Luis Gonzalez got his wish. Gonzalez became the 21st player with 300 home runs and 500 doubles on Tuesday night, hitting an RBI double off the wall in the sixth inning of Arizona's 7-4 win over the San Francisco Giants. The game was stopped while second base was replaced after the landmark hit and the Chase Field crowd rose to cheer Gonzalez. |
Barry Bonds' first major league manager believes the San Francisco slugger is being unfairly singled out for his alleged use of steroids. Jim Leyland, now in his first year as Tigers skipper, managed Bonds for seven years with the Pittsburgh Pirates before the slugger left as a free agent to join the San Francisco Giants for the 1993 season. |
Lance Niekro's right shin splints are still bothersome, and the Giants will check the first baseman's status in Phoenix in mid-week when he returns from three-day bereavement leave. |
For all the talk about mechanical adjustments, arm slots, pitch location and selection, it turned out Zach Duke needed to do only one thing to again be the pitcher he was last season. Throw strikes. Duke bounced back from the worst start of his short major league career to limit Chicago to a run over seven innings, and the Pirates beat the Cubs in Pittsburgh for the first time in exactly a year by... |
Jeff Francoeur is starting to resemble last season's rookie sensation. Francoeur homered for the second night in a row, hitting a two-out shot in the eighth inning that gave the Atlanta Braves a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday. After starting the season with only two hits in 36 at-bats, Francoeur actually heard boos from the hometown fans who idolized him a year ago when he finished third in the NL rookie of the year voting after getting called up to the big leagues at midseason. |
With four hits and two RBIs Wednesday, Adrian Gonzalez delivered the kind of performance the Florida Marlins envisioned when they made him the first pick in the 2000 draft. Alas for Florida, he now plays with the San Diego Padres. Traded by the Marlins in 2003, Gonzalez had his first four-hit game to help San Diego beat struggling Florida 7-2. "I don't care who the opponent is," he said. "I just wanted to get to the big leagues and get an opportunity to play. |
STATS Editor Many expected Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds to be top contenders for the NL home run title. Not many expected Khalil Greene to mentioned in the same breath. Greene will try to keep an unexpected power surge going when the San Diego Padres continue their three-game series Wednesday against the Florida Marlins. |
The San Francisco Giants weren't about to try to start another game at 9 p.m. local time. The Giants' series opener against the NL champion Houston Astros was rained out Tuesday, with the game to be made up as part of a split doubleheader Thursday. The first game was already slated for the afternoon, with the makeup game now scheduled for that night. There were heavy rains and high winds all day Tuesday in the Bay Area, with more bad weather in the forecast for the coming days. |
Tuesday, Morris was set to make his home Giants debut against the defending NL Champion Houston Astros, but that game and his start were postponed. |
Barry Bonds provided a silent update on his troublesome right knee. The rain and wind could practically be heard from his corner in the clubhouse. "Shhhhhh, shhhhhh," Bonds signaled, his finger to his mouth. How's his knee, which he "tweaked" in Sunday's game against Atlanta? "OK," the slugger signaled by touching his thumb and index finger together to form the sign. |
The Giants roster picture just got a lot clearer, but some new questions have arisen in their place. As Felipe Alou has announced that Todd Greene and Jamey Wright have made the Opening Day roster, he didn't announce whether Wright would be the 5th starter or a reliever. He also made no hints as to which two Giants would be removed from the roster to make room for them. Meanwhile, Valdez, Hennessey and Ortmeier were all sent to the minors. |
--LF Barry Bonds didn't play Monday, which was no surprise. The Giants are being cautious with his inflamed left elbow, not to mention his thrice surgically repaired right knee, so the Giants don't expect Bonds to return to the field until Thursday when they host the Angels in San Francisco. From there, he'd play Saturday in Oakland and then the season opener Monday in San Diego. |
Closer Armando Benitez has a 25.41 ERA after Monday's dreadful performance. Benitez lasted 1 1/3 innings against the Royals, surrendering 10 runs (nine earned) and nine hits, including a two-run homer to Aaron Guiel. Benitez issued one walk and threw a wild pitch. Not a good way to start the final week of spring training. Manager Felipe Alou left him in the game to get his work in, and Benitez didn't respond well. |
Left-hander Zach Duke couldn't have made it look much easier during an outstanding rookie season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. This spring has taught him there may be some tough times, too. Duke had another rough outing by giving up eight runs, seven earned, and 11 hits over four-plus innings and the Toronto Blue Jays overcame six homers by the Pirates for a 9-8 victory Sunday. |
The Padres are very concerned about the state of their rotation and bullpen as spring training winds down. The outfield looks much improved both offensively and defensively. Rookie 2B Josh Barfield has been the biggest hit of the exhibition season. There will be some tough decisions over the final spots on the bench. ROTATION 1. RHP Jake Peavy 2. LHP Shawn Estes 3. RHP Chris Young 4. RHP Chan Ho Park 5. |
The San Diego Padres traded minor league prospects Matt Thayer and Trey Johnston to the Philadelphia Phillies for right-hander Aquilino Lopez. |
Other than all the controversies swirling around Barry Bonds, the Giants have had a mostly quiet camp without major injuries or incidents. Armando Benitez had an inflamed left knee, and Bonds remained careful with his right knee. But otherwise, the focus was on getting the older players in shape and examining other players vying for roster spots. The No. 5 rotation job and No. 5 outfield spot have been up for grabs, and nothing was decided with less than two weeks until the opener. |
If Brian Sabean had his way, Barry Bonds would play every day for the San Francisco Giants this season. The general manager knows that's not realistic, so he will take whatever he can get. "By what I see, do I think he's capable of playing a lot? Yes," Sabean said Tuesday, a day before the Giants were to break spring training. "Only God and he knows how much he's going to play, and the manager. |
Los Angeles Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up three runs in the ninth inning and took the loss Tuesday when the San Diego Padres rallied to take a 7-6 victory. Rodriguez wasn't all that shaky, allowing one hit and walking two of seven batters. But the Angels' right-hander didn't get much get much help from his teammates in Los Angeles infield. |
When it became apparent that rookie Josh Barfield was going to win the San Diego Padres' starting job at second base, he went to the equipment manager and requested jersey No. 29 for the regular season. "Not getting ahead of myself, but my dad was giving me a hard time about wearing No. 60," Barfield said Tuesday. Talk about living up to some big expectations. His dad, of course, is Jesse Barfield, who wore No. 29 during a 12-year big league career with Toronto and the New York Yankees. |
With Minor League play just a week away, the Padres released 17 players from minor league camp this morning. Most of the players released were at Single-A or below last season or were brought in during the offseason. |
The Philadelphia Phillies traded pitcher Aquilino Lopez to the San Diego Padres for minor league outfielder Matt Thayer and third baseman Trey Johnston on Tuesday. The Phillies had sent Lopez to their minor league camp Monday. He went 1-0 with a 5.79 ERA in nine exhibition game appearances. Thayer played hit .337 in 63 combined games with Class-A Lake Elsinore, Class-A Fort Wayne and the rookie league Arizona Padres. Johnson hit .302 over 20 games with the Arizona League Padres. |
Colorado Rockies pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim strained his right hamstring running the bases Tuesday during a 6-6, 10-inning tie against the San Francisco Giants. Kim, who pitched four games for South Korea in the World Baseball Classic, pitched two innings Tuesday, then batted in the seventh and walked. Cory Sullivan doubled and Kim appeared to get hurt when he rounded third. He limped home and was tagged out. |
Seven home runs shy of passing Babe Ruth, this should be a time of unbridled joy and excitement for Barry Bonds. Not so, he says. "My life is in shambles. It is crazy," Bonds said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. "It couldn't get any crazier. I'm just trying to stay sane." |
Prospect Francisco Liriano won't start 2006 in Minnesota's rotation, but Mike Harmon thinks Liriano will soon. |
--RHP Ian Snell gave up four runs and five hits -- including a 500-foot home run to Cincinnati CF Ken Griffey Jr. -- in five innings while walking two and striking out four Monday. Snell is scheduled to face the Reds in his first regular-season start April 6 at Cincinnati and, thus, did not use all his pitches. |
The Pirates' roster picture should become clearer by Wednesday. General manager Dave Littlefield, manager Jim Tracy and the rest of the team's brain trust will meet Tuesday to discuss potential roster moves. The Pirates have 35 players remaining in camp and must get down to 25 by midnight Sunday in anticipation of next Monday's opener at Milwaukee. "We have some very challenging decisions to make," Tracy said Monday. |
Ken Griffey Jr. doubled twice and hit a two-run homer over the batter's eye Monday night, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Griffey is healthy during spring training for the first time in five years, and it shows in his swing. The 36-year-old outfielder is 7-for-15 with a pair of homers in four games since returning from the World Baseball Classic. Griffey hit .524 during the Classic, with three homers in six games. |
The Pirates retooled their lineup in the offseason and added three veterans in 1B Sean Casey, 3B Joe Randa and RF Jeromy Burnitz, who they hope will help an offense that finished 14th in the 16-team National League in runs scored last season. |
Paul Maholm wouldn't accept the finish, no matter how good the rest of his start was. For Scott Kazmir, another ineffective spring training start wasn't a worry, even though the season is fast approaching. Maholm cruised through five innings, allowing one hit and one walk, before a brief streak of wildness led to a four-run Tampa Bay sixth inning in the Pittsburgh Pirates' 7-5 win over the Devil Rays on Tuesday. |
Maybe Wayne Gretzky wants to take batting practice with the Pittsburgh Pirates when they visit Phoenix in late May. Gretzky, a baseball fan, has a new friend in the majors - Pirates outfielder Jason Bay, a native Canadian and hockey fan who became acquaintances with the Coyotes coach while living in suburban Phoenix during the offseason. |
