Garciaparra

Quote: " Aqui no pitch, gordo." - "If I don't pitch, I get fat" was response of Yankees' Orlando Hernandez to possibility of missing a turn in rotation because of sore back. He said he felt fine yesterday. It's a fact: The Blue Jays had 43 homers in May, a team record for the month. Who's hot: White Sox reliever Keith Foulke earned his ninth save in 10 chances. He has allowed one earned run in his past 24 innings and his ERA is 0.81. Who's not: Texas is 3-5 on a nine-game road trip and has lost five of seven since a seven-game winning streak.

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.

NEW YORK -- Chalk it up to the "Curse of the Bambino" if you want, but the Boston Red Sox have their hands plenty full with the modern-day players who inhabit Yankee Stadium.The Red Sox hung tough for two nights, but the defending world champion New York Yankees had the last word each time, going up two games in the American League Championship Series with last night's 3-2 victory.Name your unlikely hero.Rusty right-hander David Cone delivered a gutsy, seven-inning, seven-hit performance and matched his postseason high with nine strikeouts on the way to his seventh victory in 10 career postseason decisions.

BOSTON -- One by one, they will appear. Nomar Garciaparra today. Pedro Martinez tomorrow. And then the ghost of Babe Ruth for the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.Why can't the end of an 81-year New England nightmare begin with such a fantasy? Truth was certainly stranger than fiction yesterday in the Boston Red Sox's 9-3 victory over Cleveland in Game 3 of the Division Series.The Red Sox won behind Ramon Martinez, a pitcher making only his fifth major-league appearance in the past 16 months, and Lou Merloni, a local-boy shortstop who had started only 31 games this season.

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."

Few seasons produce this many legitimate MVP candidates. Five American League position players are worthy, but a 5-foot-11, 170-pound pitcher towers above the field.Pedro Martinez is the MVP.If there was any doubt, it should have been erased Sept. 10, when Martinez delivered one of the great pennant-race performances in recent memory, a 17-strikeout, one-hit victory in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.Some in Boston suggested that Martinez's domination of the defending world champions was more impressive than Roger Clemens' two 20-strikeout games -- Clemens overpowered a 95-loss Seattle team in 1986, and a 109-loss Detroit team in '96.This much is certain -- Martinez set the tone for a pivotal series, inspiring the second-place Red Sox to a three-game sweep that solidified their wild-card chances and reduced the Yankees' lead to 3 1/2 games in the AL East.

Meet Nomar GarciaparraNomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox was the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year. He hit .306 with 30 homers, and he fielded like an acrobat. This season, Nomar was hitting .303 through May 7.As a kid, Nomar's coaches nicknamed him "No Nonsense Nomar" because he was veryserious about baseball. "I always loved the game," says Nomar. "I wanted to learn as much as I could."Nomar is named after his dad, Ramon. Nomar is Ramon spelled backward.Buzz WordsBuzz Beamer's guide to sports slang will help you talk like a pro!