Brown may have ended his season

New York Yankees pitcher Kevin Brown will miss at least three weeks — and possibly the rest of the season — after breaking his left hand when he punched a wall in the clubhouse.

Brown was examined Saturday at Yankee Stadium by team physician Dr. Stuart Hershon and hand specialist Dr. Melvin Rosenwasser. The pitcher will have surgery today to insert a pin into his hand.

“We’re hopeful we can get him back in a few weeks,” manager Joe Torre said. “A lot of it will depend on the healing and the comfort. We don’t worry about the comfort too much. I think Brownie was hoping he could just tape it up and go. That’s not what’s going to happen.”

Frustrated by an injury-filled season, Brown made it much worse Friday night when he broke two bones in his non-pitching hand by punching a clubhouse wall during the sixth inning of New York’s 3-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

That was the end of his outing.

One of the fractures extends into his wrist, requiring the pin. Now the best-case scenario for Brown (10-4) and the Yankees is that he misses three weeks — though he could be done for the year.

After the game, the Yankees began reviewing Brown’s contract to determine whether a self-inflicted injury could void the guarantee language, one baseball official said on the condition of anonymity. No determination had been made, the official said.

Cubs wait after series cancelled

Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker found himself awake at 3 a.m. and immediately turned on The Weather Channel for an update on Hurricane Frances.

But the news hadn’t changed much and Baker figured it wouldn’t make any sense to travel to Florida for a game against the Marlins when hundreds of people were trying to leave the state.

“I didn’t see any way for us to go down there and play,” Baker said.

The first two games of a scheduled series between the Cubs and Marlins were postponed earlier this week as Florida braced for the arrival of a Category 2 hurricane. The third and final game of the series at Pro Player Stadium was also postponed.

Padres retire Gwynn’s number

The San Diego Padres retired former All-Star outfielder Tony Gwynn’s jersey No. 19 before their home game against the Colorado Rockies.

Gwynn, who tied the National League record with eight batting championships during his 20-year career — all with the Padres — retired with a .338 batting average. He had 3,141 hits, 135 homers, 1,138 RBIs and 319 stolen bases in 2,440 games from 1982-2001.

Gwynn is eligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.

His No. 19 joins the numbers of Dave Winfield, Randy Jones and Steve Garvey, which were previously retired by the team.

Kazmir excited to play in New York

It was always just a matter of time before Scott Kazmir pitched in New York.

Of course, it was assumed that he would be pitching for the New York Mets in Shea Stadium, not in the Bronx against the New York Yankees.

That changed when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays acquired Kazmir from the Mets for pitcher Victor Zambrano on July 30. The highly touted 20-year-old rookie is in line for a start during Tampa Bay’s five-game series at Yankee Stadium that starts Monday.

“I’ll definitely be up for that game,” Kazmir said. “It definitely will be one to look forward to.”

Kazmir (1-1) has made three starts for Tampa Bay since being called up from Double-A Montgomery last month.

Bugs make appearance in Cleveland

Swarms of tiny bugs descended on Jacobs Field on Saturday night, making it difficult for the Indians and Anaheim Angels to play.

Batters and fans swatted at the unidentified flying objects beginning in the fourth inning. At one point in the fifth inning, Angels DH Troy Glaus had to step out of the batter’s box when one of the critters flew in his eye.

Between innings, plate umpire Bill Miller was coated with bug repellant, hoping to keep the bugs at bay.

Clearing the bases

Athletics right fielder Jermaine Dye missed Oakland’s game against Toronto because of a fractured left thumb and isn’t expected to be back in the lineup for some time. … Los Angeles pitcher Odalis Perez was optimistic after an examination showed no serious problems with his throwing arm. Perez was limited to five innings Thursday night by left biceps tightness. … Reliever Billy Wagner was activated by the Phillies after missing more than a month with a strained left rotator cuff.