Red Sox lose Varitek for at least month
Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek will have surgery today to repair torn cartilage in his left knee, and he is expected to miss at least a month.
“I talked to them about a limited role. They said, ‘Let’s get it taken care of. We’d rather have you at 100 percent than 25 percent,’ ” Varitek said before Wednesday night’s game against the Cleveland Indians. “I think the placement of it is what kind of made all of us decide to do it now.”
Varitek originally hurt his knee when Los Angeles Angels catcher Mike Napoli slid into him while blocking the plate Saturday. On Monday, Varitek was rounding second on Coco Crisp’s second-inning single when things got worse.
“When I couldn’t go around third base – except on a slow crawl – I knew something was wrong,” he said.
The Red Sox captain is batting .243 with 11 homers and 50 RBIs this year.
Matheny’s season ends
Catcher Mike Matheny has made little progress in his recovery from a concussion and will not play again this season for San Francisco.
After another series of tests and appointments with specialists at the University of Pittsburgh last week, Matheny and the Giants medical staff made the decision that he should spend the rest of 2006 recovering to reduce the risk of further damage to his brain.
The 35-year-old Matheny, who is on the 60-day disabled list, has been sidelined since May 31 and is still experiencing “fogginess,” memory loss, dizzy spells and headaches.
Matheny was hit in the head several times by foul balls during a three-game series at Florida, then left a game against the New York Mets in the third inning after getting hit by a foul tip – the last one squarely on his chin.
Utley extends streak
Philadelphia’s Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 34 games when the official scorer changed his initial call and gave him an infield hit in the eighth inning of the Phillies’ game against St. Louis.
Utley added a single in the ninth for his fifth two-hit game in his last six games.
Utley was 0 for 4 when, with the Phillies leading 11-7, he hit a bouncer to the third-base side of the pitchers’ mound. Reliever Randy Flores, a left-hander, grabbed the ball with his glove hand as his momentum carried him toward third. He briefly hesitated to check Shane Victorino, the runner off third, and then turned and threw wide and late to first.
First-base umpire Adam Dowdy signaled that Pujols was off the bag, but Utley already had beaten the throw.
Official scorer Mike Smith initially ruled it a fielder’s choice – the scoreboard nevertheless credited a hit – but after watching replays Smith changed his call to a hit.
MLB suspends Cards farmhands
Major League Baseball suspended infielder Marcos Chavez and pitcher Jonathan Gonzalez of the St. Louis Cardinals organization for 50 games each for violating the drug prevention and treatment program.
The pair play in the Venezuelan Summer League.
Park faces transfusion
San Diego right-hander Chan Ho Park is expected to have a transfusion today to treat intestinal bleeding that led him to lose half his blood volume.
The bleeding spontaneously stopped, but the Padres aren’t sure what caused it.
Owners see no reason to meet
MLB canceled its quarterly owners meetings scheduled for Wednesday and next Thursday in Toronto.
The decision was made because there were no urgent items to discuss, said baseball spokesman Pat Courtney.