Todd Helton and the Colorado Rockies returned to work Wednesday a carefree bunch. They’re going to the World Series, that’s for sure. Whether they’re headed to Jacobs Field or Fenway Park next week, that can wait. The Rockies took a much-needed break after clinching their first NL pennant Monday night with their 21st win in 22 games.
It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the most enticing of job offers. He’d be managing a team essentially being rebuilt from scratch, relying on a roster of kids from Buffalo, Akron and that baseball hotbed, Mahoning Valley. The payroll would be meager, the All-Stars were long gone and the only big-name free agents he’d see were on other teams.
Rick Kranitz was hired as the Baltimore Orioles pitching coach Wednesday, replacing Leo Mazzone. Kranitz was the pitching coach for the Florida Marlins the past two seasons. The organization wanted to retain him for next year but he wanted to explore other options, and wasn’t with the club for the final six games of this season.
Kenny Lofton stole his 34th career base in the postseason Tuesday night, breaking Rickey Henderson’s mark. Lofton hit a two-out single to left-center for Cleveland in the fifth inning of Game 4 of the American League championship series. Then, with Casey Blake batting, he stole second on Boston Red Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen.
Bill Stoneman spent so much time building the Angels into a perennial contender that he knew when he didn’t have enough energy to stay on as the team’s general manager. Stoneman stepped down Tuesday, saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Diane. He was replaced by player development director Tony Reagins.
A lawyer for baseball players says George Mitchell never told the union before last week that he was willing to show its members evidence of doping allegations against them. Mitchell, who has spent 1 1/2 years investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, said Friday that he asked players to meet with him “for the purpose of directly providing them with the evidence about the…
Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme underwent ligament-replacement surgery on his right elbow Thursday. Delhomme decided last week to have the season-ending procedure, which calls for replacing the damaged ligament with a tendon from another part of the body. The 90-minute surgery was performed by team physician Dr.
Rookie Al Horford scored a career-high 22 points and the Atlanta Hawks held off a second-half rally to beat the Charlotte Bobcats 104-98 Thursday in an exhibition game. Horford, who led Florida to back-to-back NCAA titles before becoming the third pick in the draft, added 12 rebounds for the Hawks. Josh Childress had 19 points, Josh Smith 17 and Marvin Williams 12 for Atlanta.
