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| Saturday, March 10 | |||||
| Big Unit pitches four hitless innings | |||||
| TUCSON, Ariz. – Randy Johnson pitched four hitless innings
Friday night as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Colorado
Rockies 5-0.
Facing a Rockies lineup without Larry Walker, Todd Helton and
Jeff Cirillo, Johnson struck out three and allowed one baserunner,
on a full-count walk of Mike Bell.
"I had fun tonight," Johnson said. "I can't really say that
of my last two outings."
Matt Mantei and Greg Swindell followed Johnson with a scoreless
inning each. Rookie Duaner Sanchez struck out three in two innings,
and Todd Revenig pitched the ninth.
Colorado did not get a runner to second base until Todd Walker's
double with two out in the ninth inning.
Jay Bell and Mark Grace hit consecutive doubles in the second
inning to put Arizona up 1-0.
That was the only run off Colorado starter Denny Neagle, who
struck out four in his four innings.
Steve Finley tripled to start the Diamondbacks three-run seventh
inning against Gabe White. Finley finished with two hits, a
contrast to having had only three over the first seven spring
games.
Wells to pitch Saturday TUCSON, Ariz. – David Wells is finally due to make his first appearance in a spring training game on Saturday, pitching for the Chicago White Sox against a San Francisco split squad. Wells, acquired by the White Sox from Toronto in January, reported a week after Chicago's other pitchers. He has also seen a chiropractor during the last two weeks in an attempt to keep back pain from "flaring up." Wells is scheduled to pitch about t two innings against the Giants. "We will see how he feels," Chicago manager Jerry Manuel said Friday. "He says if he doesn't have a rough one, he would like to get out there and throw a second inning." After that, it will be up to Wells to determine how many innings he pitches during spring training. If past history is any indication, he won't pitch many. Manuel said Wells has "been a little unorthodox with his preparation," which so far has included throwing long tosses, participating in shoulder exercises and pitching batting practice. The manager didn't seem too concerned about the training regimen of his scheduled Opening Day starter. "I am leaving it up to him," Manuel said. "There will come a time when he has to get ready for his turn in the rotation. It will depend on how he feels." Gordon finally returns to mound TUCSON, Ariz. – Tom Gordon walked to the mound in the fifth inning, not the ninth. And he was down three runs, not protecting a lead. But all was right for Gordon. After nearly two years of arm troubles, he was back on the mound. "It was a blessing. Everything worked out well," Gordon said Friday after pitching a scoreless inning for the Chicago Cubs against the White Sox. "I'm happy with the way things went. I couldn't have written it out any better." After months of torturous exercises to rebuild his right elbow ligament and painful waiting, Gordon is on the road back to recovery. He needed only 11 pitches – nine strikes – to set down the White Sox in the sixth inning. After throwing a ball on his first pitch, Gordon got Carlos Lee to pop out to shortstop. "As soon as I got out on the mound, I remembered a lot of things about the White Sox and the guys I would face," he said. "I don't have any doubts." After a single by Jeff Liefer, Gordon came back to strike out Tony Graffanino on a high fastball and got Josh Paul to chase a curveball in the dirt with two strikes. "I just wanted to make sure I didn't get too much of an adrenaline rush and try to do too much," he said. "With two strikes I did try to get a little extra on it." Gordon then walked toward the Cubs' dugout, looking to the sky, before getting congratulations from his new teammates. "I wanted to thank the people that helped me – my family and friends," he said. "My first time out was special." It will take more than one outing for Gordon to return to the level that made him one of the top closers in the game before the injury. Gordon, who led the American League with 46 saves in 1998 for Boston, went on the disabled list in June 1999 with an injured right elbow. He returned to the Red Sox in September, but struggled down the stretch and in the playoffs. He finally had ligament replacement surgery in December 1999, and then missed all of last season recuperating. "I never had any doubts," he said of coming back. A-Rod homers in Rangers' loss PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Alex Rodriguez hit his second home run of spring training, a fourth-inning drive off Brad Thomas in the Texas Rangers' 7-1 loss to a Minnesota Twins' split squad on Friday. Rodriguez, who agreed to a record $252 million, 10-year contract with Texas during the offseason, went 2-for-3 and had an error at shortstop. The Rangers had just five hits. Mark Redman, a left-hander who was 12-9 for the Twins in 2000, pitched three perfect innings for Minnesota. He has allowed one hit during five spring training innings. Stephenson's elbow still hurting JUPITER, Fla. – If Garrett Stephenson wants to play this season, he'll have to pitch in pain. After winning 16 games for St. Louis during the regular season, he sprained elbow ligaments last fall in the NL playoffs. Despite offseason rest, the elbow still hurts. "The key is how much discomfort he has when he throws, because everything in the elbow structurally is OK at this point," Cardinals team physician Dr. George Paletta said. Stephenson, who hasn't been in any exhibition games, doesn't want to have ligament replacement surgery, which would sideline him for a year. "If I go see Dr. (James) Andrews, I'm going to have the surgery," Stephenson said. "I have to be comfortable that I'm ready to get surgery." Stephenson said there's a lot of pain "most of the time," so he prefers to concentrate on how he's pitching. On Wednesday, he threw 65 pitches off a mound. "I went all out and I was painting the corners like a champ," he said. He threw again Friday morning, which may sound like a quick turnaround considering Stephenson's physical woes. But the Cardinals are eager to find out whether they can count on him. "If he's not able to do it, that's something that will be good for us to know sooner rather than later," Paletta said. "It looks like he's got his stuff, his velocity looks good and he's hitting his spots. But how he feels, the only guy that can answer that is Garrett."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | ALSO SEE Spring report: Ankiel, Cone show encouraging signs | ||||