No decision on Ron Washington
Texas Rangers team president Nolan Ryan said a decision hasn’t been made about the future of manager Ron Washington as the team stumbles to one of its worst starts.
Ryan spoke to reporters for the first time since he met for several hours Friday with owner Tom Hicks and general manager Jon Daniels after the Rangers returned from a 2-9 road trip.
“I thought it was important to get the team home and see how they responded to what’s happened,” Ryan said.
Texas (8-17) enters today with the worst record in the American League. The Rangers had already matched their worst start since moving to Texas in 1972.
The Rangers were outscored 37-10 during a seven-game losing streak which capped their disappointing road trip. Texas snapped the skid with a 6-5 victory over the Twins on Friday night but lost to Minnesota on Saturday.
Daniels said on Friday he would not assign blame to one person but passed on chances to put to rest mounting questions about Washington’s job security.
Westbrook out a month
Cleveland Indians starter Jake Westbrook is expected to miss at least one month with a muscle strain in his lower back, an injury the team initially figured would keep him out only for a few starts.
Westbrook hurt himself while throwing a pitch to Minnesota’s Mike Lamb on April 19.
Garciaparra on DL
Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Nomar Garciaparra was placed on the 15-day disabled list for the second time this season, and Los Angeles recalled Blake DeWitt from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Garciaparra strained his left calf during Friday night’s 13-inning, 8-7 victory over Colorado.
Umpire hit by pitch
Plate umpire Kerwin Danley was taken off the field in an ambulance after he was struck on the jaw by Brad Penny’s fastball that Dodgers catcher Russell Martin missed in the fourth inning of the Dodgers-Rockies game in Los Angeles.
The game was delayed for 18 minutes.
Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch said Danley lost consciousness briefly but was conscious and coherent when he was placed into the ambulance.