JAMIE (1) JAMIE FINAL THE BUFFALO NEWS SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2005 C5 Baseball Pudge isn't nudging Tigers toward postseason Rodriguez took off on the team last week while serving a fourgame suspension for bumping an umpire. Instead of staying with them on a road trip to Toronto, he returned to Colombia on "personal busiMike ness." Then he got de- Harrington layed an extra day and missed a flight to udge Power: is not helping drums. This will be the 18th see any postseason baseball er play is damaging the franchise. mer Tiger legend Alan Trammell the Detroit Tigers get out of their straight season the Motor City and catcher Ivan Rodriguez's It might even send manager and to the unemployment line. dolwon't powfor- upon Rodriguez's return and several of his teammates reportedly took him to task for his South American jaunt.
The Tigers would love to unload Rodriguez, but there isn't a huge market for a 34- year-old catcher owed $20 million the next two years, especially one who's been experiencing chronic hip and groin pain. Catching is not a strength in the farm system and Brandon Inge was been converted to a third baseman when Rodriguez was brought in. Hollins in hot water Harrington Kansas City, where Trammell had entered him into that night's lineup but then had to scratch him. Trammell was against the trip but was overruled by General Manager Dave Dombrowski, who allowed his star to go. Next year is the last one on Trammell's four-year deal and Dombrowski has given no assurances Trammell will be back.
Many Tiger watchers think Dombrowski greased Trammell's skids at the trade deadline when he sent reliver Kyle Farnsworth to Atlanta with the Tigers still on the fringe of the wild -card race. Two years ago, remember, the Tigers were 43-119 while Rodriguez was leading the upstart Marlins to a World Series title. So it was reasonable to think when Pudge ran from Miami and took the Tigers' money, he thought he could get them up the pecking order in the AL Central. It hasn't happened. The Tigers are probably going to finish fourth for the second straight year but are still hoping to get to .500 after a 72-90 finish in 2004.
A $69 million payroll was supposed to produce the Tigers' first winning record in 11 years. But major injuries to Magglio Ordonez, Troy Percival and Carlos Guillen have ruined the Tigers' season and left hitting coach Kirk Gibson to hotly defend Trammell, his co-star on the '84 World Series champions, to the Detroit media. For his part, Rodriguez has done little to help this team end its losing ways. Dealing with an offseason divorce, he's been surly most of the year. For his $10 million salary, he's batting under .230 with men in scoring position.
Trammell held a team meeting Orchard Park's Dave Hollins is in a heap of trouble with the Eastern League. Hollins, the hitting coach for the Double-A Binghamton Mets, is on indefinite suspension for inciting a brawl Monday night by attacking Portland pitching coach Fernando Arroyo. Hollins, coaching first base, was irritated when a Binghamton player was hit by a pitch. After an exchange of words, he charged into the Portland dugout and tackled Arroyo as both teams quickly came on the scene. Portland hitting coach Russ Morman, like Hollins a former Buffalo Bison, suffered a broken finger prying Hollins away from Arroyo.
The league and the parent Mets both are investigating and could hand down further penalties. Hollins has made no public comments since the incident. Binghamton manager Jack Lind posted a handwritten note in the Portland clubhouse before Tuesday's game apologizing for the incident. "Coaches are held to a higher standed," Eastern League President Joe McEacharn told the Binghamton Press Sun-Bulletin. "There are no circumstances under which that is acceptable." Hollins has had major impact on the Binghamton team as a coach.
Although the Mets are in last place, they entered the week- BIOL Associated Press Detroit catcher Ivan Rodriguez took off on the Tigers last week while serving a four -game suspension for bumping an umpire. BASEBALL tinely hitting 95-97 mph on the radar gun. More pen problems The Angels' bullpen blew eight saves in the team's first 101 games, then blew nine in the next 18. Closer Francisco Rodriguez then blew off the team picture before Thursday night's game. "Everyone was smiling but some guys were just smiling in other places," cracked manager Mike Scioscia.
Rodriguez is pushing away rumors he's injured and still trying to forget about blowing a recent game in Oakland by dropping a throw back from the catcher with a man on third in the ninth. Also in that series, setup man Brendan Donnelly kept another A's rally going by short -arming a throw to first on a routine comebacker. Said Donnelly: "That wasn't me. That error was committed by VALUE CITY Furniture We're Growing Again! We're looking for home to home delivery drivers with a good driving record. Apply At: VALUE CITY FURNITURE 800 Thruway Plaza Dr.
898592 Cheektowaga, NY 14225 Missed chances sink Herd in Norfolk the little girl down the street. At least that is how it felt like I was throwing." Around the horn Zach Duke might win Pitcher of the Year in the International League after going 12-3 in roughly half a season for Indianapolis. He might win Rookie of the Year in the National League, too. In nine starts for the Pirates, Duke is 6-0 with a 1.87 ERA, has struck out 42 and walked only 16. "The game needs guys like him," Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd said after Duke's seven shutout innings Thursday night in Shea Stadium.
"He can turn a franchise around." The hapless Royals have never won fewer than seven games in a month (not counting October) in their 37-year history. Pretty safe to say that record is about to fall. The Mariners have moved former Bisons player and hitting coach Carlos Garcia from firstbase coach to a much more highprofile job as third-base coach because the regular there, Jeff Newman, needs Achilles surgery. That's going to give Garcia even more exposure as he looks for work in 2006, either by re-signing with Seattle or catching the eye of another big-league club. One reason the Blue Jays have stayed in the wild race without Roy Halladay is because they've done well against elite teams.
Toronto is 8-3 against the Red Sox and finished 5-1 against the Angels and 2-1 against the Cardinals. The Jays open a four series Monday night in Yankee Stadium trying to improve upon their 3-5 record against the Yankees this season. Juan Gonzalez is still working out his hamstrings in Puerto Rico but doesn't expect to play any baseball this season. He called the Indians last week to request having the equipment in his locker shipped home. Gonzalez rehabbed for a week with the Bisons, then injured his hamstring again in his first at-bat in the big leagues this year May 31 at Minnesota.
For the three pitches he saw in the majors, he pocketed $600,000. Nice work if you can find it. e-mail: BUY DIRECT AND SAVE ALUMINUM CAPS $575 in 3 Custom Installed Completely days made ELMA SENECA, 675-8713 899144 NORFOLK, Va. Saturday's game was one of missed opportunities for the Buffalo Bisons. Squandering multiple scoring chances, the Herd took a 4-3 loss Saturday against the Norfolk Tides before 9,310 in Harbor Park.
Squaring the series at 1-1, the loss ended a two-game winning streak for the Bisons and allowed the Rochester Red Wings who beat Pawtucket, 3-2 to creep within one game of first place in the International League North. "If you'd told me coming out of spring training that we'd be i in a dogfight race with 16 games left, I'd take it," said Bisons manager Marty Brown. "We've just got an entire division playing good baseball." On Saturday, the Bisons didn't play good baseball. The Herd had every opportunity to pile up runs in big innings but struggled to bring the runners home. Buffalo went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base overall.
The team's 11 strikeouts didn't help much either. The Bisons took the early lead with a run scored by Brandon Phillips on an error in the first. But the Tides quickly responded with a run scored by Anderson Hernandez, who doubled and later came home on a fielder's choice. Norfolk got two more in the second on David Bacani's single. Buffalo's Ryan Ludwick homered to start the fourth, but the Tides responded with an insurance run on an double by Chase Lambin to make the score 4-2 after six.
In the seventh, Andy Abad scored on a groundout to narrow the margin to 4-3, but that was as close as the Bisons could get. Herd starter Fausto Carmona (4-4) gave up five walks and four runs on 1 five hits. The four-game series continues tonight (6:15 p.m., Radio 1230 and 1330 AM). TRUCK STUFF! CUSTOM ACCESSORIES ON SALE NOW Factory Sub-Enclosurers Tonneau Covers Window Tint Interior Exterior Neon Mobile Systems Vent Visors Wind Deflectors Tube Boards Grill Stereo Systems Our 26th Year M-F 9-7, Sat. 10-5, CUSTOM Closed Sun.
RADIO 634-6700 Transitown Plaza in Williamsville GET WRAPPED UP IN BUFFALO BULLS FOOTBALL EXCLUSIVE OFFER BUFFALO Purchase 2005 UB Football season tickets today and receive a Bulls Fleece Stadium ABSOLUTELY FREE! Great seats start as low as $50. Order your BULLS Season Tickets TODAY! BULLS TICKET HOTLINE: 645-6666 RUTGERS AKRON BOWLING GREEN OHIO EASTERN MICHIGAN one free stadium blanket per account. TRUE BLUE. Time Hortons WESTHERR integrity stribution tickets. SUBWAY A Bank HIDZONE al PEPSI SPECIAL TO THE NEWS BIOL end leading the league in batting (.270) and were third in home runs (116).
Sox look to No. 1 With Curt Schilling struggling and Keith Foulke still trying to recover from knee surgery, the Red Sox are desperate for bullpen help. They've tried trades for retreads like Mike Remlinger and Matt Perisho and now it looks like they're close to calling up 21-year-old first-round draft pick Craig Hansen in a major fast-track attempt to shore up the back end of the pen. Hansen, a 6-foot-6 right-hander who was an All-American at St. John's, signed his pro contract July 23 and is mowing down hitters at Double-A Portland.
Sox GM Theo Epstein has already gone there to watch Hansen, who entered the weekend with three scoreless appearances and is rou- LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES California pitcher: 18 outs, 18 K's ASSOCIATED PRESS SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. Kalen is most definitely spelled with a Kalen Pimentel tied a Little League World Series record for a regulation, six-inning game with 18 strikeouts to lead Rancho Bueno Vista of Vista, to a 7-2 victory over Owensboro (Ky.) Southern in the Little League World Series on Saturday. "It took me a couple of innings to get adjusted and I started to get in a groove about the fourth inning," Pimentel said. "My fastball and curve were really working well." The feat was last accomplished in 1979 by Chao-An Chen of the Pu-Tzu Town team from Taiwan. Nathan Lewis had three hits including a home run for Rancho Bueno Vista (1-0), the West region champion, while Luke Daugherty homered for Owensboro Southern (0-1), the Great Lakes winner.
Pimentel's pitching highlighted the busiest day of the 10- day tournament six games in two stadiums all scheduled to start within a nine-hour span on Saturday. In other games, Chiba City, Japan, shut out Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 3-0; defending world series champs Curacao downed Venezuela, 5-4, in eight innings; Canada blanked Mexico, 2-0, Lafayette, rallied to beat Westbrook, Maine, 3-2 and Maitland, Fla. beat Council Rock-Newtown, 3-1. Connor Toups provided the big hit for Lafayette. He singled to left past a drawn-in infield to score two runs to rally Lafayette past Westbrook.
After the game, Toups didn't say much he's only 11, after all but he did Kalen Pimentel of Rancho Bueno Series record for a regulation, smile a lot. "I went up there looking to get a hit. He threw me a fastball," said Toups, who at 4-foot-10 and 78 pounds is one of the smallest boys on Lafayette (1-0), the Southwest champs. "It felt good." Westbrook starter Ryan Murphy held Lafayette scoreless until the sixth when Murphy failed to retire a batter. On Toups' winning hit, Jace Conrad raced around from second base and pumped his fist after sliding home.
Nick Finocchiaro and Michael Mowatt homered for Westbrook (0-1), the New England champion. Rudmichaell Brandao raced home on a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run to give Willemstad, Curacao (1-0) the win over Valencia, Venezuela (0-1) in the first extra-inning game of this year's series. Associated Press Vista tied a Little League World six-inning game with 18 strikeouts. With the bases loaded and one out, Sorick Liberia hit a fly ball to center field. Brandao took off after the catch and the throw appeared to arrive at home plate at the same time but it bounced away from the catcher.
"I thought the runner left early, but you never know what the umpire saw," said Richard Alvarez, manager of Venezuela, the Latin America champs. Alvarez' son, Richard hit a grand slam in the fifth inning for Venezuela, the Latin America champs, to tie the game at 4. Liberia also homered for Caribbean champs Curacao. For Maitland, Dante Bichette, son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette, started a two-run, first-inning rally and added an insurance run in the fifth with a solo homer. FINAL.