Bradley back in the lineup
Milton Bradley was in the Chicago Cubs’ lineup Saturday, a day after he was sent home by manager Lou Piniella following an angry outburst in the dugout.
“I apologized for the last comment I made, told him he knows in the context I meant it,” Piniella said. “But I also told him that just can’t continue to have shenanigans that we’ve put up with. I told him he’s going to hurt somebody, he’s going to hurt himself.”
Piniella ordered the mercurial slugger to go home after Bradley threw his helmet and went after a water cooler following a fly out in the top of the sixth inning against the crosstown rival White Sox.
“He didn’t really talk to me about it, he just kind of yelled at me in the dugout and told me to get out of there,” Bradley said. “So I left. I’ve got to take that.”
Bradley said he had no problems or issues with Piniella, especially after their meeting before Saturday’s game.
“I got a ton of respect for Lou,” Bradley said. “When he says something, I really take heed and listen to it, not just the tone or the exact words but the sentiment behind it. I really think he had a heartfelt talk with me and I think we are both better for it.”
Bradley is batting .236 with five homers and 16 RBIs.
Romero shoves fan
The St. Petersburg Times reported on its Web site that Philadelphia reliever J.C. Romero grabbed and shoved Robert Eaton, 25, of New Port Richey, Fla., after the fan made two comments about steroids following the game against Tampa Bay on Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Romero was suspended for the first 50 games of the season for after testing positive for androstenedione.
Eaton told the newspaper he called out to Romero after a couple of Phillies brushed off his requests for autographs, asking the left-hander to get him some steroids. After Romero told him to shut up and that he didn’t know what he was talking about, Eaton said he replied that Romero was the one who’d been suspended recently.
“He reared back and kinda grazed my chin and grabbed me by the neck and threw me back,” Eaton told the newspaper. “I was in shock.”
Pitcher suspended
Right-hander Jeremy Jeffress, 21, rated as the top pitching prospect for the Milwaukee Brewers, has been suspended for 100 games for testing positive for a second time for a “drug of abuse.”