Cox reaches 130 ejections

After being tossed from a game for the second straight day on Saturday, Bobby Cox was in no mood to talk about where he stands on the career record for ejections.

“I don’t want to talk about the record,” Cox said. “Talk about the game.”

Cox’s ejection was his fifth of the season and the 130th of his career, leaving him only one behind John McGraw’s record of 131.

Cox already has the record for most ejections by a manager, since 14 of McGraw’s ejections came as a player.

Cox would have to dramatically alter the tone of his encounters with umpires to avoid matching and passing McGraw’s mark, but he was more concerned with his team’s two straight losses to the Phillies, including Saturday’s 6-4 defeat.

“We can’t play much better,” Cox said. “We’ve been rallying, we just didn’t pull it off the last two nights.”

Cox didn’t last the third inning.

After Kelly Johnson led off the third with a double, Willie Harris hit a grounder over first base that landed near the foul line. First-base umpire Ron Kulpa immediately called the ball foul.

TV replays showed the ball landing just on the foul side of the line, but as Cox pointed to the mark on the ground his argument was that the ball had to have been fair when it crossed first base.

Clearing the bases

Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon was out of the lineup against the Los Angeles Angels because of recurring leg problems. … Detroit Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco left after the sixth inning because of a muscle spasm in his oblique and is day to day. … New York Mets right fielder Shawn Green said he will have more tests on his broken right foot in an effort to avoid being placed on the disabled list. … Josh Johnson (elbow) completed a bullpen session without pain and will throw three innings in a Gulf Coast League game at the Marlins’ training complex in Jupiter, Fla., on Tuesday. … Detroit placed right-hander Fernando Rodney on the 15-day DL with biceps tendonitis.