ERA leader Liriano may need healing
Francisco Liriano’s determination to pitch with pain looks like it will land him on the disabled list.
“You want percentages, it would be 99.999 that he would go on the disabled list,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said before the Twins’ game at Detroit on Tuesday night.
Liriano – 12-3 with a league-leading 2.19 ERA – missed a start on Aug. 2 with inflammation in his left forearm, but returned to the rotation on Monday night against the Tigers. He gave up four runs and a season-high 10 hits in just four innings, saying after the game that the pain had worsened and moved closer to his elbow.
Gardenhire said Tuesday he was concerned because Liriano had told coaches that he was feeling fine heading into that start.
“The problem is, he’s been trying to pitch through this thing,” Gardenhire said. “He has told us that he’s been fine, but I don’t think he’s really been fine. We just want him to be up front with us because he’s a 22-year-old man, and we have to protect his young arm.”
Liriano will have “an extensive, advanced MRI” when the team returns to Minneapolis on Thursday, Gardenhire said.
Shea fans embrace Piazza
A grinning Mike Piazza emerged from the visitors’ dugout at Shea Stadium and paused.
He couldn’t believe the reception he got in his first trip back to the Big Apple.
The former Mets star got a warm welcome from fans lining the seats along the third-base line to greet the San Diego catcher, who spent eight seasons in New York before signing with the Padres last off-season.
“I’m really excited to be back here,” Piazza said. “It’s a nice opportunity for me to say hi to all the fans that made my experience here amazing, something I’ll obviously cherish until the day I die.”
Sprint me out to the ballgame
Baseball fans will soon be able to use their cell phones to take them out to the ballgame.
Sprint reached an agreement with Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the sport’s Internet wing, to make audio of radio broadcasts available to its subscribers’ mobile phones for $5.99 a month.
Under the deal, scheduled to be announced today, the local flagship station broadcasts will be available for all 30 teams for each game. The service will likely launch in mid-August, Sprint spokesman Dave Mellin said.
Clearing the bases
New York Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca denied he has a gambling problem and expressed sympathy for what his wife is going through after she filed for divorce in June. … Cleveland pitcher Cliff Lee signed a $14 million, three-year contract extension, another long-term commitment by the Indians to a young, proven player it feels can get them back to a championship run. … Cincinnati general manager Wayne Krivsky sought an explanation for why the Reds were unaware that reliever Gary Majewski had a sore shoulder when they got him in a trade with Washington. The Reds didn’t know that the right-hander had a cortisone injection in his shoulder before the All-Star break. … Atlanta pitcher Horacio Ramirez has a partially torn ligament in his left middle finger and will be placed on the disabled list, perhaps the final setback in an injury-plagued season.