Kennedy aids man’s restraint
Tampa Bay Rays broadcaster and former major league manager Kevin Kennedy was among a group of eight men that subdued a man that threatened to blow up an airplane.
A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to Florida was diverted to Albuquerque, N.M., early Friday after a passenger sprayed the first-class cabin with a water bottle, tried to open a cabin door and threatened to blow up the aircraft.
“When he started threatening bombs it was for real. I knew it was anyway,” Kennedy said before Tampa Bay faced Toronto on Friday night. “We all kind of looked at him. The guy next to me, he was saying, ‘Hey buddy, let’s calm down here.’ We tried to talk him down but it wasn’t happening. It was actually getting worse.”
Passengers on Delta flight 2148 to Tampa subdued Stanley Dwayne Sheffield, 46. He was taken into federal custody after the plane landed.
“There were seven other guys,” Kennedy said. “A couple of young guys got there first. One kid flew up the aisle. We all were there. Probably four or five (guys) getting him down and the other guys helping. Eight in all.”
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Darrin Jones said authorities do not believe the incident was related to terrorism.
Sheffield was charged with interference with flight crew members and destruction of aircraft.
Rodriguez laughs off trip across mound
Alex Rodriguez says he was tired when he took a shortcut across the pitcher’s mound that offended Oakland’s Dallas Braden, and that the whole thing was funny.
Rodriguez dismissed the jaunt as nothing more than his taking the shortest route back to first base after a foul ball during the sixth inning of the Yankees’ game at Oakland on Thursday. He said it was “no big deal.”
Not to Braden.
The A’s starter accused A-Rod of breaking an unwritten rule of baseball etiquette with the act and shouted his displeasure at the Yankees slugger.
Clearing the bases
Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right calf. He was injured running out a single during Thursday’s game at Cincinnati. … The Tampa Bay Rays and utilityman Ben Zobrist agreed to an $18 million, three-year contract extension that includes two club option years and could be worth $30 million over five years. … Toronto activated second baseman Aaron Hill from the 15-day disabled list. Hill was sidelined since April 8 with tightness in his right hamstring. … Detroit placed outfielder Carlos Guillen on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring and called up outfielder Brennan Boesch from Triple-A Toledo.