An MRI on Manny Ramirez's right knee showed no structural damage, but the Boston Red Sox slugger wasn't in the lineup for Thursday night's game against the Los Angeles Angels.
"Thankfully the MRI came back and everything's structurally clean," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He does have some patellar tendinitis, which we kind of knew already. So we eliminated some structural things that maybe worried us, which is good. Now we'll just see how he feels."
Wily Mo Pena started in left field and Kevin Youkilis batted in the cleanup spot usually occupied by Ramirez.
Ramirez came out of Wednesday night's 5-4 victory by the Red Sox after chasing a double in the left-field corner by Orlando Cabrera and a two-run single by Juan Rivera in the third inning. Ramirez grounded out in his only two at-bats.
"It hurt enough for him to come out of the game yesterday, so I can't imagine today him feeling like a hundred dollars," Francona said. "I don't think we have a time frame. We'll have to listen to him and listen to the medical people and see where they think he is. I don't think that tendinitis goes away overnight. It's probably going to come down to what he can tolerate."
Chicago: DH Jim Thome is expected to miss the White Sox's weekend series with the Minnesota Twins because of a strained hamstring.
Kansas City: 1B Doug Mientkiewicz, 32, was scheduled for season-ending back surgery on Tuesday.
Minnesota: LH reliever Dennys Reyes, 29, and the Twins agreed to a $2 million, two-year contract extension through the 2008 season.
New York: Ralph Nader, who says Yankees Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig was his childhood hero, isn't a fan of the planned new Yankee Stadium. The consumer advocate and two-time presidential candidate wrote team owner George Steinbrenner a letter saying the Yankees should not proceed with their $1.2 billion plan for a new stadium next to the current one. Rather, they should refurbish the existing ballpark. In the letter, Nader said the owner's plan to tear down a "national treasure" like Yankee Stadium in favor of "yet another replica of everyone else's stadium/mallpark," will give local residents less "recreation, more pollution, and unease over developers' unknown intentions for their neighborhood." Steinbrenner wasn't aware of the letter and the Yankees declined to comment, said Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for the owner.
Note: Former slugger Albert Belle was sentenced to three months in jail and five years of supervised probation for stalking his ex-girlfriend. The 39-year-old Belle pleaded guilty in July to one felony stalking count. He had initially been arrested and charged in February, then rearrested May 17 at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home after he again contacted the victim.
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