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.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
This year’s Taiwan Athletics Open, which offers Taiwanese athletes an opportunity to compete against their international peers, would be held under a new name after its organizers had earlier announced the event’s cancelation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association said the competition would still take place on June 6-7 at Banciao Stadium, but under the name “New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026.” The event was given a new name to emphasize its local identity and conform with the international practice of naming World Athletics Tour events after cities, the association said. It said it would soon
RSS