Baseball Capsules: Ramirez apologizes to fans, teammates

SAN DIEGO - Manny Ramirez returned to the big leagues as only he could.

Wearing sunglasses and with his famous dreadlocks in a ponytail, the Los Angeles Dodgers' slugger apologized to fans and teammates during a news conference Friday afternoon. He refused to answer questions about steroids, laying off them as if they were pitches in the dirt.

"I'm here. I'm excited. I can't wait to get into the field," Ramirez said as his 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy ended.

Ramirez also brought along a new catch phrase.

"Showtime tonight!" he said as he walked out of his pregame news conference.

It was for the Dodgers, who jumped to a 5-0 first-inning lead, but not for Ramirez, who looked like a guy who hadn't faced big league pitching since May 6.

With his dreads flowing from under his batting helmet, he walked in his first at-bat, then was forced at second. Padres right-hander Chad Gaudin brushed back Ramirez with the first pitch of the seven-pitch at-bat. Ramirez just smiled.

It was a loud at-bat, with Dodgers fans standing and cheering, and Padres fans trying to drown them out with boos. The sold-out crowd at Petco Park looked and sounded more like it belonged at Dodger Stadium.

Ramirez popped up to end the sixth, jogged to the dugout to get his glove and cap, then headed for the clubhouse, his night finished. He was 0 for 3 with a walk.

He was cheered by a hundred or so fans as he bounded up the dugout steps and onto the field two hours before the first pitch. There was a playoff atmosphere during batting practice, with dozens of photographers following Ramirez and extra security on the field.

Ramirez's ban was based on evidence he used human chorionic gonadotropin, a fertility drug that's banned by baseball, a person familiar with the suspension told The Associated Press after the suspension was announced on May 7, speaking on condition of anonymity because those details were not released.

HCG is popular among steroid users because it can mitigate the side effects of ending a cycle of the drugs.

Ramirez refused several times to talk about the reason for his suspension.

"First I want to say that God is good and good is God. I don't want to get into my medical records right now. I'm happy to be here. I missed the game. I'm ready to play. I was practicing in Triple-A and I can't wait to get into the field."

He did apologize.

"Well, I want to say I'm sorry to the fans, to my teammates that they're always there for me," Ramirez said. "I want to thank Frank McCourt for his support," he added, referring to the Dodgers' owner.

Asked what he was sorry for, he said: "Not being there for them. For not playing the game, because I'm a huge part of the Dodgers and I'm proud to wear that uniform. When I say I'm sorry, I let those fans down, that they go out there to see me."

Ramirez seemed relaxed yet said he felt "a lot" of anxiety. "But I'm pretty sure I can handle it. This is not my first rodeo. So I know I'm going to be fine. I know I can play this game. I'm going to enjoy it the most I can."

He also admitting being embarrassed by the whole episode.

"But we're humans. We learn from our mistake."

Teammate Andre Ethier was happy to see Ramirez back.

"It's nice. It's just a thing where I guess we got our team back to square one where we were when we started the year," Ethier said. "We got a little sidetracked with him getting suspended. But we're ready to go and in the same place or even a little better position than when we lost him."

Ramirez was suspended on May 7, and the Dodgers lost 11-9 that night to the Washington Nationals, leaving them with a 5½-game lead atop the NL West. They entered Friday night's game with a 7½-game lead.

"I'm not mad anymore," Ethier said. "He made a mistake. It was his choice. I guess I'd be more mad if we were sitting 10 games under .500 right now after his suspension and weren't in a good spot. But we came back and played well and are able to be a better team because of him.

"You can't expect too much out of any player after that long, but someone of his caliber, he can surprise you with the way he's ready," Ethier added.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre and general manager Ned Colletti listened to Ramirez's news conference. Agent Scott Boras sat at the slugger's side.

"I think he's very uncomfortable at this," Torre said. "When you weed all through the whole thing, he didn't deny doing something wrong and he apologized for it and he doesn't really want to talk about it.

"I think it's going to be uncomfortable for him for a while," the manager added. "Baseball is a great place to go and try to bury yourself, basically, as far as concentration and trying not to be distracted. But I think it's going to be a little time before he gets his legs under him."

Torre said he's not sure if Ramirez will play in all three games of this series.

Rockies' Torrealba eager for return to diamond

DENVER - Yorvit Torrealba required only a few games in the minors to regain his timing at the plate.

As for his emotional state, the Colorado Rockies catcher needed something much simpler: his son by his side.

Torrealba was reinstated from the restricted list Wednesday after missing time to attend to matters involving the kidnapping and safe recovery of his son, 11-year-old Yorvit Eduardo, and other family members in Venezuela.

Now, he's eager to start playing baseball, putting the situation behind him.

"I'm really happy being back, hanging out with my teammates," said Torrealba, who wasn't in the starting lineup Friday night against Arizona.

These days, he has a shadow matching him stride for stride, his son never too far away. They hung out in the clubhouse before the game Friday, the two laughing as his father dressed for batting practice.

"I got the best Father's Day present ever - I had him with me," Torrealba said. "It's great, knowing your family is around you and you don't have to wonder how they're doing."

It's been a wrenching ordeal for the family since Torrealba's son, brother-in-law and another relative were snatched by kidnappers last month. They were abducted while driving to the boy's school and the kidnappers demanded nearly $500,000 in ransom, but none was paid.

Torrealba left the team in Houston on June 2 to join his wife in Venezuela, listening as she negotiated with the kidnappers. He was informed that it was best if he did not do the talking.

A day later, they were left along a highway outside Caracas.

His wife and son are now safely with him in Denver.

"Mentally, I feel better," he said. "Don't have to worry about anything."

To his knowledge, the kidnappers haven't been caught. And he's not giving it much thought, either.

"That is the police's job," said Torrealba, who eventually plans to move his family to Miami. "I can only focus on my job. The fact my family is here, I'm happy with that. If they arrest those guys, fine. If they don't, doesn't matter to me. I won't give (them) a second chance."

There's no timetable when Torrealba will be back in the starting lineup. For now, he'll serve as Chris Iannetta's backup.

"We feel like he's ready to participate in whatever capacity that we feel is necessary," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.

The team took a slow approach in easing Torrealba back into action following the incident, waiting until Torrealba felt fully comfortable before shipping him out for a stint in the minors.

He played four games with Triple-A Colorado Springs - hitting .267 - before rejoining the team in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

He was activated Wednesday after missing 27 games. To make room for Torrealba, the team designated catcher Paul Phillips for assignment.

"Overall, I feel really good," said Torrealba, who's hitting .230 with two homers and seven RBIs.

And even better mentally, now that his family is safe and his son is with him.

"Knowing he's right next to me, I sleep good at night," Torrealba said.

-- Pat Graham

Mets LHP Perez makes Triple-A rehab start

BUFFALO, N.Y. - New York Mets left-hander Oliver Perez took another step toward returning from a right knee injury, allowing three runs in five-plus innings Friday night in a Triple-A rehabilitation start.

Perez gave up five hits and four walks while striking out four for the Buffalo Bisons. He threw 92 pitches, 46 for strikes, and delivered a first-pitch strike to only seven of the 23 Rochester Red Wings he faced.

Perez has said reaching 100 pitches in a rehab start was all he needed to rejoin the Mets' rotation.

Matt Macri hit a leadoff homer in the fifth against Perez, who allowed back-to-back doubles in the sixth before being replaced.

Perez is scheduled to return to the Mets for a start on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Pirates' Doumit plays for 1st time since injury

DUNEDIN, Fla. - Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit caught five innings of a Gulf Coast League game Friday, the first time he has played since breaking his right wrist April 19.

Doumit was hitless in two at-bats with a walk in the first of two scheduled appearances for rookie league Bradenton.

"I'll play one more game here (Saturday), then go to Indy (Triple-A Indianapolis) for four or five games. Then I will be back up with the team," Doumit said. "The wrist feels good. It felt good to get back out on a baseball field and break a bit of a sweat."

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington has said Doumit is not expected back until after the All-Star game.

Doumit's injury, which occurred while he was batting against Atlanta, required surgery and a lengthy healing time before he could resume throwing and hitting.

Reds put IF Richar on DL, activate IF Encarnacion

CINCINNATI - The Reds activated third baseman Edwin Encarnacion from the 60-day disabled list Friday to replace infielder Danny Richar, who went on the 15-day disabled list with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Wilkin Castillo, who had surgery Wednesday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, was moved from the 15-day DL to the 60-day to make room for Encarnacion on the 40-man roster.

Encarnacion, who'd been on the disabled list since April 28 with a chip fracture in his left wrist, was not in Friday's starting lineup. He was hitting .127 with one homer and six RBIs in 19 games when he was injured.

He hit .270 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 11 rehab appearances at Triple-A Louisville.

Richar was injured when he slid headfirst into home in the third inning of Cincinnati's 1-0 loss to Arizona on Wednesday. That was his seventh game since being called up on June 20.

Wrist injury sends Braves' 2B Johnson to DL

WASHINGTON - Struggling Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with right wrist tendinitis.

The move was made before Atlanta opened a three-game weekend series against the Washington Nationals on Friday.

Braves manager Bobby Cox said Johnson's recent slump could be traced to the wrist problem. He's on a 9-for-74 skid that has dropped his batting average to .214.

To take Johnson's place on the roster, the Braves purchased the contract of infielder Brooks Conrad from Triple-A Gwinnett. Conrad was hitting .259 with nine home runs and 38 RBIs. His 46 runs scored ranked fifth in the International League.

American League

Mariners activate RHP Shawn Kelley

BOSTON - The Seattle Mariners have activated right-handed reliever Shawn Kelley from the 15-day disabled list and optioned infielder Mike Carp to Triple-A Tacoma.

The team said the 25-year-old Kelly would be available for Friday night's series opener against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Kelley is 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA in 10 games as a surprise rookie contributor in Seattle's bullpen. The non-roster invitee to spring training has not allowed a run in nine of his 10 appearances this season.

He's been out since May 6 with a strained oblique muscle in his left side. Kelley threw three pitches against Texas on May 5 before leaving in pain.

The 23-year-old Carp batted .375 in five games with Seattle after a promotion from Tacoma.

Red Sox pitcher Dice-K's going to Florida

BOSTON - Boston right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka will head to Florida on Monday to begin a spring training-like strengthening program that the Red Sox hope will get him back to the big leagues later this season.

Matsuzaka was 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA and an opponents' batting average of .378 before going on the disabled list June 21. He's been out with a shoulder strain, and the Red Sox have said he hasn't been right since helping Japan win the World Baseball Classic.

"We're going to really strengthen his shoulder and work on his whole body," Boston manager Terry Francona said before Friday's game against Seattle.

The Japanese star was 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA and a major league-best .211 batting average by opponents last season, but his velocity off and his control erratic at times this season.

"He's worked hard while we were gone (on a nine-game road trip) without a baseball," said Francona, who wasn't sure how long Matsuzaka will be in Florida. He said there is no timetable for his return to the Red Sox.

In March, Matsuzaka repeated as MVP in the second WBC, but missed much of Boston's spring training. He was sidelined with a mild right shoulder strain from April 15 to May 22.

He's in the third season of a six-year, $52 million contract he signed after the Red Sox outbid the rest baseball and paid $51.11 million to negotiate with him.

Red Sox disabled 3B Lowell feeling good

BOSTON - Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hip, said Friday that he feels like he could play now.

Lowell had fluid drained from his hip Monday and was put on the disabled list the following day. He's also received an injection to alleviate inflammation in the surgically repaired joint.

"I actually feel like if I had to play today I could," Lowell said Friday, before Boston's game against Seattle.

"I feel great actually," he said. "I didn't know what to expect with the injection. I was relieved when they took out the fluid. I thought they'd find something."

The 2007 World Series MVP missed last season's American League Championship Series against Tampa Bay and had arthroscopic surgery on the hip last October.

The 35-year-old Lowell is batting .282 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs.

"I'm just taking therapy to get the muscles around there in shape," he said. "I'm looking forward to a good second half."

Quentin starting rehab assignment

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Chicago White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, on the disabled list since May 29, will begin a rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Charlotte.

Quentin, who had 36 home runs and 100 RBIs last season in his first year with Chicago, has been sidelined with plantar fasciitis, a painful foot condition. He hasn't played since May 25.

Manager Ozzie Guillen said Friday that he hoped to get his slugging outfielder back shortly after the All-Star break, but was not certain.

Guillen said Quentin would be brought along slowly, playing three innings for Charlotte in his first game, then five innings the following game.

APNewsBreak: Target Field to open April 12

NEW YORK - Target Field has a target date.

Outdoor baseball is tentatively set to return to Minneapolis on April 12 when the Minnesota Twins play their 2010 home opener against the Boston Red Sox.

The date was contained in a draft schedule for next season that recently was sent to teams and revealed Friday to The Associated Press. It was provided by a baseball official on condition of anonymity because Major League Baseball's central office asked that the schedule not be made public before it is finalized later this year.

Minnesota is tentatively set to open the season on April 5 at the Los Angeles Angels.

This is the 28th and final season for the Twins at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Barring postseason play, the Twins play their final game there Oct. 4 against the Kansas City Royals.

Target Field, with open air and a capacity of about 40,000, is estimated to cost $535 million. It's possible the Twins will play exhibition games there before the formal opener - most teams do when moving into a new stadium.

After Minneapolis, the next major league ballpark to open will be at Miami in 2012. Construction on the Marlins' 37,000 capacity retractable-roof stadium began last week on the former site of the Orange Bowl, and a formal groundbreaking is scheduled for July 18.

After that, only the Oakland Athletics and possibly the Tampa Bay Rays are seeking new stadiums. In March, baseball commissioner Bud Selig appointed a committee to analyze the A's hope to obtain a new ballpark in their current territory. That followed the club's decision in February to scrap plans for a ballpark in Fremont.

While San Jose is interested in hosting the A's, it is considered part of the San Francisco Giants' territory.

Tampa Bay postponed a downtown waterfront ballpark proposal last year and is exploring various sites in its area for a possible stadium.

-- Ronald Blum

International

Mystery surrounds missing Cuban pitcher

AMSTERDAM - A Cuban pitcher considered by many baseball scouts to be the No. 1 left-handed prospect in the world left his hotel and vanished before the first ball was thrown at a tournament in the Netherlands, leaving his whereabouts a mystery, a spokesman for the Dutch team said Friday.

Aroldis Chapman, a player with a 100 mph fastball, was seen walking through the lobby of his hotel and climbing into a waiting car within an hour of the team's arrival Wednesday for a four-nation tournament, spokesman Loet van Schelbeet said.

The 21-year-old failed to show up Thursday for Cuba's first game in Rotterdam, according to van Schelbeet.

The head of the Cuban delegation, Luis Carton, said he also had no idea where Chapman was.

"We are waiting for information. We do not know anything," Carton told The Associated Press. "No one knows anything about what happened, if he is sick, died or left."

It was not known whether Chapman was defecting and planning to sign with a major league team. To become a free agent, he would have to establish residency outside the United States.

Van Schelbeet said Chapman's disappearance appeared to be well planned. He carried no luggage when he left the hotel, which was a few minutes away from the Rotterdam stadium.

He would be the most prominent Cuban baseball defector since Jose Contreras left during a tournament in Mexico in 2002.

Spokesmen for the Dutch Foreign Ministry and Department of Immigration said they had no knowledge of the case. A Spanish Foreign Ministry official also said he never heard of Chapman.

U.S. officials in The Hague said they could not comment on individual cases because of U.S. privacy laws. They said, however, that arrangements exist for Cubans seeking asylum to enter the United States.

-- Arthur Max

Memorabilia

Bidding on baseball letters suspended amid inquiry

NEW YORK - Authorities are looking into whether a newly discovered trove of letters to one of baseball's founding fathers contains documents that disappeared long ago from the New York Public Library.

The letters are 19th century correspondence to Harry Wright, who built the country's first professional baseball team in Cincinnati and went on to manage in several cities.

Hunt Auctions, a major auctioneer of sports memorabilia, was preparing to sell a batch of Wright's letters on July 14 at the All-Star Game's fan festival in St. Louis, but has suspended bidding, at least temporarily.

The Exton, Pa., company's president, David Hunt, said he hasn't seen any evidence that the letters were among those that vanished, but thought a temporary freeze was prudent while authorities, including the FBI, investigate.

"It is always better to be conservative," he said Friday, adding that he hoped to have the matter cleared up within a few days.

Hunt declined to identify the seller of the letters, other than to say that the person who consigned them said they had belonged to his grandparents.

"There's nothing that gives me reason to believe, at this moment, that this person doesn't have a right to sell them," he said.

Officials at the New York Public Library didn't immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Friday.

The library's collection originally contained four scrapbooks of letters that had been sent to Wright between 1865 and 1894. Only one of those volumes is still at the library.

It is unclear exactly when the rest disappeared, but authorities have been aware since the 1970s of thefts from the library's big collection of baseball memorabilia.

The questions about the origin of the letters in the auction were first reported in The New York Times.

Wright was born in England and played cricket, but gravitated to baseball as a young man in New York. He organized the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869, managed the team and also played center field. He later managed the Boston Red Stockings, the Providence Grays and the Philadelphia Quakers.

Many modern elements of the game were his innovations, like hand signals, defensive fielding shifts and hitting fungoes to outfielders before the game.