American League
Manny Ramirez led his Red Sox teammates out of the dugout Tuesday, waving a small American flag on his first full day of US citizenship.
PHOTO: AP
With the flag rippling in the wind, he ran to left field as fans cheered, then went to the seats along the foul line and handed it to a fan.
"I'm very proud to be an American citizen," he said with a big smile before Boston's game against Cleveland.
Ramirez, 31, moved from his native Dominican Republic to New York when he was 13. His parents and sisters are citizens.
"I was the last one to do it and they were always telling me, `Hey, you've got to do this,'" he said. "So I just went ahead and did it."
Ramirez had played in all 31 of his team's games before missing Monday's 8-4 loss to Cleveland to attend a two-hour ceremony in Miami during which he became a citizen. General manager Theo Epstein said it was an excused absence.
"I wasn't nervous," Ramirez said. "There were probably like 2,000 people there [from] all over the world, Costa Rica, Colombia ... Jamaica, so everything went fine."
His first at bat as a US citizen wasn't as pleasant. He struck out against C.C. Sabathia leading off the second. After the top of the inning, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood was played over the sound system. As Ramirez walked into the batter's box, "America" by Neil Diamond was played.
Ramirez said he took the required citizenship test about six months ago and learned the date of the ceremony during spring training.
"It's going to be good that I took a day off," he said. The Red Sox are in a stretch of games in 16 straight days.
Ramirez, who has dual citizenship in the Dominican Republic and the US, is registered to vote in Florida.
Red Sox 5, Indians 3
Pinch-hitter David McCarty had a two-run triple that broke an eighth-inning tie, and Pedro Martinez struck out 11 to lead the Boston Red Sox over the Cleveland Indians 5-3 Tuesday night.
Alan Embree (1-0) won despite giving up Victor Martinez's solo homer in the eighth -- the only hit he allowed. Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his seventh save.
Victor Martinez doubled in two runs in the first, but Boston tied the score on solo homers by Gabe Kapler in the third and David Ortiz in the fourth. Martinez gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead in the eighth, but Boston scored three runs in the bottom half against Jose Jimenez.
White Sox 15, Orioles 0
In Chicago, Mark Buehrle got his first victory since April 10, and Magglio Ordonez had five RBIs for the White Sox.
Ordonez went 4-for-5. Frank Thomas hit a three-run homer and Jose Valentin homered and drove in three runs for the White Sox, who snapped a season-worst three-game losing streak.
Buehrle (2-1) allowed four hits in seven innings and struck out six. Sidney Ponson (2-3) gave up 11 hits and seven runs in six innings.
Athletics 5, Tigers 4, 15 innings
In Detroit, Damian Miller hit a tiebreaking, two-out single in the 15th inning to give Oakland its fourth victory in its last five games.
Eric Chavez walked and Jermaine Dye hit singles off Danny Patterson (0-2), and Scott Hatteberg was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs to set up the game-winning hit. Dye and Bobby Crosby hit leadoff, solo homers in the second and third innings to give Oakland a 2-1 lead.
Justin Duchscherer (1-1) allowed only in five innings, and Jim Mecir pitched the 15th for his second save.
Twins 7, Mariners 6, 11 innings
In Minneapolis, Shannon Stewart knocked the ball out of catcher Dan Wilson's glove to score from second base in the 11th inning for Minnesota.
Stewart, who was slow to get up after the collision, scored on Doug Mientkiewicz's bloop single to center off Ron Villone (3-1). Randy Winn's throw beat Stewart, but the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder knocked the ball loose.
Aaron Fultz (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
Yankees 8, Angels 7, 10 innings
In New York, Gary Sheffield lined an RBI double with two outs in the 10th inning, and the Yankees ended Anaheim's nine-game winning streak.
The game included two rain delays, plus a bizarre break when the Yankees' radio broadcast began echoing from the scoreboard.
On a night when ace relievers Mariano Rivera, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival all squandered late leads, Sheffield's hit ended it at 1:23am.
Alex Rodriguez singled with one out in the 10th off Ben Weber (0-1). An out later, Sheffield hit a drive over leaping left fielder Jeff DaVanon. When the ball ricocheted off the wall and past DaVanon, Rodriguez had enough time score from first.
Tom Gordon (1-1) got the win.
National LeagueRoger Clemens remained unbeaten and struck out a season-high 11, leading the Houston Astros over the Florida Marlins 6-1.
Clemens (7-0) won his 11th straight-regular season decision, allowing only three hits, including a solo homer to Ramon Castro, in seven innings to get his 317th win.
Brad Penny (3-2) allowed two runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings with five strikeouts.
Houston's Morgan Ensberg had three RBIs and Lance Berkman went 3-for-4 with two RBIs as the Astros matched the 1973 club for the best start in franchise history through 32 games at 21-11.
Major League Baseball and its players' union are moving their drug testing to a lab in Montreal that is certified by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Since the start of baseball's drug-testing plan last year, the tests had been collected by Comprehensive Drug Testing of Long Beach, California, and the specimens evaluated by Quest Diagnostics of Teterboro, New Jersey.
Quest will continue to collect the tests, but the evaluations will take place at the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Research center.
"These laboratories are subject to safeguards and quality control mechanisms and ethical standards that are the highest available anywhere," Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, said Tuesday.
For minor league players not on 40-man major league rosters, testing will be done at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory.
Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer, said the switch emerged from the agreement on an Olympic-style testing program for the baseball World Cup the sides hope to launch next March.
"If it's not a WADA-certified laboratory, then international play cannot take place," Orza said.
Major League Baseball's testing program has been criticized by some because it does not test for as many substances as Olympic sports and its penalties are less severe. The World Cup drug-testing deal does not alter Major League Baseball's labor contract.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to toughen the drug-testing provisions in the labor contract. The union has said it will listen to Selig, but no changes have been agreed to.
Kim Byung-hyun demoted
The Boston Red Sox optioned right-hander Kim Byung-hyun to Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday night, a day after he was removed from the starting rotation because of a second consecutive poor outing.
Kim was 1-1 with a 6.17 ERA in three starts after being activated from the 15-day disabled list on April 29. He missed the first 19 games of the season with a right shoulder strain.
Rafael Soriano disabled
Right-hander Rafael Soriano was placed on the 15-man disabled list Tuesday by the Seattle Mariners because of a sprained elbow ligament.
Seattle recalled infielder Ramon Santiago from Triple-A Tacoma.
Soriano is 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA in six relief appearances over 3 1-3 innings.
Miguel Tejada injured
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada left Tuesday's game against the Chicago White Sox in the first inning after straining a muscle in his right shin. He is listed as day-to-day.
Tejada hurt his leg when he extended it to grab a relay throw from left fielder Larry Bigbie. He stood up straight and then hopped on his left leg.
The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up a brief visit to Brazil on Friday with a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but despite the defeat, the team outshone their divisional rivals in the fight for the hearts and minds of Brazilian fans. In Sao Paulo for just the second-ever NFL game in the city, Chiefs players — especially quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce — were treated as major celebrities throughout their stay, turning Corinthians Arena into a scene reminiscent of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. Before kickoff, crowds of fans gathered around the Chiefs’ tunnel, eager to catch a
New Zealand stayed firm at their Eden Park fortress to claim an attritional 24-17 win over South Africa in a heavyweight clash between the world’s top two rugby sides yesterday. Under pressure after conceding a first-ever defeat on Argentine soil against the Pumas two weeks ago, the All Blacks responded with a performance of grit and discipline to stretch their unbeaten run at their Auckland stronghold to 51 matches. Two well-taken tries by Emoni Narawa and Will Jordan set up a 14-3 lead at halftime before Quinn Tupaea grabbed a third five-pointer for the hosts 13 minutes from time. Well-held for most of
Mikel Merino on Sunday scored a hat-trick as a majestic Spain thumped Turkey 6-0 away in World Cup qualifying, while a brilliant Florian Wirtz free-kick helped Germany beat Northern Ireland 3-1 to get their bid up and running. European champions Spain were in unstoppable form in the central Turkish city of Konya, claiming their second biggest-ever away win in World Cup qualifying as Arsenal midfielder Merino scored his first professional hat-trick. Barcelona playmaker Pedri Gonzalez opened the scoring inside six minutes and later completed the scoring, with Ferran Torres netting the visitors’ other goal. The quality of Merino’s strikes was remarkable, with his
The Wallabies trusted their instincts to keep pushing for a late try instead of a potential equalizing penalty goal late in their Rugby Championship Test match yesterday against Argentina, with prop Angus Bell scoring the clinching try in the sixth minute of added time to give Australia a comeback 28-24 win. The Wallabies were awarded three kickable penalties after the 80th minute, but kept pushing in search of the match-winning try, which was finally delivered by an unlikely hero in reserve prop Bell. “It’s just relieving,” Bell said. “It’s just awesome we could get the win in the end; not go for
RSS