Baseball: Dowd disputes Rose claim
John Dowd, who wrote the 1989 report that resulted in Pete Rose being banned from baseball, said Thursday that Rose did not bet on the Cincinnati Reds every night when Rose was the Reds’ manager.
That counters what Rose told ESPN radio in an interview Wednesday. Rose told Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann that he bet on the Reds “every night” when he was their manager.
Rose also told the radio station that the Dowd Report noted that Rose bet on every game while he was the Reds manager.
Not so, said Dowd.
“When (Mario) Soto and (Bill) Gullickson pitched, he didn’t bet on the Reds,” Dowd said from his Washington office. “We only put in the report what we could find and corroborate three different ways.”
Soriano sinks M’s
Alfonso Soriano, who had a triple and two singles in a 9-3 win over a Seattle Mariners split squad at Mesa, Ariz., has all but proved he can be the Chicago Cubs’ everyday center fielder.
Soriano, a former infielder, played left field last season for Washington. The Cubs signed him to an eight-year, $136 million contract with the hopes of playing him in right, but Soriano brought up the possibility of center field during the Cubs’ annual fan convention in January.
The Cubs scored three times in the first against Seattle starter Cha Seung Baek.
Seattle scored two runs against Cubs starter Ted Lilly in the second. Wladimir Balentien’s RBI single and a throwing error by Cubs shortstop Cesar Izturis accounted for the runs.
Aramis Ramirez hit his second homer of the spring, a two-run shot in the third inning against Baek.
Bryan LaHair was 2 for 3 with a run scored for Seattle.
In a late game at Peoria, Ariz., veteran right-hander Jeff Weaver pitched four strong innings for Seattle’s split squad, but San Francisco prevailed 5-3.
Indians extend Shapiro
For Mark Shapiro, the lure of a bigger market, a fatter paycheck and a chance to work for a deep-pocketed owner wasn’t appealing. One of baseball’s sharpest general managers, Shapiro decided to go where he felt safest – home.
Shapiro, who despite a limited payroll has dismantled the midmarket Cleveland Indians and rebuilt them into a playoff contender, agreed to a five-year contract extension, a deal that keeps him with the club through the 2012 season.
Benson may miss season
Kris Benson will have surgery on his ailing right shoulder, and the Baltimore Orioles right-hander likely will be sidelined for the entire 2007 season.