Baseball Notebook

By: JournalNow Staff | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 06, 2008

Damon may go on DL for first time

■ Johnny Damon's injured left shoulder was wrapped tightly and Damon, an outfielder for the New York Yankees, admitted to having some pills to dull the pain.

One day after he crashed into the left-field wall on one strange triple yesterday, Damon sounded resigned to the fact he might not be able to recover in time to prevent the first DL stint of his 14-season major league career.

Damon sprained and bruised his shoulder trying to track down Kevin Youkilis' line drive in the third inning of New York's 6-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Friday.

Damon raced back, jumped and gloved the ball but lost it when he crashed into the fence. It popped out of the webbing of his glove, bounced up off the top of the wall and came to rest briefly on the fence.

The sellout crowd of 55,130 at Yankee Stadium was riveted as the ball paused for a moment before rolling back onto the field. Youkilis cruised into third with a tying two-run triple as Damon threw the ball into the infield before leaving the game.

Damon got an X-ray and an MRI, which revealed a sprained acromioclavicular joint.

"He's sore and he's getting some treatment," Manager Joe Girardi said yesterday.

■ The Texas Rangers placed pitcher Joaquin Benoit on the 15-day disabled list yesterday because of right shoulder inflammation.

The Rangers purchased the contract of right-handed pitcher Dustin Nippert from Class AAA Oklahoma.

The right-handed Benoit is 3-2 with a 5.60 ERA and one save in 34 games. The move is retroactive to July 3.

The shoulder has bothered Benoit for several weeks, and Texas shut him down for 13 days in June.

Nippert is 6-2 with a 3.93 ERA in 12 games with Oklahoma. He appeared in six games earlier this season with Texas, and is 1-2 with a 4.08 ERA.

Nippert threw a seven-inning no-hitter on June 29, beating Omaha 2-0.

■ The Cleveland Indians signed free agent pitcher Jeff Weaver to a minor league contract yesterday, giving the veteran a shot at making his sixth big-league team.

The right-handed Weaver will report to Class AAA Buffalo of the International League.

Weaver, 31, is 93-114 with an ERA of 4.72 in 284 appearances over nine seasons from 1999-2007. He's pitched for Detroit, the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis and Seattle. He had a career-best 14 wins for the Dodgers in 2005 and won three games for the World Series champion Cardinals in the 2006 postseason.

■ Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt returned to Houston yesterday after experiencing more discomfort in his strained left hip.

Oswalt was to be examined by Dr. Mike McCann in Houston yesterday. On Friday, he felt more pain in the hip when he tried to throw.

Oswalt was forced to leave Monday night's start against Los Angeles with the sore hip. His start was originally pushed back from Saturday night to Tuesday. But now Cooper said right-hander Brandon Backe will start in Oswalt's place Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

■ The Colorado Rockies have placed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on the 15-day disabled list with a cut on his right hand.

Tulowitzki missed 46 games earlier this season due to a left quadriceps tendon tear.

He was hitting .166 with three home runs and 16 RBIs this season.

Also yesterday, the Rockies optioned pitcher Greg Reynolds to Class AAA Colorado Springs and recalled outfielder Seth Smith and left-handed pitcher Glendon Rusch.

in time for the game last night against the Florida Marlins.