Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman held out with groin injury

ATLANTA -- Houston first baseman Lance Berkman has a minor groin injury and is not starting Friday night's game against the Atlanta Braves.

Berkman

The Braves are missing shortstop Yunel Escobar, who is day to day with a strained left adductor.

Houston manager Brad Mills says Berkman tweaked his left groin running to first base in his last at-bat against Cincinnati on Thursday night. Geoff Blum is the fill-in starter at first base.

Berkman missed the first 12 games of the season following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on March 13.

Omar Infante is filling in for Escobar, who suffered his injury Thursday at St. Louis.

Also, Braves manager Bobby Cox plans to push back right-hander Jair Jurrjens' next start to May 8. Jurrjens suffered a strained left hamstring in Thursday's start.

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Major League Baseball players' union opposed to Arizona immigration law

NEW YORK -- Given a chance to take part in the 2011 All-Star game at Arizona, Ozzie Guillen insists he won't go.

"I wouldn't do it," the Chicago White Sox manager said Friday. "As a Latin American, it's natural that I have to support our own."

Guillen joined a growing chorus of opposition to Arizona's new law that empowers police to determine a person's immigration status. The state is home to all four major team sports, hosts half the clubs in spring training and holds top events in NASCAR, golf and tennis.

“

Now they're going to go after everybody, not just the people behind the wall. Now they're going to come out on the street. What if you're walking on the street with your family and kids? They're going to go after you.

”-- Baltimore shortstop Cesar Izturis, on Arizona's immigration law

The Major League Baseball players' union issued a statement condemning the law. A congressman whose district includes Yankee Stadium wrote a letter to baseball commissioner Bud Selig urging him to pull the All-Star game from Phoenix. The World Boxing Council took a step to limit fights in Arizona.

"It's a bad thing," said Baltimore shortstop Cesar Izturis, born in Venezuela. "Now they're going to go after everybody, not just the people behind the wall. Now they're going to come out on the street. What if you're walking on the street with your family and kids? They're going to go after you."

With more than one-quarter of big leaguers on opening-day rosters were born outside the 50 states, most of them from Hispanic descent.

"These international players are very much a part of our national pastime," MLB union head Michael Weiner said. "Each of them must be ready to prove, at any time, his identity and the legality of his being in Arizona to any state or local official with suspicion of his immigration status."

Weiner said that if the law is not repealed or modified, the union would consider "additional steps."

A day earlier, WBC president Jose Sulaiman said its sanctioning body unanimously agreed it will not authorize Mexican boxers to fight in Arizona.

"Great figures of boxing have fought in Arizona, boxers such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, Konstantin Tszyu, 'Coloradito' Lopez and many, many others," said Sulaiman, who is based in Mexico City. "The WBC will not allow that in boxing, athletes are exposed to suffer that degrading act, humiliating and inhumane, as racial discrimination is."

MLB, the NFL and the NBA declined comment on the law.

The BCS national championship game will be played next January in Glendale, Ariz., shortly after the city hosts the Fiesta Bowl.

"The recent Arizona immigration legislation is obviously a matter of great public concern," the Fiesta Bowl said in a statement Friday. "While this matter may ultimately be resolved in a court of law or in the court of public opinion, we are certain that it will not be resolved on the fields of college football."

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., sent a letter Thursday night to Selig, asking him to take next year's All-Star game out of Arizona.

Calling the law "extremist" and "discriminatory," the congressman wrote: The All-Star game is now not just a display of baseball's best talent, but is also a display of the global reach of the game. It is at odds with the reality of the modern game to hold such a prestigious event in a state that would not welcome those same players if they did not play our national pastime."

Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said "this whole situation is sad and disappointing."

"We believe the federal government should act swiftly to address the immigration issue once and for all," he said in a statement.

Said Cleveland Indians coach Sandy Alomar Jr., whose team trains in Goodyear, Ariz.: "Certainly I am against profiling any race and having sterotypes, but at the same time my feeling is what does baseball have to do with politics? Let the politicians stay in politics and the baseball players play baseball."

Guillen, from Venezuela, became an American citizen in 2006. He said players should consider boycotting baseball in Arizona, adding, "I plead sportsmen to join on this."

The White Sox hold spring training in suburban Phoenix. Guillen said he hoped MLB would take a strong stance on the immigration law.

"They have to. They have a team in Arizona," he said. "There is a concern for baseball players to go out there, of course, and we've got to support those people."

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Study: Percentage of black players drops again

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Major League Baseball equaled its best grades for racial and gender diversity hiring, even as the percentage of black players dropped again last year.

MLB received an A for race and a B for gender hiring in the annual study released Thursday by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. Baseball received the same grades in last year's report.

Among major leaguers, though, the number of black players dropped from 10.2 percent to 9 percent last season. The sport had made a small stride since reaching a low of 8.2 percent in 2007, but the latest data indicates a steady rise among black players might be years away.

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Information in the report is based on the 2009 work force data provided by MLB.

"I think it's a reflection now of the long-standing fact that African-American youths are playing basketball and football more than baseball," Institute director Richard Lapchick said. "It's ironic only because the role of people of color running baseball is dramatically increasing."

A dwindling number of black players has been a concern of baseball and those in the black community for years. Last year's report was the first time since 1995 that the majors had an increase among black players.

In an effort to curb the numbers, MLB has established its Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities program and urban youth academies. But Lapchick said it will likely take many years before it's known if those efforts are paying off.

"I think it's going to take a generation of young kids to change that," he said.

MLB said in a statement that it was proud of the high marks for its diversity in hiring.

"Major League Baseball is pleased that the 2010 Lapchick study reflects our institutional commitment, led by Commissioner Selig, to sound hiring practices and diverse participation at all levels of our game," spokesman Pat Courtney said.

Twenty-seven percent of the players in the majors were Latino and 2.3 percent were Asian, the report showed. MLB had four black, four Latino and one Asian manager last season. That's one fewer black manager than a year ago.

MLB's central offices received an A-plus for race and an A for gender. About 31 percent of employees at baseball's central offices were nonwhite, and women made up 39 percent of the total work force, the report showed.

Baseball received a B-plus for general managers and senior team professionals. There has never been a female general manager, and there are relatively few high-ranking women in baseball operations. Assistant general managers Kim Ng of the Dodgers and Jean Afterman of the Yankees have been the exceptions.

Lapchick has long suggested that MLB institute a rule that a woman be considered for all senior job openings, similar to the rule that minority candidates must be interviewed.

"But baseball is clearly ahead of most major men's professional leagues in diversity, with the exception of the NBA," Lapchick said. "And baseball is light years ahead of when I started doing the reports in 1987."

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Detroit Tigers' Magglio Ordonez singles for 2,000th career hit

DETROIT -- Magglio Ordonez's single in the fourth inning for the Detroit Tigers against the Minnesota Twins was the 2,000th hit of his career.

Ordonez

Ordonez became the sixth Venezuelan on Thursday to reach the milestone, joining Omar Vizquel, Luis Aparicio, Andres Galarraga, Dave Concepcion and Bobby Abreu.

"It's huge because there are only 260 players who have done it in more than 100 years of baseball," Ordonez said after Detroit beat Minnesota 3-0. "I'm happy for me, my family, my country and my team.

"This means a lot to me after everything I went through last year," he said.

Ordonez's wife had health problems last year and he had a slump that sparked talk of the Tigers releasing him to prevent him from getting enough plate appearances to earn an $18 million bonus for this season. He also was booed repeatedly by Venezuelan fans at the World Baseball Classic because he backed a constitutional amendment to end term limits for President Hugo Chavez.

Ordonez bounced back and closed last season hitting better than .300 for the third straight year with Detroit and ninth time in 11 seasons with the Tigers and Chicago White Sox.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said 2,000 hits was a nice milestone that made him wonder how anyone doubled that total.

"It's a tremendous accomplishment, obviously, you would never want to downplay something like that," Leyland said. "But it makes you wonder about how did a guy get over 4,000. The guy has 2,000 hits -- that's unbelievable to me -- and then you say, `There's a guy that has over 4,000.' That's mind-boggling."

Pete Rose finished his career with 4,256 hits after breaking Ty Cobb's record of 4,189 that he set with the Tigers.

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Stephen Strasburg throws 5 no-hit innings in fourth start for the Harrisburg Senators

READING, Pa. -- Stephen Strasburg pitched five no-hit innings in his fourth professional start and drove in the game's only run as the Double-A Harrisburg Senators blanked the Reading Phillies 1-0 Tuesday night.

Mike & Mike in the Morning

ESPN MLB insider Buster Olney says Washington Nationals prospect Stephen Strasburg is on the fast track to the big leagues after another dominating performance in Double-A.

Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge, a World Series hero in 2008, was making a rehab appearance for Reading, but Strasburg stole the show.

The San Diego State product retired the first 13 batters he faced in the opener of a doubleheader, striking out six. The only batter to reach base against Strasburg in five innings was Michael Spidale, who struck out swinging in the fifth but advanced to first on a passed ball.

Strasburg, the Washington Nationals' No. 1 pick last summer, threw just 64 pitches as his parent club continues to closely monitor his workload. He improved to 3-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.52. Strasburg has struck out 23 and walked just three through 17.1 innings this year.

Strasburg's night

W/L: Win (3-0)
Innings pitched: 5
Batters faced: 16
Hits: 0
Strikeouts: 6
Ground outs: 8
Fly outs: 2

The 21-year-old also collected his second hit of the season, singling through the middle with two outs in the fifth to score Sean Rooney, who doubled two batters earlier. Strasburg is 2-for-6 with two RBIs.

In the seven-inning contest, another top Nationals prospect drafted 10th overall last summer, Drew Storen, threw the final two innings and pitched around two singles to earn the save.

Lidge, meanwhile, has been on Philadelphia's disabled list since spring after offseason surgery on his knee and elbow, but appears close to returning to the Phillies.

The 33-year-old Lidge struck out four in two innings, with his only baserunner reaching on a throwing error by the shortstop. It was his eighth rehab appearance since April 10 and his second with Reading.

"From what I saw tonight, he was doing everything pretty much right," Lidge said about Strasburg. "It's not very often you'll see a guy who throws that hard with that kind of command. Hopefully our hitters will figure him out when he gets called up."

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Philadelphia Phillies' Joe Blanton allows two home runs in rehab outing

READING, Pa. -- Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Joe Blanton allowed two home runs in five innings Wednesday night in a rehab outing for Double-A Reading.

Blanton

Blanton is on the disabled list while recovering from an oblique strain in spring training.

Reading lost 5-2 to Harrisburg. Blanton gave up all five runs on a pair of homers.

Blanton said he feels good and ready to return to the Phillies' rotation. This was the third rehab start for the 29-year-old Blanton. He said he doesn't know when the Phillies will activate him from the disabled list.

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Stiff back forces Minnesota Twins' Justin Morneau to leave in fifth inning vs. Detroit Tigers

DETROIT -- Minnesota Twins star Justin Morneau didn't play after the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers because of a stiff back.

Morneau

"He had a little stiffness in his upper back, but it isn't anything serious or related to last year," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after Tuesday's 2-0 win. "It was a cold night and [Justin] Verlander had him swinging and missing a lot, so he stiffened up a bit. We just did the smart thing."

The 2006 AL MVP played his final game last season on Sept. 12 because of a back injury. Minnesota rallied to win the AL Central without him, beating Detroit in the 163rd game.

Morneau struck out in each of his three at-bats against Verlander in the series opener. He had reached base in each of Minnesota's first 19 games, hitting in 16 of them.

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