Major League Baseball
Grapefruit League notebook: Tejada blames cramping for leg-muscle strain

By Seattle Times news services

	Miguel Tejada
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FORT MYERS, Fla. — Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada, who hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs in a 10-8 win over the Boston Red Sox yesterday, left the game with a strained muscle in his lower right leg.

"Everything is fine. ... I'm going to be OK," Tejada said after the game. "It just hurt real bad for about five seconds and then it went away. After the doc checked it and I got some ice, it went away."

Tejada, who has the longest active consecutive-games-played streak in the majors at 594, came out after Mark Bellhorn hit a chopper between third and shortstop for the first out of the fourth inning. Third baseman Melvin Mora cut in front of Tejada to make the play.

Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli and trainer Richie Bancells came on the field to tend to Tejada, who stood bent at the waist.

"The thing that was bothering him more than anything was the cramping," Bancells said.

X-rays were taken at City of Palms Park to determine the extent of the injury, which began to bother Tejada during warmups, Bancells said.

"I didn't drink too much water today. I think that's why I got a cramp," said Tejada, who is listed day to day.

A former American League MVP with Oakland, Tejada agreed in December to a $72 million, six-year contract with the Orioles.

Williams will not play in Japan

TAMPA, Fla. — Center fielder Bernie Williams will miss the New York Yankees' opening two-game series in Tokyo against Tampa Bay that starts March 30.
 
Williams is working his way into shape following an appendectomy on Feb. 26.

"By the time we're ready to leave in a couple weeks, he may be into full-time action but, obviously, at that point in time won't have enough at-bats," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

Williams will remain in Florida to play in minor-league games.

"I would have liked to leave with the team, but I think what's best for me is to get my at-bats and get ready," he said. "It might work out in my best interest by staying."

Bone scan negative for Lowell

JUPITER, Fla. — Mike Lowell, Florida Marlins third baseman, had a bone scan yesterday that indicated soreness in his throwing elbow was caused by inflammation.

The scan ruled out a stress fracture in the joint, which began bothering Lowell last August.

Lowell plans to rest for several more days, skipping the team's trip this weekend to Mexico City, and then resume throwing Tuesday. The medical staff doesn't believe the ailment is serious.

Notes

• Andy Pettitte faced the minimum nine batters in his second outing of spring training, helping the Houston Astros beat a Pittsburgh Pirates' split squad 5-4 yesterday.

"Any time you get through a few innings without giving up any runs and too much damage, you feel good about it," Pettitte said. "I was able to throw strikes with almost all my pitches and got ahead of the hitters."

Pettitte, who allowed two hits in two innings against Atlanta in his first outing with the Astros, needed only 29 pitches — 20 for strikes — to breeze through the Pirates' lineup.

• Reggie Sanders returned to the Cardinals following the birth of his daughter and homered twice off Kazuhisa Ishii to lead St. Louis over the Los Angeles Dodgers 13-8 yesterday.

Sanders missed four days to be home while his wife, Wyndee, who gave birth to their fourth daughter, Cooper, on Sunday. He hit a solo homer in the first and a two-run drive in the second.

• Atlanta's Jaret Wright, facing his former team for the first time, struck out six in three innings yesterday in the Cleveland Indians' 6-5 win over the Braves.

Wright, trying to earn the fifth spot in Atlanta's rotation, was sharp until there was one out in the third, when the 28-year-old allowed four straight hits and three runs.

• Ken Griffey Jr. hit his first home run of the spring, a 440-foot drive yesterday in the Cincinnati Reds' 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Griffey hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Jayson Durocher that traveled over the indoor batting cages beyond the fence in right-center field.

Roy Halladay, defending AL Cy Young Award winner, started for Toronto and allowed two hits and two unearned runs in three innings.

• Los Angeles left-hander Greg Miller will have arthroscopic surgery next week to determine what is bothering his throwing shoulder. The procedure virtually guarantees he'll open the season on the disabled list.

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