Spring training scoreboard

	Nen

San Francisco Giants: Closer Robb Nen sprained his left ankle covering first base Tuesday against Anaheim and is expected to be sidelined at least a week.

With the bases loaded in the ninth inning, Rick Short hit a grounder to first baseman Damon Minor. Nen caught his spikes in the grass on the way to the bag and hobbled off the field.

"I couldn't put pressure on it," said Nen, on crutches with his ankle wrapped. "I couldn't walk on it. It's pretty sore. We'll have to wait and see."

He was taken to the Scottsdale Healthcare hospital for X-rays, and will have an MRI exam Wednesday.

"X-rays were negative, so there's no bone fracture or anything like that," Giants trainer Stan Conte said, "There's a fair amount of swelling, so there's no way to tell how bad this is."

Conte said the MRI exam was for precautionary reasons.

"It's hard to predict how these this will do," Conte said. "It could be something mild. The best case scenario is we get him back in a week."

An Angels split squad scored four runs against Nen in the top of the ninth and won 11-10. Nen (1-1) allowed four runs on five hits and a walk in seven batters. His spring ERA is 10.13.

Nen had a career-high 45 saves in 52 chances last year.

Meanwhile, the Giants must also may have to tweak with their starting pitching, because it appears Jason Schmidt may not be able to start the season in the rotation.

San Francisco GM Brian Sabean already was seeking a veteran pitcher, and now he must do so with more urgency. That could possibly mean considering David Cone, 39, who is out of work after going 9-7 with Boston last season and only would consider pitching for a contender.

Schmidt was scratched from Monday's start with a groin strain.

"He's basically on the DL, so to speak," pitching coach Dave Righetti told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's not official, but he didn't make the post. For me, I concentrate on other people now."

An MRI exam on Schmidt was negative.

	Schilling

Arizona Diamondbacks: Curt Schilling bounced back from a bad outing by striking out seven in five scoreless innings Wednesday in the Diamondbacks' 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox in a split squad game.

Ray Durham and Frank Thomas hit consecutive two-out home runs off Arizona's John Patterson in Chicago's four-run sixth inning. It was Durham's second homer of the spring and Thomas' first.

Thomas nearly had a home run off Schilling in the fourth but it was just foul and the Chicago slugger eventually struck out.

"Schil was just dominating today," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "He threw 56 pitches, 45 for strikes. Probably of the 11 balls, I would say eight of them he intentionally threw out of the strike zone."

Schilling, who allowed eight runs on 10 hits in 2 2-3 innings against the White Sox Saturday night, gave up three hits and didn't walk a batter.

	Gonzalez

Texas Rangers: Juan Gonzalez hit his first home run of the spring as a Rangers split squad beat the Minnesota Twins 15-1 on Wednesday.

"I feel good," Gonzalez said. "Spring training is for preparation of the mind. I'm just trying to get into a routine for myself."

Twins starter Eric Milton gave up five runs on six hits over three innings, including a three-run homer to Bill Haselman. The rest of Minnesota's pitchers didn't fare much better -- Texas finished with 21 hits.

Jacque Jones went 2-for-3 with a double and scored the Twins' only run in the bottom of the first inning on Doug Mientkiewicz's sacrifice fly to left.

Herbert Perry went 3-for-6 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs for the Rangers, who have scored 35 runs in two games against the Twins at Hammond Stadium this spring.

Kenny Rogers improved to 2-0 after allowing one run on three hits over four innings while striking out four.

"The first inning I felt really uncomfortable," Rogers said. "After that, I was finding the rhythm and location I was looking for. Each inning, my location got better."

St. Louis Cardinals: A formality anticipated since the end of last season, manager Tony La Russa on Tuesday confirmed that Matt Morris will start on Opening Day.

	Morris

"He's earned it," La Russa said.

Morris has advanced from a pitcher recovering from ligament replacement surgery to a 22-game winner to the Cardinals' Opening Day starter April 1 against the Colorado Rockies. The assignment is the final laurel given Morris for a breakthrough season that brought him a three-year, $27 million contract extension and standing as one of the league's elite arms.

La Russa affirmed his decision prior to Tuesday's 5-2 exhibition win over the Red Sox and one day after Morris had thrown 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Atlanta Braves.

"I've been there on Opening Day sitting on the bench," Morris told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "barely in uniform, knowing I'm not going to pitch the rest of the year. To be out there to start it off is going to be quite exciting."

New York Yankees: Pat Borders hit a run-scoring single off Kevin Lovingier in the 10th inning Wednesday as the Texas Rangers beat the Yankees 4-3 in a split-squad game.

Nick Johnson hit a solo homer for the Yankees, who have won just once in the past 14 games, going 1-12-1. Last year, the Yankees were 9-20 in spring training and advanced to the World Series for the fourth straight year.

"I'm not concerned," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said. "We were terrible last year. Just get me back there."

Steinbrenner said veteran players pick up their play during the final ten days of spring.

"We better be hitting, better be rolling," Steinbrenner said.

New York's Mike Thurman gave up three runs and eight hits in four-plus innings. The right-hander made his second start in place of Andy Pettitte, who strained his left elbow. Pettitte threw 42 pitches in the bullpen and is slated to pitch in a minor league game Friday.

Thurman would be a top candidate to make the opening day roster should reliever Ramiro Mendoza not be ready.

Mendoza has pitched just once this spring because of upper back/neck stiffness. There is no timetable for when Mendoza might return.

	Sheets

Milwaukee Brewers: Ben Sheets blanked Chicago for five innings Wednesday to run his scoreless spring stretch to 11 innings, leading the Brewers to a 10-2 victory over the Cubs.

Sheets (3-0) allowed four hits and gave up his first walk of the spring, in the fourth inning to Mark Bellhorn.

"My goal was that I didn't want to walk anybody this spring," said Sheets, star of the 2000 U.S. Olympic baseball team. "I didn't want to walk anybody after not walking anybody the first two games of the spring."

Sheets struck out three to outpitch Kerry Wood. Wood went five innings, his longest outing this spring. He gave up four hits and four runs, including homers to Richie Sexson in the second inning and Raul Casanova in the fifth.

Sexson's homer put the Brewers up 1-0. They scored three times in the fifth, two coming on Casanova's homer and another on an RBI triple by Alex Sanchez.

Sexson was 2-for-3. Izzy Alcantara was 2-for-2, including a solo homer in the ninth against Ron Mahay.

Sammy Sosa had a pair of singles in two at-bats for the Cubs. Moises Alou was 2-for-3 with a single and a double.

Third-base prospect David Kelton hit his second homer of the spring, a solo homer in the seventh inning.

San Diego Padres: Trenidad Hubbard and Kevin Eberwein each homered and drove in three runs Wednesday as the Padres hammered Anaheim newcomer Kevin Appier for five earned runs in two-plus innings in an 11-6 victory.

"This was one of those `Glad it's still spring training games,"' Appier said. "They wanted to take me out after two innings, but I wanted to push it a little. That got ugly, too."

Appier walked three and left after the first two Padres reached base in the third in the spilt-squad game for both teams.

The Padres scored three times off Appier after two were out in the second, and he was charged with two of San Diego's four runs in the third on Tom Lampkin's triple off Mickey Callaway.

"I had trouble with my mechanics," said Appier, who threw 70 pitches. "I got a little ahead of myself. I was bad. A couple of things went bad for us and made for a bad day."

Appier, acquired from the New York Mets for first baseman Mo Vaughn during the offseason, has allowed nine runs in seven innings in his first spring with the Angels.

Detroit Tigers: Craig Paquette hit the first of Detroit's five homers as the Tigers piled up 12 hits and rolled to a 9-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Knuckleballer Steve Sparks held the Reds to one hit and one walk in five innings. Bill Simas took over, retired two batters and left the game after feeling a twinge in his elbow. A precautionary MRI exam was scheduled.

Reds starter Chris Reitsma also pitched five scoreless innings, giving up five hits, before Ricardo Aramboles gave up a solo homer to Paquette and two-run homers to Ryan Jackson and Brandon Inge.

It was the second time in two days that a Reds pitcher gave up multiple homers in one inning. Lance Davis gave up four to Philadelphia in the first inning Tuesday.

Juan Sosa had a run-scoring single off Gabe White in the eighth, and Mitch Melusky and Craig Monroe hit consecutive homers.

Ken Griffey Jr., hitting .182, had an RBI double off Matt Miller in the seventh.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Warren Morris, once considered a future star second baseman, and reliever Gregg Olson, who has 217 career saves, were cut Wednesday.

Morris, 28, lost his starting job to Pat Meares in spring training last season. His chances of regaining the job got even slimmer in January when the Pirates signed two-time Gold Glove winning second baseman Pokey Reese to a two-year, $6.5-million contract as a free agent.

The Pirates made 11 other moves and have 46 players remaining in camp.

Right-hander Bronson Arroyo was optioned to Triple-A Nashville, while left-handers Adrian Burnside, Mike Gonzalez and John Grabow, catcher J.R. House and outfielder J.J. Davis were optioned to Triple-A Altoona.

Left-hander Kevin Tolar, right-hander Brian Smith, catcher Reed Secrist, first baseman Chris Pritchett and outfielder Ryan Radmanovich were reassigned to the minor league camp.

The demotion of Arroyo was somewhat of a surprise because he was considered a candidate for the Pirates' starting rotation until Tuesday. He pitched twice this spring and had an 8.31 ERA in 4 1/3 innings.

Texas Rangers: Nolan Ryan has a different kind of delivery for the Rangers these days.

Instead of throwing 100-mph fastballs with his powerful right arm, baseball's strikeout king is back in training camp for the first time since he retired in 1993 after 27 seasons. The Hall of Famer's job is to watch, listen and talk to members of the Rangers' pitching staff, which had a major league-high 5.71 ERA last year.

Ryan, 55, finally accepted long-standing invitations from the Rangers to come to camp. He's observing major and minor leaguers and offering advice to those who seek it.

After meeting with the major league pitchers as a group a day earlier, Ryan spent Wednesday with minor leaguers on a back field. At other times, he is making himself available to talk to individuals.

"You'd be cheating yourself if you didn't sit down and talk to him and find out what he has to offer, and how you can relate it to yourself," Chris Michalak said.

After Ryan finishes this week, there are no set plans when he will work again with the Rangers. But he says he will be available and plans to help more in the future.

Seattle Mariners: Bret Boone's self confidence never has been higher. That's what happens to a player after turning in the greatest offensive season for a second baseman in the history of the American League.

	Boone

"I plan on going out and doing it again," Boone said. "I just feel that I've turned the corner career-wise."

Boone, 33, is back with the Mariners after spending a disappointing winter trying to get rewarded for his 37-homer, 141-RBI season in 2001 when he helped Seattle set an AL record with 116 victories. He settled for a $25 million, three-year contract to return to the Mariners.

Now it's time to put his contract behind him.

"The business is out of the way and we can just worry about playing baseball the next three or four years," he said.

Boston Red Sox: Derek Lowe's conversion from closer to starter means ninth-inning leads will rest on Ugueth Urbina's right shoulder and elbow, which have been operated on four times in six years.

	Urbina

Urbina, acquired Aug. 31 from Montreal, missed most of the 2000 season after having bone chips removed from his pitching elbow. He bounced back last season with 24 saves, nine of which were for Boston after he was traded from Montreal.

"It felt good last year," said Urbina, scheduled to pitch Wednesday against the Expos. "I pitched all year."

Urbina's ability and dedication are unquestioned. He averaged 34 saves per season from 1997-1999 for Montreal, and in 1994, overcame the death of his father, who was shot to death in his home in Venezuela, to pitch successfully in the minors.

The Yankees nearly traded for him last year, but nixed the deal over concerns about his elbow. The Red Sox last year tried not to use him in back-to-back games once the playoffs were out of reach.

Cincinnati Reds: Jesse Levis, whose baseball resume makes him look like a real-life Crash Davis, knows all about the story behind the The Rookie.

The movie, starring Dennis Quaid, is the story of the Jim Morris, a high school coach who returned to baseball 12 years after an arm injury ended his professional career. Morris made it to the majors with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Morris' first stop upon his return to pro ball was Double-A Orlando in 1999. His first catcher was Levis.

"They sent me down from Triple-A for two weeks," Levis said. "I didn't know many people. I thought he was a roving pitching instructor."

Levis saw why the Rays signed Morris. "He threw 95 with a nasty slider," Levis said. "Nobody could hit him."

Levis will get a chance to see the movie, which doesn't open until March 29 -- Disney and Major League Baseball are screening it in every spring training camp. The Reds see it Monday.

Levis can relate to Morris. At 33 and in his eighth organization, he's still chasing the dream himself. Levis has four years of big-league service but has played only 22 games in the majors since '99.

"I signed with the Reds because they were going to give me the best opportunity to get back to the majors," he said.