Baseball Capsules: Twins' Span calls for more netting to protect fans
FORT MYERS, Fla. — With a flick of his bat, Denard Span sent a foul ball whistling into the stands next to the Minnesota Twins dugout, a common occurrence at ballparks across the country.
Then he heard his mother scream.
The line drive improbably struck Wanda Wilson, Span’s mother who had only moments before arrived in her seat, frightening everyone involved and prompting Span to renew his call to extend the netting that protects fans from hard-hit foul balls.
"It’s just a bad situation," Span said. "It’s just surprising that no one has gotten seriously hurt to this point. I definitely do think that they should have nets going further, you know, as far as the dugout."
The odds that a ball off Span’s bat would hit his own mother are slim. The odds that any fan could be seriously injured are much greater.
Winthrop University professors Robert Gorman and David Weeks have gone back and documented 52 deaths from foul balls hit into the stands — from Little League to the majors — in the United States, continuing the research from their book "Death At The Ballpark."
"It’s amazing to me that there aren’t more, to be honest," Gorman said Thursday, a day after the Span accident.
At most major league parks the netting that protects fans from foul balls covers the backstop behind the catcher, but stops before each dugout. It’s that way at most of the smaller, cozier minor league facilities as well, where fans sit even closer to the action. Same thing in spring training, too.
"It’s kind of a dangerous spot," Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes said. "I think they should move the net all the way to the dugout because you can get those foul balls like that."
Foul balls can zing off a bat at more than 100 mph, Gorman said. Even if the fan is paying attention, that’s not much time to duck or get out of the way. And for the fan who is glancing at a scorecard, a cell phone, or has his or her hands full with a hot dog, forget about it.
"It’s hard to pay attention to every single pitch," Span said. "Sometimes you’re coming down from the concession stand and whatever and boom! All of a sudden, that quick, the ball is coming at you. You can’t control that."
Just ask his mom.
"We had just gotten there. It happened so fast, you couldn’t do anything," she said. "I was kind of in awe. But God is good, I’m OK."
Wilson received some medical attention on the scene and returned to her seat later in the inning with nothing more than a sore chest.
"I guess if it got up on the (collar)bone or the shoulder blade or something, the trainer said it could have shattered it," Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said.
Others haven’t been so fortunate.
In 1970, a foul ball off the bat of the Dodgers’ Manny Mota killed a 14-year-old boy in Los Angeles. That was the only death from a foul ball in the majors, according to research by Gorman and Weeks.
Susan Rhodes’ jaw was broken after a shattered bat from Rockies first baseman Todd Helton struck her in the face at a Dodgers game in 2008.
During a nationally televised game at Fenway Park in 1982, a 4-year-old boy sitting next to the Boston dugout was hit in the face by a line drive. Red Sox star Jim Rice sprung from the dugout, went into the stands and carried the bloody child to an ambulance. The future Hall of Famer’s action likely saved the young fan’s life.
"I don’t know if there’s an easy solution," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I know where I want my family, and that’s behind the nets. I’ve seen too much."
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said "it is a team-by-team issue regarding how much netting to have at each ballpark. With each ballpark configured differently, the clubs decide what is appropriate regarding fencing."
The NHL held a similar stance until March 18, 2002.
It wasn’t until after 13-year-old Brittanie Cecil died two days after being struck in the head by an errant slap shot off the stick of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Espen Knutsen that the NHL issued a mandate requiring its teams to put up netting behind the goals to protect fans.
"I certainly became a believer after what I went through," Doug MacLean, the Blue Jackets general manager at the time, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "And I went through nothing compared to what Brittanie’s parents went through."
Not everyone thinks more netting is a good idea.
Gardenhire expressed some concern about the team’s new stadium in Minnesota. The nets extend from dugout to dugout, which team president Dave St. Peter said is "about average" length when compared across the league.
"The reality is our fans don’t want to sit behind the net," St. Peter said. "It’s the balance between safety and delivering the best experience for our fans."
Ken and Debbie Carpenter of Windermere, Fla., were season-ticket holders at Cleveland Indians spring games for 17 years. That ended when the Indians installed more netting from the top of the screen behind the catcher down to the end of the dugouts on both baselines at their new home in Goodyear, Ariz., last spring.
"You can’t take clear pictures, get autographs, catch a foul ball and the entire baseball experience is gone," Ken Carpenter said.
MacLean heard the same complaints from hockey fans in the initial days after the nets went up. He disagreed, instead recalling a phone conversation he had with Brittanie’s father the morning after her death.
"I said, ‘If there’s anything I can do,’" MacLean said. "He said, ‘Yeah, get some nets up.’ That hit home like a sledgehammer."
MacLean said he understood that baseball teams do not want to hinder the sight lines for fans. The NHL was the same way. Gradually, fans grew used to watching a game through the netting, and eight years later they are as natural to the game as a Zamboni.
He hopes another baseball team, and another family, doesn’t have to go through what the Blue Jackets and Cecils have endured before changes are made.
"It stays with you," MacLean said, "forever."
Team Preview
Sheets leads A’s into 2010 season
OAKLAND, Calif. — For years, the story each spring for the Oakland Athletics was almost always about who had left instead of who had arrived.
The A’s tried to endure as a parade of All-Stars left town when they became too expensive for the low-revenue team to keep. After weathering those losses for a few years, Oakland finally hit rock bottom last season by finishing in last place for the first time since 1998.
The story heading into this season is whether newcomers like Ben Sheets and Coco Crisp, and veterans who barely contributed last season because of injuries like Justin Duchscherer and Eric Chavez, can once again make the A’s competitive in the AL West.
"You add veterans like that into your lineup, it gives you people to lean on when you face things they’ve faced throughout their career," catcher Kurt Suzuki said. "You can watch how they handle things and it kind of takes the pressure off the younger guys."
While those young guys showed some promise last season, they couldn’t do nearly enough to keep the A’s out of last place.
The A’s used a rookie starting pitcher in 116 games last season, with Brett Anderson (11-11, 4.06 ERA) and Trevor Cahill (10-13, 4.63 ERA) getting most of the work. The A’s are hoping the lessons they learned last year will lead to success this season.
"Having that one full year under their belt last year was huge just because they endured some success and some failures," Suzuki said. "But they’re so smart and they’ve got so much savvy that they learned from it. They didn’t just put their head down and go the other way. They took the failure and turned it into something positive, and that’s what you like to see."
There will be much less pressure on those young pitchers this season if former All-Stars Sheets and Duchscherer are healthy enough to head the rotation. Neither threw a pitch in the majors last season, leaving questions about how much they can provide this year.
Duchscherer missed last season after undergoing elbow surgery and then being treated for clinical depression.
Sheets, a four-time All-Star in Milwaukee, also missed last season recovering from right elbow surgery. He signed a $10 million contract for this season with the A’s — a rare case of the team outbidding the competition for a prominent free agent.
Sheets struggled mightily in spring training, allowing 10 runs without retiring a batter in one start, but his mere presence has helped the A’s already.
"We definitely needed someone like that as a pitching staff," left-hander Dallas Braden said. "As much as I like to joke and have fun, I still haven’t done enough that lets me feel like I can be that guy for the staff. For someone to come in and ease the atmosphere, we needed that."
There will also be some notable changes offensively, where the team once known for beer-league style sluggers who lumbered around the bases is filled with athletic players whose biggest strength is their speed.
The A’s stole 133 bases last year, more than they had from 2003-05 combined, while hitting an AL-worst 135 home runs. That was more than 100 fewer homers than their 2000 AL West championship team had with players like Jason Giambi, Matt Stairs, John Jaha and Olmedo Saenz.
"If we allow ourselves to play the little man’s game as far as running the bases and opening that up for us, it will make us a lot better," said Crisp, who signed a $5.5 million contract after missing much of last season for Kansas City with a shoulder injury.
"If we’re able to free ourselves mentally and allow ourselves to play like the Angels, we have a shot of surprising not only ourselves on the basepaths but other people, start to make them fumble around a little because they’re worried about whether or not we’re going to be aggressive."
While this year’s edition does have a player who could have fit right in back in 2000 in designated hitter Jack Cust, the offense centers around the speed of players like Crisp and Rajai Davis.
Davis hit .305 last season and became the first Oakland player since Rickey Henderson to record 40 or more steals in a season with a career-high 41.
In a sign of his prominence on the team, he is featured in one of the team’s promotional commercials, which used to center on the power hitters and pitchers. In the promotional spots, Davis does everything fast, from shaving to getting dressed, even blowing past a pair of women race-walking on a sidewalk.
If the A’s are going to speed past the competition in the AL West this season, they will need a different formula than the one that generated their success 10 years ago.
"It should be pitching and defense and baserunning," manager Bob Geren said. "We’ll have to scratch and fight for as many runs as we can and win close games. We’re probably not going to lead the league in homers. We have a lot of guys who can hit for pretty good averages and we have selective hitters, too."
-- Josh Dubow
American League
Twins head for the great outdoors, at Target Field
MINNEAPOLIS — Real grass? Clear sky? Warm breeze?
Yes, Minnesota Twins games will again be an all-natural experience.
After playing since 1982 on artificial turf covered by a gray ceiling held up by blasting air conditioners, the Twins have left the Metrodome for Target Field as the team’s 50th season in Minnesota begins.
Oh, and that new-ballpark smell will come with a fully loaded lineup.
"You look around and go, ‘Is this really our team right here?"’ first baseman Justin Morneau said, admiring the additions of J.J. Hardy, Orlando Hudson and Jim Thome to supplement the core of Denard Span, Joe Mauer, Morneau, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer.
"We have so many weapons," Morneau said.
The pitching staff has plenty to prove, from fifth starter Francisco Liriano’s latest chance to regain his rookie form to the cadre of replacement candidates for All-Star closer Joe Nathan. The Chicago White Sox are also a legitimate challenger in the AL Central, and the loss of Nathan to an elbow injury could loom large.
These Twins, though, feature a franchise-record payroll of about $96 million and carry the confidence of last year’s late push and tiebreaker victory over the Detroit Tigers that gave them their fifth division title in eight years.
"What impresses me the most is the camaraderie and the togetherness," Thome said, adding: "You get a feel from the other side, and then when you come to this side you see how these guys pull for each other."
The Twins no longer can rely on the din of the dome, where they went 49-33 last season, or beat balls into the carpet for infield singles. No more hustle doubles when bewildered opponents lose flies in the ceiling.
Don’t expect the home-field advantage to disappear, though, because the place will be packed for every game this year.
Two weeks before their April 12 home opener, the Twins had sold 2.5 million seats. Before playing a game they’re already at their second-highest season attendance total, behind only the 1988 record of more than 3 million. Official capacity of the cozy, canopy-encircled stadium is 39,504.
"Those are lofty numbers, and they are tremendously humbling," team president Dave St. Peter said. "As an organization we are appreciative of the support. We sense the excitement, and we believe we can sustain it."
To the surprise of some, Target Field was built without a retractable roof. The Twins committed $195 million toward the $545 million project, with the rest paid for by a special sales tax in Hennepin County, but a roof was deemed too expensive. The Twins believe they have a better design without it.
Average low temperatures for April and October are between 36 and 38 degrees, less-than-ideal night conditions. The Twins draw from a wide region, as well, and fans used to driving three hours for the guarantee of a game could be less likely to come.
"But there’s weather questions in Chicago. There’s weather questions in New York," Mauer said. "I always tell people April might be a little rough, but if you’re playing in October I don’t think you’re really going to care how cold it is."
Lakefront and seaboard cities get more precipitation, too, and are more prone to postponements. Over the last three seasons, according to STATS LLC research, the White Sox have the most postponed home games with 14. The Cleveland Indians are next with 11.
Outfielder Jacque Jones, who will start the season in Triple-A, used to play for the Cubs and insisted the early-season Chicago conditions are "much worse" than what the Twins will have.
"The wind that whipped in off the lake was nasty. They don’t have that in Minnesota," Jones said.
Target Field has 244 radiant heaters in the concourses, and there’s a party deck with a fire pit where fans can watch the game from up high. Plus, as the locals will put it, "We’re Minnesotans. We own jackets."
The ballpark is nestled in an 8-acre site, next to the downtown entertainment district. Right-field seats literally hang over the warning track. It’s built solely for baseball, so the Twins will never again have to quit playing in the afternoon to allow the field to be configured for a college football game later that night.
Their vision for Target Field is to become the next Fenway Park or Wrigley Field.
"I really believe this is a 100-year facility," St. Peter said. "As long as Major League Baseball is still in existence, the Twins are going to have a team and we’re going to be playing at Target Field."
Miami has a new ballpark on the way, but this is the end of baseball’s two-decade building boom that brought all the retro brick facilities back in play while the cavernous, cookie-cutter, multisport stadiums were phased out.
Target Field? It’s a mix of old, new — and organic.
It includes myriad museum-like tributes to the Metropolitan Stadium era, featuring the team’s original logo in center field with two "Twins" shaking hands.
There are plenty of modern luxuries, and sleek glass paneling galore.
And whether it’s wild rice soup at a concession stand, spruce trees framing the batter’s eye behind center field or native limestone walls, it’s uniquely Minnesotan.
With the extra revenue from the new ballpark to retain stars like Mauer and Morneau with rich multiyear contracts, the Twins now consider themselves an upper-middle-class team.
"All new ballparks have their peaks, and I’m sure the initial years will be very good to the Twins," chief executive officer Jim Pohlad said. "Then it’ll be up to us to sustain it after that."
-- Dave Campbell
Orioles hope MacPhail can end team’s 12-year funk
SARASOTA, Fla. — The Baltimore Orioles have been so bad for so long, memories of their last winning season are starting to fade.
In 1997, Baltimore led the AL East from beginning to end. Managed by Davey Johnson and led by Cal Ripken Jr., Roberto Alomar, Mike Mussina and Rafael Palmeiro, the Orioles won 94 games and drew 3,711,132 fans to Camden Yards.
"The last year the Orioles had a winning record they had the highest payroll in baseball," said former Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer, a Hall of Fame member and TV color analyst for the team. "Think about that. That certainly puts you, from an economic standpoint, at parity with other teams."
The New York Yankees actually had a higher payroll than Baltimore in 1997. But money isn’t the only factor in putting together a winning team. In 1998, when the Orioles paid their players the most, Baltimore finished 79-83.
That began a franchise-record string of losing seasons that now stands at a dirty dozen.
The Orioles have tried everything to end to their run of misery. They’ve secured high-priced free agents, hired veteran and first-year managers, shelled out millions for draft picks and attempted to rebuild with trades.
When Andy MacPhail took over as president of baseball operations in June 2007, he changed the philosophy of the franchise. Instead of spending owner Peter Angelos’ money on top-notch free agents, he used it in a vastly different fashion.
"In my view, trying to take short cuts to get over .500 was not the way to get over .500," MacPhail said. "We needed to make an investment in the infrastructure of our organization. We had to make fundamental changes in the way we did business, and that’s what we’ve done."
Those changes include moving the spring training site to Sarasota, setting up facilities in the Dominican Republic, the creation of an international scouting department and, according to MacPhail, "being very aggressive in the amateur draft."
MacPhail paid big money to get catcher Matt Wieters, considered by many to be the cornerstone of Baltimore’s rebuilding effort. He also traded Miguel Tejada and star pitcher Erik Bedard for 10 players, including current standouts Adam Jones and Luke Scott along with prized pitching prospects Chris Tillman and Troy Patton.
"Those are all changes that don’t bring immediate results, but they do bring results," MacPhail said. "And they can bring tangible and real results, as opposed to just getting over .500."
But Orioles fans are getting tired of waiting. Last year’s home attendance, 1.9 million, was the team’s lowest since 1988.
Bill Nellies, a systems analyst from Marriottsville, Md., used to go to 29 games a year as a miniplan holder. He now attends only one — Little League Day, when his son, Andrew, parades around the warning track with his teammates.
"And if it wasn’t for that, I don’t think I’d go," Nellies said. "It’s not fun to watch."
Current manager Dave Trembley, whose reign includes a 30-3 loss to Texas, believes MacPhail’s plan will ultimately bring back the fans.
"In order for it to get back on track, you have to be patient and you have to be persistent," he said. "I think the quick-fix didn’t work, won’t work, never has worked. You have to stay the course, you have to trust your people, you have to develop better in the minor leagues and fill in the pieces accordingly with free agents that fit the bill."
Ripken, who attends several games each season, sees promise in the McPhail plan.
"As an Orioles fan, I am excited about the young talent that Andy has assembled and the direction they are headed," Ripken said. "They have a wonderful nucleus ... and now some of their young arms are starting to mature. Baltimore is a terrific baseball town, and when we win again it will be very exciting for our city."
Why not give MacPhail’s plan a chance? After all, nothing else has worked.
Following that 1997 season, Johnson resigned over a rift with Angelos. Ray Miller, Mike Hargrove, Lee Mazzilli and Sam Perlozzo failed to turn the team into a winner. Trembley hasn’t been able to do it yet, either.
After Pat Gillick left in 1998, the front office was handled without success by Syd Thrift, Jim Beattie, Mike Flanagan and Jim Duquette.
Angelos has been accused of meddling, but he’s never been reluctant to open his wallet to secure talent. Unfortunately, big-name stars such as Albert Belle, Sammy Sosa, Will Clark, Joe Carter, Javy Lopez and Tejada all were unable to turn it around for Baltimore.
One reason is because the Orioles are stuck in the free-spending and vastly talented AL East.
"It’s the best division in baseball, year in, year out, so you’d better be good because you know the other teams are going to be good," Palmer said.
Arguably no other team would benefit more from realignment than Baltimore.
"I’d like to be 29, 6-foot-3 and have a full head of hair," Trembley said. "The reality is, realignment is not going to happen. So we’re going to have to deal with it."
With patience, and the hope that MacPhail’s rebuilding plan actually works.
-- David Ginsburg
Huff gets Indians’ final rotation spot
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — David Huff is in the Cleveland Indians’ starting rotation.
Right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who was in competition for a starting job, was optioned to Triple-A Columbus.
Huff gave up one run and five hits over seven innings to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in his final spring audition. The 25-year-old led Cleveland with 11 wins a year ago as a rookie after making his major-league debut on May 17.
Manager Manny Acta says Huff will have the No. 4 spot in the rotation with Mitch Talbot at No. 5.
Carrasco, 23, was one of four players acquired from Philadelphia in the trade that sent 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee to the Phillies in July. He had a 12-inning scoreless stretch earlier this spring and compiled a 4.60 ERA overall in four outings.
Mariners favor Sweeney, shed Garko
PEORIA, Ariz. — The Seattle Mariners have announced infielder Ryan Garko has been claimed off waivers by Texas. They have also optioned left-hander Garrett Olson to Triple-A Tacoma.
The Mariners’ announcements Thursday mean five-time All-Star and camp longshot Mike Sweeney has likely made the team as a pinch-hitter and backup first baseman.
Seattle had signed Garko in February to a $550,000, one-year contract with playing-time incentives that could have paid him more than $1 million. But the Mariners were unimpressed with him in spring training.
Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Sweeney has kept his spring batting average well above .500. He has also picked up where he left off last season by mentoring young players and has been a popular clubhouse leader.
Tazawa out for year; needs elbow ligament surgery
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Boston Red Sox pitcher Junichi Tazawa will have elbow ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow next week, an operation that is likely to sideline him for about a year.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona said Dr. James Andrews will operate on Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala.
Tazawa, a right-hander who turns 24 in June, signed with the Red Sox in December 2008. He was a combined 9-7 with a 2.55 ERA at three minor league levels last year and 2-3 with a 7.46 ERA in four starts and two relief appearances for Boston.
Anderson to try and become pitcher
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Kansas City Royals outfielder Brian Anderson is going to give pitching a try.
Anderson signed a $700,000, one-year free-agent contract with the Royals in the offseason after finishing 2009 with the Boston Red Sox. But instead of taking a minor league assignment Thursday as an outfielder, the former first-round draft pick opted to go to the low minors and work his way back as a pitcher.
Royals manager Trey Hillman says he’s not sure how the transition will work "but it’s going to start at the very bottom."
Anderson last pitched in college for Arizona, where he appeared in 17 games and had a 5.40 ERA in 21 2-3 innings.
Selected by the White Sox with the 15th overall pick in the 2003 amateur draft, Anderson has a .227 average in five major league seasons with 22 homers and 80 RBIs.
Suspect in Angels pitcher death wants trial moved
SANTA ANA, Calif. — The man charged with killing Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart last year wants to move the murder trial outside of Orange County.
The attorney for 23-year-old Andrew Thomas Gallo says the publicity surrounding the April 9, 2009, crash will make it hard for Gallo to get a fair trial.
Gallo has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and other felonies in the crash that killed Adenhart and two friends.
Police say Gallo had nearly triple the legal blood-alcohol level when his minivan ran a red light and crashed in Fullerton.
Adenhart died hours after he made his season debut by pitching six scoreless innings.
Superior Court Judge Richard Toohey scheduled a May 28 hearing on the motion and also pushed back Gallo’s previous April trial date to July.
National League
Reds moves are minor deal
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Cincinnati Reds’ plans to slash their spring training roster got pushed back another day.
The Reds made two moves on Thursday, optioning right-hander Carlos Fisher to Triple-A Louisville and reassigning catcher Corky Miller to their minor league camp. They’re left with 38 players in camp — 13 over the limit for opening day.
General manager Walt Jocketty had indicated the club would substantially reduce the roster on Thursday. The club wasn’t able to tell some of the players about its plans before they left the training complex following a 7-6 win over Texas, so the rest of the moves were put off for another day.
That meant that right-hander Mike Leake and left-hander Travis Wood would have one more night before learning which of them had won the fifth starter’s spot and their first promotion to the major leagues.
Part of the delay has been caused by the tight competition for backup jobs and bullpen spots. The starting lineup and the rotation have been set for weeks. Manager Dusty Baker said making the final cuts has been far more difficult this year than in his two previous seasons with the Reds.
"This has been the toughest we’ve had since I’ve been here," Baker said. "So that means we’re getting better as an organization. (Fifth-year coach) Billy Hatcher said this is the toughest he’s seen since he’s been here. He said there were times when they were just trying to fill out the roster."
Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman is expected to start the season in the minors. The left-hander was in the competition for the fifth starter’s spot until he developed back spasms that set him back a week. Jocketty said the Reds haven’t decided where to send Chapman, who is still learning English and adjusting to professional baseball.
-- Joe Kay
Mets’ Reyes on DL to start season
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes will start the season on the disabled list to get in better shape.
Reyes said the team told him Thursday he’ll be on the DL because he’s had so little practice in spring training. He returned to camp last week following a three-week absence because of thyroid issues.
"I want to be there on opening day, there’s no doubt, but we have to make the right decision," Reyes said. "If I miss a couple games, it won’t be a big deal because I have to get ready for the season."
Reyes isn’t sure how long he’ll be on the DL. But he’s had just 10 at-bats in minor league games, with base-running limitations. He has yet to play more than three innings in the field in a game.
The two-time All-Star tripled in his first at-bat of an intrasquad scrimmage March 1. After blood work, he was sent to New York for more testing that revealed he had a hyperactive thyroid.
Reyes hasn’t played nine innings since last May when he was sidelined for the season after 36 games because of a hamstring injury.
"It’s crazy," Reyes said. "So many things happened to me in spring training. But I have to stay positive in my mind, and hopefully I can get in the games as soon as I can."
Reyes said he is feeling good overall.
"I’ve been doing everything no problem, but it’s (getting into) baseball shape that’s the key," he said. "My legs, too, everything is good. I need to get (at-bats) and go from there."
K-Rod leaves Mets to attend to family issues
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez has left the team to attend to family issues in Venezuela.
New York general manager Omar Minaya on Thursday did not give any details about Rodriguez’s situation, but says he expects the right-hander to be back with the team by opening day.
Rodriguez’s spring training got off to slow start when he was sidelined pink eye.
In his first season with the Mets last year, K-Rod was 3-6 with a 3.71 ERA and 35 saves.
Phillies pitcher Blanton on 15-day DL
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton has been placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a mild left oblique strain.
Blanton could be out three to six weeks. He suffered the injury while throwing a side session Wednesday.
Phillies team doctor Michael Ciccotti says Thursday if all goes well, "we’re looking at the earliest at the third week of April."
Blanton, who hasn’t been on the DL in six seasons, was projected as the No. 3 starter behind Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels.
Blanton’s most recent spring outing came in a minor league intrasquad game Monday, when he allowed 11 runs and 11 hits in five innings.
Blanton was 12-8 with a 4.05 ERA last season. He signed a three-year, $24 million contract extension over the winter.
Dodgers keep DeWitt as their second baseman
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have chosen Blake DeWitt as their opening day second baseman and knuckleballer Charlie Haeger as their No. 5 starter.
Manager Joe Torre delivered the good news to both players when they reported to Dodger Stadium on Thursday for the first of the team’s final three exhibition games.
Before Torre and general manager Ned Colletti let DeWitt know he had made the club, they played an April Fool’s joke.
DeWitt said Torre told him he was being sent to Triple-A Albuquerque. After DeWitt admitted he didn’t know the date, Torre told him it was April 1.
Ronnie Belliard and newly acquired Jamey Carroll will serve as infield backups.
Ricketts says GM will decide manager’s fate
MESA, Ariz. — New Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts says he will continue to let GM Jim Hendry run all aspects of baseball operations — including any decisions regarding manager Lou Piniella’s future beyond this season.
Ricketts also said Thursday that money should be available if Hendry and Piniella want to add players as the trading deadline approaches.
He said he likes this year’s team and can’t wait for his first home opener as owner. A lifelong Cubs fan, Ricketts will be in Atlanta for Monday’s season opener but wishes he could "fast forward" to the April 12 game at Wrigley Field.
Elsewhere
Marcus Giles pleads guilty to battery
EL CAJON, Calif. — Former big league second baseman Marcus Giles has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery for assaulting his wife last fall.
Giles was placed on three years probation by Judge Patricia Cookson and ordered to undergo a year of counseling.
Giles’ attorney, James Matthew Brown, said his client has been in anger management counseling for four months.
The judge also issued a limited protective order against Giles, meaning he can have contact with his wife but cannot annoy or abuse her, Deputy District Attorney Claudia Grasso said.
Giles spent six seasons with the Atlanta Braves before joining his older brother, Brian, with the Padres in 2007. Marcus Giles was released after that season and hasn’t played in the majors since.
Levin to retire as MLB top spokesman
NEW YORK — Rich Levin will retire at the end of the year after a quarter century as Major League Baseball’s chief spokesman.
Levin is baseball’s senior vice president for public relations. He joined the commissioner’s office in 1985 under commissioner Peter Ueberroth after writing a book with him and working as his assistant press secretary at the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.
Levin also was the main spokesman for commissioners A. Bartlett Giamatti, Fay Vincent and Bud Selig.
Levin played on UCLA’s NCAA basketball championship teams in 1964 and 1965 under John Wooden. He was a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner for 11 years.
Ex-Phillies OF Glanville joins ESPN as analyst
BRISTOL, Conn. — Former Phillies outfielder Doug Glanville is joining ESPN as a baseball analyst.
Glanville played nine major league seasons with the Cubs, Phillies and Rangers before retiring in 2005. His best season came in 1999, when he hit .325 with 101 runs and 34 stolen bases.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Glanville has written about sports for The New York Times and analyzed baseball for XM Radio.
