Discussions on the future of manager Joe Torre entered a third day Thursday, with some Yankees’ officials at the team’s spring-training complex and some back in New York. “More meetings. We’re working on it,” team president Randy Levine said when he arrived at Legends Field on Thursday. New York’s high command was in Florida on Tuesday and Wednesday, and owner George Steinbrenner heard advice on…
Manny Ramirez is the man in the middle of the Red Sox’s fading drive toward the World Series. Boston’s quirky cleanup hitter stands at the plate to admire a mammoth homer. He keeps getting on base. He chats pleasantly for nine minutes, a filibuster for a slugger who prefers silence to speaking with reporters.
Boston fans can hold onto those heating pads and Ben-Gay, Josh Beckett ‘s back is just fine. Beckett felt some tightness in his back last Friday, when he pitched the Red Sox to a 10-3 victory over Cleveland in Game 1 of the American League championship series. But the right-hander didn’t have any issues when he threw his bullpen session Monday, and is set to start Game 5 on Thursday night.
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.
The season was sweet, just the ending was sour. The Arizona Diamondbacks seem loaded for the future after a surprising run to the NL championship series ended in a four-game sweep by the Colorado Rockies. The youngsters who played key roles in the team’s strong season gained invaluable experience in the playoffs.
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…
