Garciaparra

Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra received the expected good news yesterday -- that his right wrist was bruised and not broken -- but manager Jimy Williams saw extra value in his shortstop's trip back to Boston for the definitive opinion."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- About an hour and a half before his team's 6-3 victory over the Dodgers yesterday at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo greeted Los Angeles first baseman Nomar Garciaparra behind the batting cage. The two exchanged kind words and went on their way. Perlozzo had hoped to have the former Boston Red Sox star in an Orioles uniform this season. He called Garciaparra twice and tried to recruit the free agent to Baltimore. However, the lure of playing on the West Coast, where he is from, was too much, and Garciaparra decided to sign a one-year, $6 million deal plus $4 million in incentives with the Dodgers.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- About an hour and a half before his team's 6-3 victory over the Dodgers yesterday at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo greeted Los Angeles first baseman Nomar Garciaparra behind the batting cage. The two exchanged kind words and went on their way. Perlozzo had hoped to have the former Boston Red Sox star in an Orioles uniform this season. He called Garciaparra twice and tried to recruit the free agent to Baltimore. However, the lure of playing on the West Coast, where he is from, was too much, and Garciaparra decided to sign a one-year, $6 million deal plus $4 million in incentives with the Dodgers.

NATIONAL Bush asserts U.S. is winning war President Bush asserted yesterday night the United States is winning the war in Iraq but acknowledged setbacks and the doubts of some "that the war is lost and not worth another dime or another day." He pleaded with Americans to ignore "defeatists who refuse to see that anything is right." pg 1a House negotiates budget cuts Racing to adjourn for the year, the House was poised to pass a final package of budget cuts late last night and was expected to consider two other key pieces of legislation this morning.

Now, Boston Red Sox manager Jimy Williams has three reasons to dislike Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Williams and the Red Sox had just settled into the park Thursday night for their first visit of the 2000 season when two of Boston's hottest hitters pulled up lame in running to first base. Cleanup hitter Nomar Garciaparra was the first to go down, suffering a strained left hamstring hustling to first in the first inning base to avoid being doubled up on a bases-loaded grounder that forced Brian Daubach at second base.

The Orioles are still considered one of the front-runners to land Jeff Conine, but at least two other free agents they once coveted appear to be headed elsewhere. According to a team official, the Orioles are essentially out of the Nomar Garciaparra sweepstakes. The former All-Star shortstop has become one of the hottest free agents, with the latest reports having the New York Yankees as one of the leaders to sign Garciaparra to play first base. The Orioles, looking to add Garciaparra's bat to their lineup, offered him a one-year, $4 million deal earlier this month with the hope of his playing first base or left field.

NEW YORK - So much for the relative quiet of the non-waiver trade deadline. While Randy Johnson stayed in Arizona, the Boston Red Sox sent shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs in a four-team blockbuster deal that reverberated throughout major league baseball. The Red Sox, who trail the New York Yankees by 8 1/2 games in the American League East, acquired shortstop Orlando Cabrera from the Montreal Expos and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz from the Minnesota Twins. The Expos obtained shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the Cubs, and the Twins received minor league pitcher Justin Jones from Chicago.

NEW YORK - Held down by a slump that gripped him for two months, Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra finally was able to get loose yesterday in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. As he moved, so did an entire team - away from the edge of elimination. Garciaparra went 4-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored in the Red Sox's 9-6 victory over the New York Yankees. He had two hits in the series before doubling that amount. "All I've done is go up there the same as I have been," he said.

Two-time American League batting champion Nomar Garciaparra underwent wrist surgery yesterday to repair tendon damage and will be out of the Boston lineup for at least 10 weeks. Red Sox team doctor and hand specialist Dr. Bill Morgan removed a bone fragment that was contributing to the chronic tendon inflammation that forced Garciaparra out of action this spring. Morgan also repaired the sheath of tissue around the tendon. Garciaparra originally suffered the injury during the 1999 season, when he was hit by a pitch from then-Orioles reliever Al Reyes.

Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra are potential Hall of Famers, a latter-day Willie, Mickey and the Duke. How can Mike Bordick make the American League All-Star team against such competition? Most likely, he can't. But Bordick is worthy of All-Star consideration, and that fact alone is testament to his remarkable first half. Fans might not view the late-blooming Bordick as one of the game's best shortstops - he is fifth in the AL balloting - but his younger peers do. "He's solid, a great player, for sure," Garciaparra said.

The Orioles are still considered one of the front-runners to land Jeff Conine, but at least two other free agents they once coveted appear to be headed elsewhere. According to a team official, the Orioles are essentially out of the Nomar Garciaparra sweepstakes. The former All-Star shortstop has become one of the hottest free agents, with the latest reports having the New York Yankees as one of the leaders to sign Garciaparra to play first base. The Orioles, looking to add Garciaparra's bat to their lineup, offered him a one-year, $4 million deal earlier this month with the hope of his playing first base or left field.

An intense sales pitch and the most lucrative offer was not enough to lure Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko to the Orioles. Konerko, the most prominent bat on the free-agent market, signed a five-year, $60 million deal yesterday afternoon to stay with the world champion White Sox, eschewing a five-year, $65 million deal from the Orioles. The Los Angeles Angels also reportedly offered the slugging first baseman the identical offer that he signed with Chicago. "We felt it was a long shot from the beginning, but we wanted to give it our best shot," said Orioles executive vice president Mike Flanagan.

THIS WAS his moment, especially on a night when the Orioles did not want to be shut out by the Red Sox again. It was a chance for Sammy Sosa to dig himself a little deeper into the skin of the fans of his new team. Two outs, bottom of the eighth, the Orioles trailing 1-0 and his buddies, Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada, on first and second, Sosa was at the plate. On a 2-0 count, he took a wicked swing that produced a loud "ohhh" from the crowd. Maybe ol' Sammy was due ... Or maybe not. On the next pitch, Sosa slapped a grounder back to the mound.

On July 21, 10 days before the Boston Red Sox traded franchise shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, they played the Orioles at Fenway Park with a defensive lineup that would have been the envy of beer-league softball teams across the nation. Garciaparra didn't play - just as he didn't in 63 of the team's first 101 games - because of an Achilles' tendon injury. So the lineup included the slow-footed Kevin Youkilis at third base, Mark Bellhorn at shortstop, Bill Mueller in a rare start at second base, and Kevin Millar at first.

NEW YORK - So much for the relative quiet of the non-waiver trade deadline. While Randy Johnson stayed in Arizona, the Boston Red Sox sent shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs in a four-team blockbuster deal that reverberated throughout major league baseball. The Red Sox, who trail the New York Yankees by 8 1/2 games in the American League East, acquired shortstop Orlando Cabrera from the Montreal Expos and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz from the Minnesota Twins. The Expos obtained shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the Cubs, and the Twins received minor league pitcher Justin Jones from Chicago.

NEW ORLEANS - The smoke and mirrors have been cleared away. The scenario Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry has been working on for weeks, one in which his team would trade outfielder Manny Ramirez for Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez, then turn around and trade shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to another club, is on the verge of being realized. The trade might happen by the end of the week and no later than Christmas, according to multiple industry sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

NEW ORLEANS - The smoke and mirrors have been cleared away. The scenario Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry has been working on for weeks, one in which his team would trade outfielder Manny Ramirez for Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez, then turn around and trade shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to another club, is on the verge of being realized. The trade might happen by the end of the week and no later than Christmas, according to multiple industry sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

Quote: "I'd like to feel [DH Chili Davis will] be fine. [Surgery] was a no-brainer, so we can have him right for the pennant run." -- Yankees manager Joe Torre.It's a fact: White Sox sluggers Albert Belle and Frank Thomas went a combined 0-for-8 with five strikeouts yesterday.Who's hot: The Red Sox's Nomar Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a third-inning single.Who's not: The Tigers lost their sixth straight.On deck: Next weekend's Yankees-Tigers series, originally set for Detroit, was rescheduled for Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles haven't forgotten about free-agent shortstop Miguel Tejada, even if it seems the rest of the baseball world is ignoring him. Tejada was the American League's 2002 Most Valuable Player, but so far this offseason, his only reported offer has come from the Seattle Mariners - for three years at between $24 million and $25 million. Yesterday, a high-ranking Orioles official said they will definitely top that offer, though he declined to say what the number of years or dollar amount will be. The same club official also shot down the possibility of the Orioles trading for disgruntled Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.

NEW YORK - Held down by a slump that gripped him for two months, Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra finally was able to get loose yesterday in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series. As he moved, so did an entire team - away from the edge of elimination. Garciaparra went 4-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored in the Red Sox's 9-6 victory over the New York Yankees. He had two hits in the series before doubling that amount. "All I've done is go up there the same as I have been," he said.