Denverites favor name 'Bears'

If Denver gets a National League expansion franchise, the team should be called the Denver Bears, say the majority of people voting in a newspaper poll.

With two days left in balloting, the Rocky Mountain News said Bears leads Rockies, 492-222, in the nickname race.

Denver is favored over Colorado, 582-483, in voting for the team's first name, and silver leads gold, 535-424, in voting for the team's second color. The prospective ownership group has selected purple as the primary color.

* GIANTS: All-Star outfielder Kevin Mitchell went to a hospital last night for tests on his swollen left knee.

Mitchell was out of the starting lineup because of the sore knee, which had forced him out of a game one week ago. Reds team Dr. Michael Lawhon examined him and recommended tests to determine whether Mitchell has torn something in the knee.

* REDS: The club will fly All-Star shortstop Barry Larkin to Birmingham, Ala., today to get a second opinion on his sore right elbow.

Larkin went on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with an inflamed ulnar nerve in his throwing elbow.

He said yesterday that he could fully flex the elbow for the first time since the problem developed two weeks ago.

* METS: Pitcher Sid Fernandez, disabled since March 11 with a fractured left arm, was told Tuesday to begin throwing lightly.

Dr. James Parkes said the fracture had healed and that he hoped Fernandez would be able to throw off a mound in two weeks.