Rays hope to talk new contract with DH Baldelli

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays hope to start talks soon on a new contract with right fielder-designated hitter Rocco Baldelli.

Baldelli

Baldelli, who hit a solo homer in Game 5 of the World Series, was one of this season's inspirational stories.

The 27-year old returned to play part time on Aug. 10 after missing 240 games due to mitochondrial disorder, which slows muscle recovery and causes extreme fatigue.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Rocco on and off the field," Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Thursday.

"We do have a special relationship. To be a part of what he's gone through, and see him at the lowest of moments, I think, has created that personal relationship. I'm sure we'll talk in the next few days."

In March, Baldelli thought his career might be over because of his physical problems. He went on two minor league rehab assignments before rejoining the team.

Rather than exercise an option for 2009, the Rays bought out the final three years of Baldelli's contract for $4 million at the end of spring training.

"I don't know what to expect," Baldelli said. "This is the only place that I've ever played in. I'm very comfortable here. Everyone's been very supportive through all this stuff that I've been dealing with. I'm thankful for it.

"[Some] teams would have probably turned their back on me when I was going through a lot of these troubles. It is a business. I love playing here, and I'm just going to wait and see what happens."


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Marlins deal arbitration-eligible Jacobs to Royals

MIAMI -- The Florida Marlins traded power-hitting first baseman Mike Jacobs on Thursday to the Kansas City Royals for relief pitcher Leo Nunez.

The Marlins were shopping Jacobs because he was due a big raise in arbitration, and have plenty of options at first base. In exchange, they got a right-hander who throws in the mid-90s.

"We are trading from an area of depth to an area we wanted to create more depth in," said Larry Beinfest, Marlins president of baseball operations.

Nunez, a native of the Dominican Republic, was 4-1 last year with a 2.98 ERA in 45 relief appearances. He has a 9-7 lifetime record in the majors.

Jacobs

This move was the first of several expected out of Florida, which has baseball's smallest payroll and 17 players eligible for arbitration this winter. The deal was actually completed much earlier, but the teams waited until the World Series concluded to announce it.

Jacobs is a career .262 hitter the Marlins acquired in the 2005 Carlos Delgado trade with the New York Mets. He had 32 home runs and 93 RBIs last season, both career bests, and helped the Marlins become the second team in MLB history with three infielders hitting 30 homers in a season.

"Obviously we like him a lot. He was among the top hitters in all of baseball last year, I think ranking 11th or 12th. And you know he plays in a really big ballpark," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. "Has a lot of power to the middle of the field. Has a lot of energy, plays with enthusiasm, plays to win and he's a personality. He gives us a middle of the lineup presence."

Moore said Jacobs would probably bat somewhere in the No. 4 to No. 6 holes for Kansas City. Though the Royals have a crowd at first base, Moore said Jacobs would be in the lineup daily, either there or as the designated hitter.

The Marlins think they have cheaper options at first base in Gaby Sanchez, a 25-year-old who batted .314 with 17 home runs and 92 RBIs in Double-A last year. Also, they could play last season's third baseman Jorge Cantu at first and use Wes Helms or Dallas McPherson at third, Beinfest said.

Beinfest said the Marlins tried to get Nunez before. He said the 25-year-old pitcher, who also has a slider, could throw immediately out of the Marlins bullpen in late-inning setups.


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Mariners fire vice president of scouting Fontaine

SEATTLE -- New Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik isn't wasting time reorganizing the Mariners' front office.

Zduriencik began remodeling the franchise Tuesday, firing scouting director Bob Fontaine and hiring a pair of former colleagues from Milwaukee.

Tony Blengino and Tom McNamara will join Seattle's staff after working with Zduriencik in Milwaukee.

"The process of reorganizing the Mariners baseball operations staff is ongoing and will probably take at least another three weeks," Zduriencik said in a statement. "As a part of that process, I am excited to be able to add individuals the caliber of Tony and Tom to our staff."

Zduriencik added that exact titles for Blengino and McNamara will be determined as the department's structure is finalized.

The team also announced that Lee Pelekoudas and Bob Engle will remain with the club. Pelekoudas served as interim general manager following the firing of Bill Bavasi in June. He interviewed for the permanent job after the season, but was not among the final four candidates brought back for a second interview.

Engle is the head of Seattle's international scouting department.

Blengino spent the last six seasons with Milwaukee, and was the assistant scouting director under Zduriencik for the last three years. Before joining the Brewers, Blengino was an accountant and served as the Chief Financial Officer of the National Kidney Foundation of Delaware Valley in Philadelphia.

McNamara worked as a scout for the Mariners from 1994-2000. He moved on to Milwaukee where he was responsible for scouting and signing Prince Fielder. After a stint with San Diego, McNamara rejoined the Brewers in 2008.

Fontaine's firing was first reported in Tuesday's editions of The Seattle Times, citing unnamed sources. Fontaine came to Seattle with former general manager Bill Bavasi and served as the Mariners scouting director since being hired in December 2003. He previously worked with the Chicago White Sox, San Diego, Montreal and the Los Angeles Angels.

"As we move forward in was my determination that a leadership and direction change was necessary," Zduriencik said. "Bob is an outstanding person, and an outstanding professional. Decisions of this nature are never easy."


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Pitcher indicted after fan hurt at brawl in minors

DAYTON, Ohio -- A minor league pitcher accused of throwing a ball that hit a fan in the forehead was indicted Wednesday on two counts of felonious assault.

Julio Castillo, 21, who was pitching for the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League, is accused of throwing into the stands during a July 24 game at Dayton that featured a 10-minute, benches-clearing brawl. The fan was treated for a concussion at a hospital and released.

A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Castillo on one count of felonious assault with a deadly weapon and one count of felonious assault causing serious physical harm.

Castillo was attempting to hit a Dayton player in the dugout, but instead struck the fan in the head, according to the Montgomery County prosecutor's office.

Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said Castillo threw the baseball to purposely hurt someone, putting spectators that included children in danger.

"There is no excuse for this type of behavior, whether it's in a ball park or a back alley," Heck said. "Fans should not be subjected to violence because a player is unable to control his temper."

Defense attorney Dennis Lieberman said Castillo, who is from the Dominican Republic, will plead not guilty. Lieberman said the charges aren't justified by the circumstances and his client has a good defense.

"In my research, I have found this to be an unprecedented indictment in American baseball," Lieberman said. "These are very serious charges that could destroy this kid's chance of ever playing baseball in the United States again."

If convicted on both counts, Castillo could face up to 16 years in prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 13.

The Chiefs are an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, and Castillo remains in the Cubs' organization.


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Hinske homers in pinch after joining Rays' roster

PHILADELPHIA -- Outfielder Eric Hinske was added to the Tampa Bay Rays' World Series roster before Game 4 on Sunday night, and made an immediate impact with a pinch-hit home run.

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Hinske replaced designated hitter Cliff Floyd, who has a sore right shoulder. Floyd batted .222 with one homer and two RBIs in seven postseason starts.

"Yesterday it was hurting, and to the point it was difficult to sleep," manager Joe Maddon said.

Floyd went 1-for-3 and scored a run in Tampa Bay's 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2, his only World Series action. He hit .268 with 11 homers and 39 RBIs in 80 games during the regular season.

Hinske was on the roster for the Rays' first-round playoff series against the Chicago White Sox. He was left off for the AL championship series and World Series, primarily because Maddon decided to carry versatile rookie Fernando Perez.

Hinske, who won a World Series ring with Boston in 2007, was excited about the move. He batted for pitcher Andy Sonnanstine in the fifth inning and hit a solo drive off Joe Blanton to trim Philadelphia's lead to 5-2.

Hinske hit .247 with 20 homers and 60 RBIs in 133 games this season, although his production decreased dramatically over the final three months. He reiterated he had no hard feelings about being left off the roster for the ALCS and first three games of the Series.

"I've been around the game long enough to know it's not about one player," Hinske said. "You got to be a professional about it."


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All wet: TV ratings lowest ever for Series Game 5

PHILADELPHIA -- Television ratings for Game 5 of the World Series were as bad as the weather.

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The 5½ innings the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays got in during the rain Monday night received an 8.2 rating and 12 share, Fox said Tuesday. The previous low for a fifth game was a 10.0/17 for the San Francisco Giants' 16-4 romp over the Anaheim Angels in 2002.

Philadelphia and Tampa Bay were tied 2-2 when the game was stopped. Major League Baseball plans to resume the game at 8:37 p.m. Wednesday.

Nielsen will issue a separate rating for the completion of the game, Fox said.

Thus far, the World Series has received an 8.1/14, down 24 percent from the 10.6/18 for a four-game sweep by the Boston Red Sox over the Colorado Rockies last year. This year is 20 percent behind the current record low for a full World Series, the 10.1/17 for the St. Louis Cardinals' five-game victory over the Detroit Tigers in 2006.

The rating increased from a 6.5/10 at 8:30 p.m. and was at its highest, 10.4/16, when the game was stopped.

With the Phillies trying to close out their first title since 1983, the game drew a 45.2/60 in Philadelphia. The rating in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market was 28.1/40.


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Ashes of late Phils reliever McGraw put on field

The late Tug McGraw threw the final pitch the last time the Philadelphia Phillies won a World Series in 1980. Thanks to his son, country music singer Tim McGraw, he was remembered before Game 3 this time around.

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Accompanied by kids from a local chapter of the Boys & Girls Club, Tim McGraw threw out the ceremonial first pitch Saturday night. He brought some of his father's ashes along and at one point, reached into his pocket, took them out and sprinkled them on the mound. Tim also re-enacted his father's trademark slap of his baseball glove across his thigh when he got a batter out.

Tug McGraw gained stardom as a reliever for the New York Mets, both during their 1969 World Series victory and again in 1973, when he was credited with coining the phrase, "Ya Gotta Believe!" as the long shot Mets made it back to the Series before losing to Oakland.

He became the Phillies' closer and struck out Kansas City's Willie Wilson for the final out in 1980.

Robin Roberts threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 4, and fellow Hall of Famer and ex-Phillies pitching great Jim Bunning will do it before Game 5.


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Umps admit they missed another World Series call

PHILADELPHIA -- For the second time in two days, umpires acknowledged they missed a key call in the World Series.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored in the first inning of Game 4 on Sunday night after Jimmy Rollins scampered safely back to third during a rundown. But television replays showed he was tagged on the backside by Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria and should have been called out by third base ump Tim Welke.

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Complete coverage of the Phillies-Rays matchup.
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"He's seen the replay. He knows he missed it," Mike Port, Major League Baseball's vice president for umpiring, said Monday.

This is the first postseason in which baseball is using replay -- though only to review home run calls.

Longoria swiped his arm in frustration after Rollins was called safe, and Rays manager Joe Maddon came out for a brief argument.

"I just saw him swing and miss. I never saw a tag," Welke explained after Sunday night's game. "That's a swipe tag. A lot of times on a swipe tag, the glove will pause. I saw him try to make a swipe tag but I never saw the glove pause."

Rollins wound up scoring when Pat Burrell drew a bases-loaded walk from Andy Sonnanstine, and the Phillies went on to a 10-2 victory that gave them a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Series.

It was the Rays who got a break in Game 3, when speedy Carl Crawford was called safe by first base umpire Tom Hallion on a seventh-inning bunt single. Replays showed Jamie Moyer's glove flip to first baseman Ryan Howard beat Crawford on a close play.

"Bang-bang play, and I tried to get the best angle on it," Hallion told a pool reporter. "I really didn't get a sound to be able to judge. It winds up being a great play. And looking at a replay here, they just got him."

Crawford scored as part of a two-run rally and Tampa Bay tied it later, but Philadelphia won 5-4.

There were a couple of disputed calls during the first two games at Tampa Bay, too. Maddon screamed for a balk on Cole Hamels when he picked off a runner in the opener, and Rocco Baldelli drew a key walk on a checked swing in Game 2 that the Phillies thought had been called strike three.


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Phillies upset about World Series introductions

PHILADELPHIA -- It was just a few minutes before the Phillies were set to take the field for Game 1 of the World Series. Jimmy Rollins was sitting next to 40-year-old Matt Stairs, who was playing in the Fall Classic for the first time in his 16-year major league career and was looking forward to living out his dream when his name would be announced in front of the crowd.

It was then when a Phillies PR representative came into the clubhouse and informed the team that only the starting players would be announced on the field and on national television. That meant no clubhouse staff, no coaches and no Matt Stairs. He, along with 45-year-old Jamie Moyer, had waited their entire lives for this moment, and then it was gone. All non-starters were allowed to walk out onto the field, but they were never publicly acknowledged -- not to the TV audience, not even to the crowd. "It's disappointing and some guys were extremely mad about it," Stairs said early Friday evening after the team's workout at Citizens Bank Park. "I think it's bootleg when you have the World Series and guys are jogging out to the line and they don't take the extra five minutes to introduce the players."

Rollins -- the Phillies' union representative and most tenured member of the team -- felt awful as he spoke with Stairs about the disappointment, and some of his teammates felt angry. "As far as each player being announced, it should be," Rollins said. "You worked this hard all year long and you're the last two teams left. "I thought it was kind of cheap those guys didn't get the chance to get recognized. It took 25 players to get here, and each one of them should have been recognized. Bottom line." The Phillies are trying to do something about it, saying that Fox Television asked baseball to forgo the tradition. The Phillies, who are set to open Game 3 of this World Series at home on Saturday night, have asked their union to petition Major League Baseball on their behalf.

"They kind of shortchanged us," closer Brad Lidge said.

After a few players approached reliever Ryan Madson before the team's workout on Friday and asked him if he could do something, Madson -- the team's alternate player rep -- called his lawyer, who is friendly with Michael Weiner, lead counsel for the MLBPA. As of 6 p.m. Friday night, Madson hadn't heard back yet, but had planned to try and affect some sort of change. Weiner said he had not received any calls from players, but added that he plans on speaking to players on Saturday to see if they can work things out.

"It's kind of weird that guys that played 20 years -- you get called out for Little League all-stars when you're 12 years old -- and we're on the biggest stage in the world, and they didn't do it for some reason," Madson said.

Fox Sports spokesman Dan Bell said that since the 2004 World Series Fox has only broadcast the starting lineups. He said it was a joint decision between Major League Baseball and the network to try and get to the first pitch faster during the broadcast.

But that isn't the issue for the players, who said they had no problem if Fox wanted to broadcast the starting lineups, but that this was the first year in which the reserves and coaches weren't announced to the ballpark. Bell said that there have been no conversations on excluding the rest of the announcements.

"We have no problem with the PA announcer announcing the training staff and the reserves of each respective team while we're in commercial break," Bell added. "That's strictly up to Major League Baseball and to work that out with the Phillies." Calls to Major League Baseball were not returned. The Rays' reserves and coaches also were not announced. But their player rep, Evan Longoria, said he was unaware of any displeasure about the slight. Scott Kazmir also said he wasn't aware of any players discussing it, but did agree that both teams should be introduced in the first home game of the series, which is normally what happens.

"I think they deserve it, and we deserve it," Stairs said. "I feel just as bad for the Tampa players because it's the first time in their franchise history they go to the World Series and they don't get introduced?

"This should be a big issue."

And while it is, most of the players also said that their main priority and focus was on winning Game 3. Whether they'll all be announced before it remains to be seen.


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Bad weather may delay Game 3 of World Series

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Rain in Philadelphia's forecast this weekend could alter the World Series schedule -- and pitching plans for both teams.

Game 3 between the Tampa Bay Rays and Phillies is slated for Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park, but there is a 70 percent chance of rain in Philadelphia that day, according to weather.com.

Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said if the game is postponed, it would be pushed back to Sunday and the teams would lose a scheduled off day Tuesday between Games 5 and 6, if they're necessary. Game 4 would be slated for Monday and Game 5 for Tuesday.

Tickets for Game 3 will be good on whatever day Game 3 is played, Courtney said.

There is a 20 percent chance of rain on Sunday and a 30 percent chance Monday, though the forecast calls for comfortable high temperatures of at least 60 degrees all three days.

The Phillies likely would pitch ace Cole Hamels on regular rest Monday -- no matter which game it is.

"It's too early to tell," Philadelphia pitching coach Rich Dubee said.

Hamels started the World Series opener Wednesday night in Tampa Bay's dome, Tropicana Field.

Rays manager Joe Maddon said he hadn't thought about what a rainout might do to his pitching rotation.

"We'll have to wait and find out," he said.


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Mariners go with Brewers exec as their new GM

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners hired Milwaukee Brewers special assistant Jack Zduriencik as their new general manager Wednesday.

The 57-year-old Zduriencik, known for his skill in drafting players, replaces Bill Bavasi, who was fired in June, and takes over for interim GM Lee Pelekoudas.

Zduriencik

Since Zduriencik arrived in Milwaukee in 1999, the team drafted Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, J.J Hardy and 2007 NL Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun -- the young foundation of Milwaukee's playoff team this season.

"Seattle is an outstanding organization with great fans, a great ballpark and an ownership group committed to the goal of bringing a World Series to the Northwest," said Zduriencik, who has spent 25 years in the majors after coaching football and baseball in both high school and college.

"I believe that working together, we can make the Mariners a model franchise. I am looking forward to getting to work immediately, and developing a plan to reach our goal."

That plan better be great after Seattle became the first team with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 games.

Zduriencik's first task with the Mariners will be finding a new manager. John McLaren was fired in June and interim manager Jim Riggleman said he doesn't expect to return.

Mariners chief executive Howard Lincoln and team president Chuck Armstrong interviewed as many as 10 candidates in the last month, including Dodgers assistant GM Kim Ng -- who was trying to become the first female GM in the major leagues.

Instead, the Mariners went with Zduriencik's experience in traditional scouting.

"Jack is extremely well-respected throughout baseball," Lincoln said. "His track record in recognizing and developing young talent in Milwaukee was instrumental in the Brewers' steady improvement over the past several seasons."

Zduriencik began his scouting career with the New York Mets in 1983 and became the scouting director for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1991-93.

There, he made the decision to draft catcher Jason Kendall with Pittsburgh's first pick in 1992.

Kendall, a three-time All-Star, is still a big fan of Zduriencik.

"Jack is just an unbelievable person. Obviously his track record speaks for itself," Kendall said earlier this year.


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NYC officials defend financing for Yankee Stadium

WASHINGTON -- New York City officials told a congressional panel Friday that they didn't do anything improper in shepherding through $1.3 billion in financing for a new Yankee Stadium, but the assurances did little to mollify the congressman who is investigating the deal.

At issue was a six-fold increase in the city's assessed value of the land, to around $200 million. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, suggested the reason was to make it easier to get tax-exempt bonds to pay for the construction of the ballpark in the South Bronx.

Meanwhile, Yankees President Randy Levine told the lawmakers bluntly that the new stadium would have never been built, and the Yankees would have left the Bronx, without the financing.

The stadium is scheduled to open next April with a game against Kucinich's home-state Cleveland Indians.

Citing an e-mail obtained by the House Domestic Policy subcommittee he chairs, Kucinich suggested there was pressure on officials in the City's Department of Finance to revise the assessment upward.

In the e-mail, dated March 20, 2006, Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corp., tells Josh Sirefman, an official in the mayor's office, that the finance agency was close to finishing a preliminary assessment, "and I'd like to understand what it is before it is released publicly to make sure it conforms to our assumptions [and, if it doesn't, to understand what the implications are]." He asked who in the agency should be contacted about it.

Pinsky testified that he was not trying to influence the assessment. He said he was just trying to find out when it would be produced, "so that we weren't blindsided by whatever the number turned out to be."

"Are you saying you needed a number or the number?" Kucinich asked, emphasizing the word "the."

"We needed a number," Pinsky said.

Pinsky called the stadium an important economic development tool for the South Bronx, a poor neighborhood.

The city's finance commissioner, Martha Stark, said the value of the land was changed because the original value was incorrect. She said it should have taken into account the value of the land with the stadium on it, not as vacant land.

Stark said the e-mail had no bearing on the assessment.

"There was no pressure on us," she said.

Another witness, New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, an outspoken critic of the deal, told Kucinich he had a reason to be suspicious.

"The evidence that the assessment at Yankee Stadium was cooked is overwhelming," said Brodsky, a Democrat.

Although the hearing focused on a narrow question, its broader subtext was the battle over government subsidies to stadiums. Levine, the Yankees president, suggested the city was getting a good deal because there wasn't direct taxpayer funding.

But Kucinich argued that "federal taxpayers are deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenues" in deals like this one which are funded by tax-free bonds.

"In our hearings, we have shown that the practice of providing taxpayer subsidies to the building of sports stadiums is a transfer of wealth from the many taxpayers to the few wealthy owners," he said. "The new Yankee Stadium is no exception to the rule."

He also complained that New York City has cited executive privilege on 70 percent of the remaining responsive documents sought by the subcommittee. Kucinich said he would continue to press for those documents. Last week, in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he said that city officials could be guilty of perjury if they deliberately inflated the value of the land to the Internal Revenue Service.

Other panel members had different takes on the controversy. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, expressed concerns that the accusations of wrongdoing were "demonizing the city of New York," while Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., declared that "the federal government was simply taken to the bank."


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NYC officials defend financing for Yankee Stadium

WASHINGTON -- New York City officials told a congressional panel Friday that they didn't do anything improper in shepherding through $1.3 billion in financing for a new Yankee Stadium, but the assurances did little to mollify the congressman who is investigating the deal.

At issue was a six-fold increase in the city's assessed value of the land, to around $200 million. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, suggested the reason was to make it easier to get tax-exempt bonds to pay for the construction of the ballpark in the South Bronx.

Meanwhile, Yankees President Randy Levine told the lawmakers bluntly that the new stadium would have never been built, and the Yankees would have left the Bronx, without the financing.

The stadium is scheduled to open next April with a game against Kucinich's home-state Cleveland Indians.

Citing an e-mail obtained by the House Domestic Policy subcommittee he chairs, Kucinich suggested there was pressure on officials in the City's Department of Finance to revise the assessment upward.

In the e-mail, dated March 20, 2006, Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corp., tells Josh Sirefman, an official in the mayor's office, that the finance agency was close to finishing a preliminary assessment, "and I'd like to understand what it is before it is released publicly to make sure it conforms to our assumptions [and, if it doesn't, to understand what the implications are]." He asked who in the agency should be contacted about it.

Pinsky testified that he was not trying to influence the assessment. He said he was just trying to find out when it would be produced, "so that we weren't blindsided by whatever the number turned out to be."

"Are you saying you needed a number or the number?" Kucinich asked, emphasizing the word "the."

"We needed a number," Pinsky said.

Pinsky called the stadium an important economic development tool for the South Bronx, a poor neighborhood.

The city's finance commissioner, Martha Stark, said the value of the land was changed because the original value was incorrect. She said it should have taken into account the value of the land with the stadium on it, not as vacant land.

Stark said the e-mail had no bearing on the assessment.

"There was no pressure on us," she said.

Another witness, New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, an outspoken critic of the deal, told Kucinich he had a reason to be suspicious.

"The evidence that the assessment at Yankee Stadium was cooked is overwhelming," said Brodsky, a Democrat.

Although the hearing focused on a narrow question, its broader subtext was the battle over government subsidies to stadiums. Levine, the Yankees president, suggested the city was getting a good deal because there wasn't direct taxpayer funding.

But Kucinich argued that "federal taxpayers are deprived of hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenues" in deals like this one which are funded by tax-free bonds.

"In our hearings, we have shown that the practice of providing taxpayer subsidies to the building of sports stadiums is a transfer of wealth from the many taxpayers to the few wealthy owners," he said. "The new Yankee Stadium is no exception to the rule."

He also complained that New York City has cited executive privilege on 70 percent of the remaining responsive documents sought by the subcommittee. Kucinich said he would continue to press for those documents. Last week, in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he said that city officials could be guilty of perjury if they deliberately inflated the value of the land to the Internal Revenue Service.

Other panel members had different takes on the controversy. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, expressed concerns that the accusations of wrongdoing were "demonizing the city of New York," while Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., declared that "the federal government was simply taken to the bank."

Mets retain four coaches, hire Niemann, Shines

NEW YORK -- Randy Niemann is becoming the New York Mets' bullpen coach for the third time, and Razor Shines was hired as third-base coach under manager Jerry Manuel.

Howard Johnson (hitting coach), Dan Warthen (pitching coach), Sandy Alomar Sr. (bench coach) and Sandy Alomar Jr. (catching instructor) will return. The first-base slot remains open.

The Mets said Thursday they are reassigning bullpen coach Guy Conti, third-base coach Luis Aguayo and first-base coach Ken Oberkfell. Conti had been bullpen coach for four seasons.

Niemann is entering his 22nd year with the Mets and was bullpen coach from 1997 to mid-1999 and 2000-02. He spent the past two years as minor league rehabilitation coordinator.

Shines had been manager of the Philadelphia Phillies' Clearwater farm team, leading it to a 64-76 record in the Class A Florida State League. He was third-base coach of the Chicago White Sox in 2007.


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Selig: Baseball hopes to shorten postseason in '09

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig hopes to shorten the postseason by two or three days next season by eliminating some off days.

MLB shifted the start of the World Series from Saturday to Wednesday beginning last year, adding four extra days off. Selig said he likes the Wednesday start but is concerned about weather next year, when the regular season doesn't start until April 5. World Series Game 7 would be on Nov. 5 if the current format is kept.

"We've got to look at trying to -- maybe not having so many off days and days when you have only one game," Selig said at Tropicana Field before Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday night.

Selig was pleased with the rating for the Series opener, a 3-2 win by the Philadelphia Phillies over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night. The game earned a 9.2 rating and 15 share on Fox, the network said.

That's down 12 percent from the 10.5 for last year's opener between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies but up 15 percent from the 8.0 for the St. Louis Cardinals-Detroit Tigers matchup two years ago.

"The secret to success is once you get to Games 5, 6 and 7, and this one starting out at a 10.3 [overnight rating] I think is every encouraging," he said, referring to the rating for the nation's larger television markets.

The World Series hasn't gone to a sixth game for four straight years -- the first time that's happened since 1913-16. Selig didn't think having Tampa Bay in the Series would necessarily reduce the TV audience.

"The Rays got a lot of coverage playing the Red Sox. It isn't like people are being introduced to the team for the first time," he said. "There are some members of the media worrying more about the ratings than we do."

Selig said playing day games on weekends is not an alternative.

"We had some afternoon games during the league championship and division series. The ratings were brutal," he said. "The ratings get better and better as the night goes on."

Even if MLB wanted to schedule day games, TV slots would be difficult if not impossible to find during football season.

"The networks have commitments, and they just can't do it," he said. "There's no sense in being anything but blunt about it."

The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned into the broadcast among those households with TVs on at the time.

On other topics:

• With rain predicted for Philadelphia on Saturday, when Game 3 is scheduled, Selig said he had been watching The Weather Channel. "They're going to get rain. The question is, when and how long? It's pretty tough to estimate," he said.

• Selig had a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday with baseball's bankers. "I spent more time talking to them about their problems," he said.

• Teams have contacted Selig since he said Oct. 4 that they should not "get too cocky" and overprice tickets for next year given the economy. "Since then I've had a lot of owners call wanting to know if I was talking about them," he said. "I think we have to be extremely sensitive. This is really a tough time in this country."

• MLB still hasn't heard from the Chicago Cubs about whether they are close to a deal to sell the franchise. "Obviously, the ball is in their court," he said. "We are waiting to hear, and we have not heard."

• Selig hopes the divorce of Padres owner John Moores and his wife, Becky, won't result in a reduction of the team's payroll. "I don't think John or Becky want it to affect the Padres. They both love the Padres," he said. The Moores even fought about access to the owner's box at Petco Park last season. "Somebody once told me that you think you've seen everything, but you haven't. That falls under that classification," Selig said.


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MLB: New park for AL champion Rays a must have

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Even before Tropicana Field hosted its first World Series game, Major League Baseball insisted the Tampa Bay Rays must get a new stadium.

"I think they need a new ballpark here. Absolutely," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

Tropicana Field opened in 1990 and already was outmoded when the baseball team moved in eight years later. Tampa Bay announced plans last November for a 34,000-seat, open-air stadium with a retractable, sail-like covering to be built on the site of Al Lang Field, where spring training games have been played for decades. But there was little community support and plans for a public referendum this year on the $450 million project were withdrawn in June.

"Whether that plan gets revived or a different plan gets revived, I'd like to see their success this year be a catalyst not only for increased attendance next year but for a renewed discussion about a new ballpark,' DuPuy said Wednesday night before the Rays played Philadelphia in the World Series opener.

And he acknowledged financing could become more difficult with the stock and financial markets in turmoil.

Economics is on the minds of baseball executives everywhere.

Although MLB doesn't plan staff cutbacks, as the NBA does, the sport is examining spending with new aggressiveness.

"We are looking at every initiative and taking a look at either whether it can be scaled back or whether or not we can defer it," DuPuy said. "We will look at every program and make a determination."

But Tony Petitti, president of the MLB Network that launches Jan. 1, said he didn't expect the economy to have much impact on the launch, despite a slowing advertising market. And Tim Brosnan, MLB's executive vice president for business, said not one of the sport's 20 national sponsors has asked for relief from their contracts.

Baseball projects revenue this year at a record $6.5 billion, DuPuy said, up from $6.075 billion in 2007. Still, commissioner Bud Selig has cautioned teams to be careful with ticket prices next season, and finances will be a topic when owners meet next month.

"The national economy is going to have an effect on everything," Selig said. "The economy is in such a way that it's going to have a pervasive effect on everything we do and on all our lives. I don't think there's any doubt about that."

The Rays averaged just 22,370 fans during the regular season, 12th among the 14 AL teams but up from their 2007 average of 17,131.

"I don't blame them. You watch the team lose for 10 straight years, as a fan, I wouldn't want to come to every single game, either," said James Shields, the Rays' Game 2 starter. "Now the second half, I think the crowd started showing up and starting to believe. I know there was a game in the middle of the week where we had 10,000 fans. We were disappointed, because we were in first place, and we're beating the Yankees, the Red Sox, the whole American League East, and we're wondering why they're not coming in."

New ballparks have been a key to baseball's boom over the past 15 years. The Yankees and Mets open new stadiums in April, and the Minnesota Twins have started construction on an open-air stadium scheduled for completion in 2010.

Miami and Oakland are the next two projects.

The Florida Marlins reached an agreement in February for a $515 million, retractable-roof stadium at the site of the Orange Bowl in Miami's Little Havana. The 37,000-seat ballpark would open for the 2011 season.

The Oakland A's announced a plan in November 2006 for a 32,000- to 35,000-seat ballpark to be named Cisco Field in Fremont. But the opening already has been pushed back a year to 2012, and construction hasn't started.

"In Miami, we think we have a deal in place, and we continue to work on finalizing the documents," DuPuy said. "The team does not have to go to market [for financing] for almost 18 months. There's a capacity in the hotel tax to support the development of the stadium, so I think the economic situation should not in fact impact getting the ballpark done in Miami. In places like St. Petersburg or Oakland where a financing plan has not yet been put in place, then, obviously, it's more complicated and rate structures and whatever are going to have to be taken into account as they develop a plan."

MLB's 30 clubs combined to draw 78.6 million fans this season, down 1 percent and ending a streak of four straight record seasons. Because the Yankees and Mets will be moving into smaller ballparks, it will be difficult for baseball to sustain attendance at its current level.

"That's a fairly significant nut to overcome, but I wouldn't throw in the towel yet," DuPuy said.


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Nelson: Shields wants, gets ball for Game 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- When James Shields takes the mound on Thursday night, he's going to feel anxious and nervous. But Shields knows his place in this Rays rotation. It's as a big-game pitcher, and it's here, at Tropicana Field, as the eldest member of the team's starting rotation. Shields is only 26 years old, but it's not just in years that he shows his maturity. Of all the talented young pitchers, it is perhaps Shields who has the surest game plan and the best composure.

"I'm the type of pitcher that I want that ball," Shields said. "I thrive on that; I thrive on getting that ball."

He has done so four times this postseason, and is 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA. He has lost his last two starts, and will take the mound on Thursday night in Game 2 looking to help his team avoid going to Philadelphia down 0-2 in the World Series.

"This is the guy you want out on the hill," said teammate Evan Longoria.

World Series: Phillies vs. Rays

Complete coverage of the Phillies-Rays matchup.
• Series page
• Scouting: Phillies

| Rays

His chances of evening this series are far better since it's at Tropicana Field, where the right-hander went 9-2 with a 2.59 ERA during the regular season. When Shields gave up a solo home run to Jason Varitek in Game 6 of the ALCS, it was Varitek's first hit in the series. It gave the Red Sox a bigger cushion in the game, and it enraged Shields. He yelled at himself and was visibly upset. Boston went on to win, forcing a Game 7 while Shields was the losing pitcher.

"I felt it was my job, my duty on this team to shut them down, and I didn't get the job done," Shields said. "I'm an emotional pitcher. … Everyone gets mad; if you don't have some intensity out there, you're not a ballplayer."

Brian Anderson has been working with the pitchers all season for the Rays. He was trying to make the team out of spring training, until he blew out his arm for the final time. He said he counsels all of the pitchers, in varying degrees. He said Shields has needed his counsel the least because of his game plan, his preparation, his confidence. He also said it's because of his changeup, and how he builds his approach around what Anderson calls "his equalizer." He also said that when Shields does get emotional, it's for a good reason, and most often in important moments.

"When he feels like it's a big situation and he doesn't execute like he's used to, you will see that from him," Anderson said. "The good thing about him is that he's usually able to dismiss it very quickly. When he does it, you know he's going to come back and get back into the flow of the game."

Kim Klement/US Presswire

James Shields' nickname is "Big Game James," but he's 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA this postseason.

Before the game, Anderson spoke about the potential psychology of this series. He said that this series reminded him of 1999 when he was with the Diamondbacks facing the Mets in the first round. The D-backs had home-field advantage and they had their ace, Randy Johnson, going in the first game against Mets starter Masato Yoshii.

They figured the series was theirs. Instead, the Mets came out and beat Johnson in the first game, and went on to sweep.

"We lost that [first] game," Anderson said, "and it turned that whole series right on its sphere."

The Phillies had their ace, Cole Hamels, going on Wednesday night. And while the Phillies didn't have home-field advantage, Anderson said he thought they were likely feeling like they had the advantage.

"They're well-rested; they've got to feel pretty good about this," he said. "If this is a game we go out and take and all of a sudden, now they're like, 'Oh no, you've got Shields coming; you've got [Matt] Garza coming [in Game 3]'."

Well, that didn't happen for the Rays, and now Brett Myers will start for the Phillies. His 5.25 postseason ERA would have been the worst among Phillies starters were it not for Jamie Moyer's 13.50 mark. Yet batters are hitting only .182 off Myers, and he's struck out 10 and walked seven.

Myers admits to being an emotional pitcher.

"It's been emotional at this point already," Myers said. "I'm just going to try and take it as just another game. But sometimes you get out there, your emotions are going to get in the way sometimes. It's just how you control them."

He was forced to do so when he was sent down to the minors earlier this year. While at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he consulted with his first pitching coach, Rod Nichols, whom Myers considers a friend. Nichols knows Myers' mechanics, and how to talk to him to get him to focus on his pitching.

"He really challenged me mentally and physically," Myers said. "He made the game fun again."

It hasn't always been fun for Shields, who's been with the Tampa Bay organization for eight years. But this year was different; he was the ace of the team, and one whose nickname "Big Game James" was earned. He'll try to do it at least one more time.

"This is an exciting time in our lives and it's like a dream come true," he said. "I'm going to be anxious, and I'm going to be ready to go."


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Longtime Braves announcer Van Wieren retires

ATLANTA -- Pete Van Wieren grew up wanting to be the radio announcer for his hometown team, the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. Instead, he became one of the voices for a bold new experiment.

Ted Turner's superstation.

With a calm, soothing delivery and far-reaching knowledge of a game he always researched diligently, Van Wieren spent 33 years in the broadcast booth for the Atlanta Braves, many of them when the team was beamed out across the country on TBS.

The announcer known as "The Professor" retired Tuesday at age 64, saying he wanted to step aside while he was still healthy enough to enjoy life beyond the ballpark.

"It was a little strange pulling into the parking lot today," Van Wieren conceded during a farewell news conference at Turner Field. "I really did enjoy it, but I'm looking forward to not being tied into that schedule anymore."

He made the announcement just 2½ months after the death of his longtime broadcast partner, Skip Caray, who had been in poor health for several seasons but stayed with the team right to the end.

"Losing Skip was certainly a tough thing, but that didn't affect my decision," said Van Wieren, who was already leaning toward retirement in the spring. "If anything, it reinforced my decision. I didn't want to keep working until I couldn't do it anymore."

Van Wieren was the last link to the broadcast team that Turner assembled in 1976 as he was making plans to beam Braves games nationally on his new superstation.

Caray, Van Wieren and Ernie Johnson Sr. would become household names, even though the Braves were traditionally one of baseball's worst teams in the 1970s and through most of the '80s. After Johnson retired, former big-leaguers Don Sutton and Joe Simpson joined Caray and Van Wieren in the Braves booth, forming another long-standing group.

"For us, it was no different doing those games than it was doing games for local television," Van Wieren said. "But the following we attracted around the nation was a surprise. No one felt people all over nation would watch the Atlanta Braves, but they did."

In 1991, the Braves went from worst to first and made it all the way to Game 7 of a memorable World Series against the Minnesota Twins. They would go on to capture 14 straight division titles, a record streak that included the city's lone Series championship in 1995.

"I really did another whole year of postseason games when you add it up," Van Wieren said. "Atlanta went from a city where no one came to the games to a place where they were selling out every game and doing the tomahawk chop. It was an unbelievable experience."

He has too many great memories to designate one game as his favorite. He does remember saying "Let the celebration begin, Atlanta" after the Braves clinched the NL West on the next-to-last day of the '91 season. But he was also there for the end of Pete Rose's 44-game hitting streak, and Bob Horner's four-homer day, and the 200th career wins for both Phil Niekro and Tom Glavine.

"There were so many great wins, so many great come-from-behind wins, all those great pitching performances," Van Wieren recalled. "It's hard to single anything out."

Van Wieren was dubbed "The Professor" by Johnson, who gave him the nickname because he looked like former big-league pitcher Jim Brosnan. But the moniker certainly fit an announcer who always arrived at the ballpark early in the afternoon for night games and spent countless hours researching statistics and digging up long-forgotten baseball stories.

"The nickname says it all," Braves president and former general manager John Schuerholz said. "He was 'The Professor,' a guy who knew the game, who loved being inside the game, who enjoyed the game. His joy and spirit were so real, so consistent. He was just a real baseball man."

The Braves were phased off TBS in recent years, conforming with rules that now restrict the number of local games that can be shown in other teams' markets. Caray and Van Wieren spent less and less time on camera, a move that ruffled the outspoken Caray, who blasted the team for a lack of loyalty.

Van Wieren just went about his job, spending this past season working strictly on the Braves radio network.

He has no complaints about a career that also included stints calling NBA, NFL and college football games.

"I'm so happy for Pete, but this is really sad news for Braves fans everywhere," manager Bobby Cox said. "He is a real pro and a gentleman."


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Francona intends to have offseason back surgery

BOSTON -- Terry Francona has won two World Series championships in five seasons -- as many as any Red Sox manager in franchise history.

Francona

And he has these souvenirs of his time in Boston as well: a foot infection, a knee replacement, staph infections in both knees, chest pains, several years on blood-thinners, a life-threatening blood clot in his lungs and now a back problem that will require surgery.

"This job takes an unbelievable amount [out of you]. Sometimes it almost sucks the life out of you," he told reporters Tuesday in a season-ending interview that was postponed a day so he could recover from symptoms of the flu.

"It does take it out of you -- this place more than any other place I've seen. And I do have some health issues, there's no getting around it. So I need to go get checked and get some of that fixed, but if there's ever a day where I don't feel like I can do my job, I won't do it."

Francona is due for back surgery this offseason to deal with a problem that has left him with diminished feeling in his arms and unable to stand up straight at times. He's been aware of the problem since May, but only now does he have the opportunity to take care of it without missing a large swath of the baseball season.

"This game is kind of crazy. I laugh when people say 'It winds down.' No, it comes to a crashing halt. You're going 100 miles an hour and then it's over. You either won or you lost," he said. "You need to be careful [about making decisions] the day after the season's over, especially when you've been sick and you don't feel good."

The Red Sox lost on Sunday night when the Tampa Bay Rays beat them 3-1 in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series to win the pennant and advance to the World Series. That left the defending champions staring into the offseason, but it also gives them a little extra time to recuperate.

In addition to the manager, third baseman and '07 World Series MVP Mike Lowell is recovering from surgery, to his hip; Josh Beckett is resting a side strain that kept him from performing like an ace in the playoffs; Curt Schilling missed all of last year with a sore shoulder and is eyeing a midseason return; David Ortiz needs rest for his ailing left wrist.

The offseason could be shortened for some of the players because the second World Baseball Classic is scheduled for the spring. Francona said the Red Sox have not addressed how to approach the tournament, which surely will be calling for some of the Boston players.

Daisuke Matsuzaka was the MVP when he pitched Japan to victory in the inaugural tournament in 2006.

"Because we are a pretty diverse group, and we're a pretty good team, we'll probably have a lot of guys who will be considered," Francona said. "He's very excited about it, also. I don't know how to get around it. They've come up with that plan, and you follow it. We'll do the best we can."

The Red Sox had to deal with an early start this year when they opened the 2008 season in Japan, a schedule Francona said took a lot out of them.

"Any time you go 6,000 miles to play two games, that's a tough trip," he said. "I think we said right away that we wouldn't allow that to be an excuse. ... It was good for Major League Baseball, and I hope that we were a good representative, a respectful representative."


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WASHINGTON -- Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden recently had surgery to remove a cancerous growth on his forehead.

The skin cancer was discovered in June, but the 47-year-old Bowden waited until the Nationals' season ended to have the operation.

"In retrospect, I would advise anybody to get it done as soon as possible. Because that type of cancer can grow extremely fast," Bowden told The Washington Post, which first reported the news Tuesday.


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ALCS Game 7 sets record for MLB cable viewers

NEW YORK -- Game 7 of the AL Championship Series drew the most viewers ever for a baseball game on cable television.

Nearly 13.4 million people watched the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 3-1 on Sunday night on TBS, the network said Monday. That broke the mark set by the 1998 Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals game on ESPN in which Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run to tie the single-season record.

Game 7 earned a 7.9 rating, with the series averaging a 4.6. That's up 64 percent from last year's NLCS on TBS, the Colorado Rockies' sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in a series that lacked the large market and national appeal that the Red Sox bring.


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Cubs, GM Hendry agree on four-year extension

CHICAGO -- General manager Jim Hendry and the Chicago Cubs agreed Monday to a four-year contract extension through the 2012 season, a deal that would expire well after new owners are expected to take over the club.

The move came following the Cubs' best regular season in more than six decades. They won their second straight NL Central title and had the league's best record before getting swept out of the playoffs for the second straight year.

And bringing back Hendry was an easy choice, despite the pending sale.

"The timing, let's face it, it's an odd situation. The team is for sale and has been for sale for sometime," Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said.

"As I keep getting reminded, the team was put up for sale on Opening Day 2007. For two full seasons we've had the for-sale sign on our lawn."

But Kenney said new Tribune owner Sam Zell signed off on Hendry's new deal.

"The business doesn't stop because we're for sale," Kenney said.

"Like our midseason move bringing in Rich Harden, or signing Carlos [Zambrano] last year, we try to make good long-term decisions for our organization. We use that guiding principle in whatever we're doing. We assume the new owner will appreciate those things and not have a difficulty with them," Kenney said.

"We think it's a really good long-term decision to keep the baseball side of our organization together. It was an easy discussion. I did walk Sam through it a few days ago and he saw it the same way. We think this is one of the strengths of our organization and not that different than an attractive option for a player. From Sam's perspective this was an easy one to make."

Chicago led the division or shared the lead from May 11 on, clinched the NL Central on Sept. 20 and went 97-64 -- the most wins for this franchise since the 1945 team finished 98-56 -- only to get knocked out by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL division series.

Last season, the Cubs were eliminated by Arizona. Still, Hendry is the only GM in Cubs history to lead the team during consecutive postseason appearances.

"As I've said since I've arrived here, and since I was fortunate enough to get this job six years ago, I have no desire to be anywhere else," Hendry said.

"There's no other place I'd rather be. So in that regard there is a lot of emotion involved. Now we've got to do whatever we can to kick that last door in and win that championship. That's our goal. We won't rest until it's accomplished.

The Cubs last World Series winner came in 1908, so it's going to 101 years starting next season.

Hendry said two of his top priorities would be re-signing free agent pitchers Ryan Dempster and Kerry Wood. Dempster went into the rotation and won 17 games and Wood became a top closer last season.

Since the club went 66-96 in 2006, Hendry has signed free agents Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly, Mark DeRosa and Kosuke Fukudome while making key in-season acquisitions last season such as Reed Johnson (in March), Jim Edmonds (May) and Harden (July). He also hired manager Lou Piniella and agreed to long-term contracts with third baseman Aramis Ramirez and Zambrano.

The Cubs are 537-513 since Hendry was promoted to general manager on July 5, 2002, and have had winning records in four of his six full seasons while making three playoff appearances.

Hendry said he had talked with Fukudome, who made the All-Star team and then slumped greatly in the second half, losing playing time at the end of the season because of his hitting woes.

Hendry said Fukudome will have to earn his job back.

"He's not lacking bat speed, he's not aging or out of shape. We did talk about the learning process, and he'll be on a program in the offseason and do some things he feels that could make him better," Hendry said. "He knows he has to earn everyday status and get his job back."


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A's second baseman Ellis returns with 2-year deal

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mark Ellis' first choice was to stay put with Oakland, even if he had tested his value in free agency.

Mark Ellis

Second Base
Oakland Athletics

Profile

2008 Season StatsGMHRRBIROBPAVG117124155.321.233

The Athletics secured some stability in the middle of their infield Monday by agreeing on an $11 million, two-year contract to keep the popular second baseman around.

"Oakland always would have been my top choice. It's where I'm comfortable and where I've played my whole career," Ellis said. "If I know that's where I want to be there's no reason to go look around."

The A's also have a club option in the deal that could keep Ellis around through the 2011 season. The 31-year-old Ellis, who is coming off right shoulder surgery last month to repair chips in the cartilage as well as a torn labrum, could have become a free agent after the World Series.

He had asked the A's to postpone any further negotiations on a new contract until the season was over. Both general manager Billy Beane and assistant GM David Forst were optimistic of working something out in a timely manner once the process with Ellis' representatives got moving.

Ellis gets $5 million next year and $5.5 million in 2010, and the A's have a $6 million option for 2011 with a $500,000 buyout. He can earn an additional $800,000 annually in performance bonuses based on games.

Ellis has spent his first seven years in the big leagues with Oakland, including 2004, when he was sidelined with an injury to the same shoulder.

"We're really happy to have Mark back," Forst said. "He was honest all season long that he wanted to be back in Oakland after this year. That made it an easy conversation. Mark was an important part of a lot of playoff teams here and has been an important part of all we've done the last seven or eight years."

Ellis batted .233 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs in 117 games for the A's in 2008, a rebuilding year for the young club that finished 75-86 and with one fewer win than a year ago. He stole 14 bases and committed only four errors. His last game of the year was Aug. 30 as a pinch-hitter against the Minnesota Twins.

He hurt the shoulder Aug. 21 at Seattle sliding into second base to break up a double play. Ellis started the following day but came out of the game in the second inning with shoulder pain.

Ellis was examined Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he lives, by Dr. Doug Freedberg, who performed the shoulder operation. He is still regaining some mobility in the shoulder and isn't expected to throw a baseball until the middle of January at the earliest.

"Where I'm at in the recovery is very good for a month out," Ellis said. "I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm going to take it slow. When I'm ready to play, I'm going to play, whether that's April 1 or April 15."

The A's don't plan to rush him back. The same goes for six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez, also recovering from surgery. Chavez needed another shoulder operation after having both shoulders surgically repaired last year along with his back. Both players are rehabilitating in the Phoenix area.

"We'd love to be optimistic about Eric," Forst said. "Certainly having him and Mark in place at the start of the season would be great. We're looking forward to having Mark the next three years, not necessarily Opening Day. As we've learned with Eric, we want to make sure he's OK for the long haul."

While playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks might have been an intriguing thought for Ellis, he knows that change isn't always best.

"It feels good to be wanted by this organization. I'm very happy with the way the A's have treated me," he said. "It's not always easy to play in your hometown."


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TBS problems keep start of ALCS Game 6 off air

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- TBS had technical difficulties that prevented it from showing the first 20 minutes of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series between Boston and Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

The game started at 8:08 p.m., but the broadcast didn't begin until 8:28 p.m., when Carlos Pena, the seventh batter of the game, walked in the bottom of the first. TBS then showed a replay of a home run by B.J. Upton, the previous batter, that put the Rays ahead 1-0.

"Two circuit breakers in our Atlanta transmission operations tripped, causing the master router and its backup -- which are necessary to transmit any incoming feed outbound -- to shut down," TBS spokesman Sal Petruzzi said in a statement.

"This impacted our live feed from being distributed to any of the other networks in the Turner portfolio and caused the delay in our coverage," Petruzzi said. "Both our primary and backup routers were impacted by this problem. We apologize to baseball fans for this mishap that caused a delay in our coverage."

Boston went on to win 4-2, forcing a Game 7 for Sunday night.

Major League Baseball spokesman Rich Levin said MLB was unaware there was a problem until the broadcast failed to come on the air. No consideration was given to delaying the start of the game because the starting pitchers already had warmed up, Levin said.

When the top of the second inning began, broadcaster Chip Caray said: "We again apologize profusely for the technical difficulties we had back in Atlanta. You haven't missed much."

In place of the game, TBS had televised an episode of "The Steve Harvey Show." A crawl on the screen ran repeatedly, saying: "We are experiencing technical difficulties."

"We couldn't put anything out because the live transmission had gone down," TBS spokesman Jeff Pomeroy said. "You're not able to put up the audio of the game because you couldn't get the feed out."

Tampa Bay, seeking its first World Series appearance, led the best-of-seven series 3-2 after wasting a 7-0, seventh-inning lead in Game 5 and losing 8-7 to the defending champion Red Sox.

At the Cask N Flagon outside Fenway Park, manager Mike Fusco said the hour -- from the pregame show until the game was restored -- "wasn't real fun."

"People were in a little uproar because they thought we didn't put the game on. They were just screaming at us to put it on and try all the other stations -- Fox, TNT," Fusco said.

Finally, Fusco said the staff had to use a PA system to explain the technical problems to the capacity crowd of 700.

Some customers yelled for them to at least put the game on the radio, but the bar didn't have one.

"People watched 'Steve Harvey' until it came on," Fusco said.


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GM says Brewers plan to make offer to Sabathia

Doug Melvin, who agreed to a three-year extension this week to remain as general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, said Saturday that the Brewers will make an offer to pitcher CC Sabathia, who will be eligible for free agency after the World Series.

The Brewers traded for Sabathia in early July, and Sabathia helped lift Milwaukee to its first postseason appearance since 1982.

CC Sabathia

Starting Pitcher
Milwaukee Brewers

Profile

2008 Season StatsGMWLBBKERA351710592512.70

At the time the Brewers traded for Sabathia, there was no expectation that he would re-sign with them this fall. But Sabathia spoke about how he greatly enjoyed his time with the Brewers, and the city responded to the pitcher, filling seats at Miller Park on the days he pitched.

"At least we have a chance," Melvin said in a conference call with reporters, "whereas before, we wouldn't have any chance with a pitcher of CC's caliber. I do feel we will make him an offer, and at that point, it will be in his court."

The expectation within the industry is that Sabathia will seriously consider offers from teams in his home state of California, as well as a massive overture which is expected to come from the Yankees, who are trying to fill two spots in their rotation.

League sources say they expect Mark Attanasio, the Brewers' owner, to make a strong effort to retain Sabathia.

"It's hard to handicap our chances," Attanasio said during a conference call Saturday. "We've had a couple of things to deal with in front of player personnel, one being Doug and the second being the manager situation."

On Friday, Melvin informed Dale Sveum, the Brewers' interim manager for the final 12 games of the season and the playoffs, that he will not be retained as manager. Melvin says he is looking at "maybe five candidates" for the job -- and he made it clear he wants his next manager to have had experience and success in previous jobs.

Melvin would not say whom he has spoken with, but speculation in Milwaukee is that Melvin's list includes Bob Brenly, the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks when they won the World Series in 2001; Buck Showalter, formerly the manager of the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers and currently an analyst with ESPN; former Oakland manager Ken Macha; and Jim Tracy, formerly the manager of the Dodgers and Pirates.

The Brewers' players reportedly liked Sveum, for whom Melvin had kind words -- "I liked Dale, I admired Dale," Melvin said.

But he believes the Brewers might benefit from having someone outside the organization come in "to give us a different viewpoint, a different perspective."

"I think the players have to adjust to the manager as much as the manager needs to adjust to the players," Melvin said.

The GM intends to personally speak to Ben Sheets -- another Milwaukee pitcher who is eligible for free agency -- to gauge Sheets' intent. Melvin's intention also is to try to give the Brewers more left-handed hitting to balance what has been a predominantly right-handed hitting lineup.

Melvin and Attanasio had disagreed about the decision to fire Ned Yost as manager with just two weeks to go in the regular season, and there was some talk within baseball that Melvin, whose previous contract ran through the 2009 season, might seek work elsewhere, such as in Seattle.

But Melvin said that when he asked Attanasio about an extension, the Brewers' owner indicated he wanted to keep Melvin, and put together an offer within a week. For Melvin, this was confirmation that he was wanted.


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Grieving Manuel rejoins World Series-bound Phils

PHILADELPHIA -- Charlie Manuel has been second-guessed on talk radio, critiqued in print and booed by those often-disharmonious Phillies fans.

Manuel

There were even days after tough losses when June Manuel would call her son with some motherly advice. Tell those Phillies to bear down, really get after it, and go win some games.

Manuel's aw-shucks demeanor breaks out when he recalled what he told his mother.

"OK, mom, I'll let you come to talk to them then," said Manuel, with a laugh.

Manuel's greatest professional triumph of managing the Phillies to the World Series has been undercut by the personal anguish of his mother's death during the NL Championship Series. He didn't miss a postseason game, but did skip the first day of workouts to attend June Manuel's funeral on Friday in Buena Vista, Va., where Charlie Manuel is still a revered local hero.

The folksy manager has started to become one in Philadelphia, too.

Manuel reminded people that no one rooted for the Phillies quite like his 87-year-old mother. She was a fan of MVPs Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and, he added with a laugh, "she liked anybody who had a good day."

That's been almost all of the Phillies during the last two weeks as they beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the division series, then knocked off the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in the NLCS to reach the World Series for the first time since 1993. Manuel returned to Philadelphia on Saturday for another day of workouts and a simulated game, hopeful to keep the Phillies sharp during their lengthy layoff before Game 1 against Tampa Bay or Boston.

The Phillies will take Sunday off and have another workout on Monday. They haven't played since clinching the NL pennant with a 4-1 victory against the Dodgers on Wednesday night.

"If we didn't do anything for three or four days, no baseball activities, then it might be a problem," second baseman Chase Utley said. "Charlie's keeping us busy, which is a good thing."

Manuel attended Friday's funeral with a small Phillies contingent that included general manager Pat Gillick and team president David Montgomery. Manuel recalled the last time he spoke to his mother, she predicted the Phillies would beat L.A. and play in the World Series. When the Phillies won the pennant, Manuel could only think of how much the victory would mean to his mother. He's been able to stay focused on the Phillies before the game. It's those quiet moments afterward when Manuel misses his mother's voice, her advice.

"I enjoyed every bit of the game the other night when we clinched against the Dodgers," Manuel said. "I loved every minute of it. I was having a tremendous time. At the same time, I did think of my mom."

Raised in Virginia, the 64-year-old Manuel didn't immediately connect with the fickle Phillies fans. They liked the fiery attitude of former manager and Phillies star Larry Bowa, even though he never took them to the postseason. They clamored for Jim Leyland, who interviewed for the job after Bowa was fired and instead took the job in Detroit. Leyland promptly led the Tigers to the World Series while the Phillies sat home.

Now, Manuel is cheered, getting credit for winning two straight NL East titles, and even hears chants of "Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!"

He only wished his mother could be around to enjoy all this October success. Manuel, though, believes she's still watching.

"If my mom can help me any way she can, I'm going to call on her to do it," Manuel said.

Manuel said his mother was the kind of woman who kept her cool and always put life in perspective. Manuel tries to live -- and manage the Phillies -- the same way. That's one reason why the Phillies love playing for him and have rallied around him while he grieves.

"Charlie's an amazing person," Utley said. "He's handled it well, he's still the same guy. That's what makes him special. No matter what's going on, he still treats everybody the same, which is extremely important."

Manuel was back to keeping an eye on Philly on Saturday. Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton each pitched in a simulated game held after batting practice.

Manuel said he hasn't considered his designated hitter for Games 1 and 2. Chris Coste might earn the nod against lefties, and standout pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs could get the start against the right-handers. Manuel ruled out Howard, his first baseman.

"I'd consider our strongest lineup the one that I think can win that day," Manuel said.

No roster shakeups were expected for the World Series, and Manuel said the rotation should remain the same. NLCS MVP Cole Hamels starts Game 1, followed by Brett Myers, Moyer and Blanton.

Before Manuel left his hometown, there was one thing he wanted to do. Manuel placed a Phillies hat inside June Manuel's casket, one final way for her to keep close to her son and her favorite team.

"I guess that's the way life is and that's part of it," Manuel said.

Notes
RHP Tom Gordon had surgery on his right elbow on Thursday. Gordon had bone spurs removed and had his ulnar collateral ligament repaired. His right arm will be in a splint for two weeks. Gordon was originally placed on the 15-day DL with right elbow inflammation on July 6 and missed the remainder of the season. He went 5-4 with a 5.16 ERA in 34 games for the Phillies this season.


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Backe's lawyer files complaint to FBI over arrest

The attorney for Houston Astros pitcher Brandon Backe, one of 10 people arrested this month during a brawl at a wedding reception, alleged in a complaint to the FBI that Galveston police violated his clients' civil rights.

Attorney Bob Moen, who represents Backe and six others arrested in the incident, said he met with FBI agents on Wednesday to ensure there is a fair investigation into the incident.

"I have initiated a formal complaint against the officers involved for their actions against the clients I represent for violating their civil rights," Moen told Houston TV station KRIV.

Police spokesman Capt. Walter Braun has said an internal affairs investigation has been launched into the incident. Braun did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press on Friday.

Backe was among 10 people arrested Oct. 5 when a wedding reception at a hotel bar disintegrated into a brawl with police. Witnesses have said police used excessive force. The father and brother of the bride were stunned with a Taser, and one of them was pepper-sprayed.

The brawl escalated after police tried to arrest the bride's brother for allegedly entering a pool bar area with an open liquor container. During a struggle, the brother hit one officer in the chest and another in the face. Others at the bar piled on when police tried to handcuff him, according to police reports.

Backe, 30, a member of the wedding party, ignored police orders to back away from the fight, and struggled with officers who were attempting to handcuff him, according to police reports. One officer said he hit Backe twice in the face before handcuffing him.

Backe was charged with interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors.


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Brewers extend Melvin; Sveum won't be manager

MILWAUKEE -- Doug Melvin will get a 3-year contract extension as the general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, but the team also said Friday that Dale Sveum is no longer under consideration to become manager.

Sveum was promoted from his coaching position and served as interim manager after Ned Yost was fired with 12 games left in the regular season.

The Brewers reached the postseason for the first time since 1982, but lost to Philadelphia in four games in the opening round of the playoffs.

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said the team reached a "significant milestone" by reaching the postseason for the first time in almost three decades, "and this could not have been accomplished without the efforts of Doug Melvin and his staff."

Among the major moves this season was the trade that brought pitcher CC Sabathia from Cleveland to Milwaukee, where he became the most dependable member of the rotation, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts.

The Brewers went 7-5 under Sveum, clinching the wild-card berth on the final day of the regular season.

Melvin, whose deal now runs through 2012, said he would recommend to the next manager that Sveum stay on the coaching staff. He was the third base coach before the late-season promotion.

Ruling out Sveum "allows us to widen our search to experienced managerial candidates," Melvin said.

The team said hitting coach Jim Skaalen won't be offered a contract for next year. He held that job the last two seasons.

The Brewers plan more announcements about the coaching staff in coming days.


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Peavy trade derby: Padres court additional teams

San Diego pitcher Jake Peavy, the Cy Young Award winner currently being dangled in trade talks, initially indicated to the Padres that he would prefer a deal to one of five teams -- Atlanta, St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros.

Jake Peavy

Starting Pitcher
San Diego Padres

Profile

2008 Season StatsGMWLBBKERA271011591662.85

But because San Diego apparently isn't close to honing in on a deal with any of those five, sources say that the Padres are reaching out to other teams, as well.

Peavy, 27, has a full no-trade clause, and he has not given San Diego any indication that he would accept a deal to the Yankees or any other American League team. But the Padres are in the process of gauging interest from those clubs, as well -- and if they were to identify an offer that they find acceptable, perhaps for a couple of pitchers and a center fielder, officials with other teams sense that San Diego would move quickly to complete a deal.

The Braves are probably the best-equipped team among those named by Peavy to complete a deal. They have young pitching, such as Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson, and center fielders Jason Heyward and Jordan Schafer. Officials with the two clubs have exchanged names, but to date, the Braves have been reluctant to talk about Hanson, Heyward, Schafer or any of their best prospects.

Peavy is attractive for his performance and because he's under contract through 2013. He is set to make $8 million in 2009; $15 million in 2010; $16 million in 2011; and $17 million in 2012. He also has a 2013 option for $22 million, with a $4 million buyout.

The Yankees, who will seek at least two starting pitchers this offseason, have discussed Peavy internally, but Peavy has been open in his preference to play in the National League -- where he can hit and run the bases -- and some friends of the pitcher wonder if he would like playing in New York.


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