long Island, where he was raised by his father, Jack, who pitched for nearby St. John's University. It blossomed at Yankee Stadium, where he attended his first game in 1956 and saw his idol, Mickey Mantle, hit a home run off the famed facade.
It continued through his impressive television and movie career in various memorable roles and projects. It reached a high point when he played for the New York Yankees in a recent Spring Training game.
On Tuesday, June 3, baseball and movie fans will see Crystal in action in the 1991 classic comedy "City Slickers," which is being released in a special collector's edition DVD by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
He wears a Mets hat throughout the film instead of his customary Yankees cap, but the his love for the National Pastime shines through, especially in one of the most poignant scenes, when he gives an extended monologue about the magic of his first baseball game.
The DVD features the original film, which tracks Crystal's character, 39-year-old Mitch Robbins, a New Yorker who decides to improve his miserable life by tagging along with his two wise-cracking buddies (played by Daniel Stern and the late Bruno Kirby) on a New Mexico cattle drive.
The movie is as well-known for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar won by the late Jack Palance as it is for Crystal's antics, but it still resonates 17 years after its original release. The collector's edition DVD also includes extras such as audio commentary from director Ron Underwood, Crystal and Stern, featurettes that delve into the making of the film and the writing of the script, and deleted scenes.
The DVD release is the latest in a whirlwind year for Crystal, who experienced the thrill of a lifetime when he signed a one-day contract to play for the Yankees and then batted leadoff in the team's March 13 exhibition against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the day before his 60th birthday.
Crystal, facing Paul Maholm, barely missed a hit with a foul grounder and fought Maholm to a full count before striking out, but afterward he said, "It was surreal more than anything else. It was unbelievable and the greatest moment of my life. I don't really know how to describe it. It was intensely good. "
Crystal impressed Maholm along with Yankees manager Joe Girardi and the Captain himself, shortstop Derek Jeter, who helped hatch the idea when he and Crystal ran into each other on a Costa Rica beach in the offseason.
"He's got a good eye," Jeter said. "I told him to swing early in the count, and he looked good. [Maholm] threw hard to him, too. He threw harder to him than [to] me. [The cutters] are tough to hit, even for a player. But the main thing is you want to have fun, and we all did."
Crystal has always had fun with baseball, most notably when he directed and produced "61*," the tale of the 1961 seasons of Roger Maris and Mantle as they went after Babe Ruth's then-single-season home run record of 60. The film earned 12 Emmy nominations, including one for Crystal for Best Director.
And when Crystal got to put on a Yankees jersey and come to the plate to begin a game, he heard the appreciation of a fan base that knows what he's contributed to the organization over the years.
"The crowd was something else," Crystal said. "To hear my name announced as the leadoff hitter for the Yankees is something that I'll always have. I got really emotional. I had to pull it back. It's everything that the game means."
Copyright 2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
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