The woman whose nose was broken last year when she was hit by a chair thrown by Texas reliever Frank Francisco filed a lawsuit yesterday against the pitcher, two of his teammates and the Rangers.

The suit filed by Jennifer Bueno seeks damages for battery, assault and negligence. Also named in the lawsuit are Texas pitchers Doug Brocail and Carlos Almanzar, the Texas Rangers Baseball Company, and Staff Pro Inc. — the company hired by the Oakland Athletics to provide security at the game.

"As a matter of policy, the organization doesn't address issues related to litigation, especially when it involves a lawsuit, which we have not seen and only heard about from news reports," Rangers spokesman Gregg Elkin said.

Brocail and Almanzar declined to comment while Francisco was unavailable as he was preparing to undergo season-ending ligament-replacement surgery on his right elbow today.

Bueno's attorney, J. Gary Gwilliam, said at a news conference that the incident was the fault of the players involved, and repeatedly maintained that Bueno's husband, Craig, did nothing wrong to incite the players.

Craig Bueno was among a group of fans who heckled the Texas bullpen during the Sept. 13, 2004, game at the Coliseum.

"These were players out of control," Gwilliam said. "Jenny did absolutely nothing wrong. She didn't say anything to anybody, and we don't believe that Craig did anything wrong."

Jennifer Bueno said she has physically recovered from her injury, pointing to a small scar on the bridge of her nose, but said she is still affected emotionally.

"It's something that's going to stay with me for the rest of my life," Bueno said. "I never thought that I'd have to go to a game and be fearful for players attacking me, but nobody can say that won't happen, because we know now it can."

Gwilliam said negotiations last month on a settlement with the Rangers were unsuccessful. He wouldn't say how much money Bueno is seeking.

The criminal trial against Francisco is still pending, and was postponed Thursday by the judge until June 2.

Boston: RHP Wade Miller pitched five scoreless innings in a rehabilitation outing last night for Class AAA Pawtucket. Miller, out with a frayed rotator cuff since last June when he was with Houston, allowed five hits, walked two and struck out three. He threw 79 pitches, 53 for strikes. "I accomplished what I wanted to," Miller said. "I kept the ball down pretty decent but I left a few up. Other than that, I felt pretty strong tonight and felt like my control was getting better from last time." Miller said he will pitch for Pawtucket again on Tuesday. Even though Red Sox starters Curt Schilling and David Wells are on the disabled list, Miller will not hurry his rehab.

Cleveland: The Indians drew just 12,162 fans for Wednesday night's game against Detroit, the smallest crowd in Jacobs Field history. It was also the smallest home crowd since Sept. 20, 1993, when the Indians drew 11,751 to the old Cleveland Stadium.

Kansas City: Ken Harvey, the Royals' only All-Star last year, was recalled from Omaha, and RHP Shawn Camp was optioned to the AAA farm team.

New York: LHP Randy Johnson faces Toronto RHP Roy Halladay, a fellow Cy Young Award winner, today in New York.

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