ARLINGTON -- The Indians didn't plan on making any September callups until after Triple-A Buffalo's season ends on Tuesday.
A minor injury to Travis Hafner, however, has forced the need for an extra bat this weekend, and infielder Kevin Kouzmanoff's bat was too good for the Tribe to pass up.
Kouzmanoff's contract was purchased from Buffalo before Saturday's game. The hot-hitting third base prospect has a combined average of .379 at Double-A Akron and Buffalo this season. That mark is second in all of professional baseball.
The 25-year-old Kouzmanoff was placed on the back-burner, of sorts, when the Indians traded for Andy Marte over the winter. But the back problems that plagued him early in his professional career haven't been an issue this year, and he's made tremendous strides at the plate.
At Akron, Kouzmanoff hit .389 with 15 homers and 55 RBIs in 67 games, despite missing three weeks with a strained left hamstring. He moved up to Buffalo on July 28 and has batted .353 with seven homers and 20 RBIs with the Bisons.
In recent weeks, Kouzmanoff has spent some time at first base, a position he'll play in the Arizona Fall League if former No. 1 draft pick Mike Aubrey is physically unable to participate. Kouzmanoff was a sixth-round pick in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft.
The Indians' 40-man roster now stands at 37 players.
Hafner isn't expected to miss significant time with the hand injury he suffered Friday night, when he was hit by a pitch thrown by C.J. Wilson. He remains day-to-day.
CHICAGO -- If all goes well, Kerry Wood will be throwing off a mound in mid-October or early November, Cubs athletic trainer Mark O'Neal said of the right-hander, who is trying to rehab from a partial tear in his right rotator cuff.
Wood has been rehabbing in Phoenix since mid-August. He was diagnosed with the partial tear in his shoulder in early July.
"We'll just play it by ear," O'Neal said Saturday of Wood's program.
This will be a busy offseason for Wood, who has been working on strengthening his shoulder.
"He won't have much down time," O'Neal said. "He'll work on mechanical things, strengthening his arm, his core. We're trying to get him in the best shape we possibly can."
The hope is that Wood is ready for Spring Training. The right-hander has accepted that he'll likely have to pitch in a relief role when he comes back, and O'Neal said they will work Wood up to 15 to 30 pitches and not try to stretch him out as a starter this offseason.
Will Wood be ready by Spring Training?
"That's the goal he has. That's the goal we have," O'Neal said.
Speaking of pitchers, Mark Prior, sidelined with tendinitis in his right shoulder, will likely start throwing again when the Cubs return from their trip in Atlanta from Sept. 8-11. Prior was to be examined this weekend by team orthopedic specialist Dr. Stephen Gryzlo.
Giant steps: Barry Bonds was back in the San Francisco Giants' lineup Saturday. The outfielder is coming off a 5-for-7 effort in a three-game series against Atlanta in which he hit two home runs and collected three RBIs.
Cubs manager Dusty Baker, who was Bonds' skipper in San Francisco, was asked if he was surprised at the slugger's recent hot stretch.
"Most guys can hit as long as they don't get too thick in the midsection," Baker said. "That's where guys lose their quickness, their hip rotation to get to the ball. I'm not surprised Barry's hitting. Usually that's the last thing to go. Usually it's your legs that go and that's why a lot of older guys are DH-ing. They can't cover the same ground. Defense is when you usually get hurt."
How much longer can Bonds play?
"It all depends," Baker said. "You get tired of outside stuff. That's a lot of it. You start wondering if it's worth it. You get tired of being away from your family, you get tired of traveling, you get tired of hotels. After a while, these are the things you get tired of."
Extra bases: Shortstop Cesar Izturis (hamstring) is able to jog but has not done anything beyond that. O'Neal said they will be cautious with Izturis. "I don't want him back too soon," O'Neal said. ... No word yet on whether the Cubs will call up outfielder Felix Pie in September. Triple-A Iowa's season ends Monday. ... In Rich Hill's win against the Giants on Friday, he gave up one run over eight innings, and it was his second consecutive start with at least seven innings and no more than one run
allowed. Earlier this year, Sean Marshall did the same. It's the first time in 34 years that two different Cubs rookies had consecutive starts of seven or more innings and fewer than two runs allowed in the same season. In 1972, Rick Reuschel and Burt Hooton did so. ... Baker was impressed by Hill's outing. "The main thing is he's more confident and he's made the transition from being a 'tweener' -- too good for Triple-A and not good enough to stay in the big leagues," Baker said.
Minor matters: Eric Patterson and Pie each had two hits and Buck Coats had three hits in Iowa's 3-2 win over Omaha. Mac Suzuki gave up two runs on four hits over five innings for the win. Carlos Marmol pitched two innings in relief as part of his rehab and walked one and struck out one. ... Chris Shaver gave up three runs on six hits over seven innings in Double-A West Tenn's 3-1 loss to Chattanooga. West Tenn has lost 10 in a row and has scored 19 runs in its last 10 games. ... Donald Veal threw 6 2/3
scoreless innings and gave up two hits while striking out 12 in Class A Daytona's 10-0 loss to Brevard County. ... Mitch Atkins threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings in Class A Peoria's 3-0 win over Beloit. Atkins struck out seven. ... Jose Pina gave up one run on five hits over four innings in short-season Class A Boise's 10-5 win over Tri-City. Tyler Colvin hit two solo home runs and has 11 for the season. ... The Mesa Cubs finished the second half 11-16 and tied for sixth in the rookie Arizona League.
Catcher Blake Parker and left-handed pitcher Taylor Parker were named to the All-Star team.
On deck: Rookie Angel Guzman will close the series against the Giants on Sunday, facing tough right-hander Jason Schmidt. The 1:20 p.m. CT game will be broadcast on WGN Radio and WGN TV.
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作者: solessna (人生大不同...) 看板: NUK-APIBM
標題: 外電
時間: Sun Sep 3 04:17:33 2006
NEW YORK -- The prospect of Brad Radke returning to the Twins rotation this season took a blow on Friday, when the pitcher was diagnosed with a stress fracture to the glenoid bone in his right shoulder.
The glenoid bone, which essentially is the socket and the cartilage surface of the shoulder joint, is not an area of the body where fractures commonly occur.
"It's a very rare condition," Twins physician Dr. Dan Buss said.
Just how rare the injury is was best signified by Buss' statement that he is unaware of any other athlete having such an injury. Doctors have been researching the injury and haven't found any guidelines to follow.
Radke had remained in Minnesota to undergo more examinations on his shoulder, which has kept him from pitching since Aug. 25, when he threw just two innings in a start at Chicago. The pitcher had undergone an MRI a little over three weeks ago, but no fracture had been found.
The decision to run more tests came after Radke recently underwent his second cortisone shot in the past two months to try to alleviate the discomfort he was experiencing from a tear in his right labrum. Radke has been pitching through the pain of the tear all season, but the recent shot's ineffectiveness concerned the Twins doctors.
Radke had tried to play catch on Wednesday in anticipation for a start on Saturday in New York, but he was unable to throw with any strength and felt a lot of pain.
"It was not making sense that it wouldn't get better with the shot from last weekend," Buss said. "So we decided to re-do the MRI scan."
As a result of the fracture, Radke will be unable to throw for two to three weeks.
"This injury won't heal until he rests," Buss said.
The injury is unwelcome news to the Twins, who were hoping Radke could return soon to help ease the burden of having three first-year pitchers in the rotation. Radke was 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA in 27 starts so far this season. There is some lingering hope that Radke might be able to return this season, but it's tempered, at best.
"I wouldn't say I'm optimistic, but my hope is that he would be able to pitch sometime this year," Buss said. "There is a possibility we could have him ready right at the end of the season.