Major League Baseball's disciplinary officials have slapped former Colorado Rockies pitcher Dan Serafini with a 50-game ban for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
Serafini, a free agent, blamed the positive test on a Japanese doctor who treated him while he was playing baseball in Asia.
"I suffered two significant injuries that limited my playing time to seven games in 2006 and nine games in 2007," Serafini said.
"While trying to accelerate the healing process of these injuries, I took substances that were prescribed for me by a doctor in Japan.
"What I did not know at the time was that these substances would cause me to test positive once I returned to the US.
"I have not taken these or any banned substances since returning to the US and signing with the Colorado Rockies organization in July," Serafini said.
Serafini appeared in just three games this past season with the National League champion Rockies, posting a 54.00 ERA in one-third of an inning.
The lefthander spent most of the season in the minors.
The journeyman pitcher said he would not seek treatment from an overseas doctor again.
"I have learned that a major leaguer should only rely on medical care provided by US-based doctors," he said.
A San Francisco native, Serafini broke into the major leagues in 1996 with the Minnesota Twins and has had stints with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds, appearing in 104 games.
Serafini has played parts of seven seasons and owns a career record of 15-16 with a 6.04 ERA in 104 games -- 33 starts.
Asian OLYMPIC Qualifiers
In yesterday's preliminaries for the Asian Olympic Baseball Qualifiers, it was: Pakistan 5, Thailand 3; Philippines 4, Hong Kong 1.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite