Major League Baseball
AL notes: Hunter hands Glove to Minnesota coach

By Larry Stone
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Earlier this year, Oakland's Eric Chavez stunned Athletics coach Ron Washington by presenting him with his third Gold Glove award, a tribute to Washington's diligent work with the third baseman.

Minnesota's Torii Hunter was thinking along the same lines last Sunday when he was awarded his third Gold Glove in a pregame ceremony at the Metrodome.

Hunter, an outfielder, took the microphone, offered thanks, and said, "I now turn this award over to you," handing it to Twins coach Jerry White.

A stunned White was moved to tears.

"It's kind of hard to accept," White told reporters afterward. "He earned it. Just give me a practice glove, man. I'm still in shock that it happened. I was out there during the game going, jeez. I had tears in my eyes. I'm really happy for him. He really earned it."

Hunter gave his first Gold Glove to his mother and kept No. 2 for himself.

• Veteran Lou Piniella-watchers could see this one coming from a mile away.

Piniella has already gone into his first pitching rant of the season, yanking Mark Hendrickson and Jeremi Gonzalez out of the rotation after a couple of poor performances (he later relented on Gonzalez and will give him another start today).

Mariners-killer Doug Waechter will come up from the minors to join the rotation, and Damian Moss came out of the bullpen to start Thursday. Moss' outing in a 7-6 loss to the Orioles further rankled the skipper.

"The only way we're going to start winning with any consistency is to get a damn rotation that can pitch better than what ours has," Piniella said after the game.
 
"You need your starting pitching to give you a chance, and, invariably, we've had two pitchers here all year that have done it, (Victor) Zambrano and (Paul) Abbott. And the rest of them? They've been out there."

Entering yesterday, Zambrano and Abbott were a combined 5-2 with a 3.22 earned-run average, while Moss, Hendrickson and Gonzalez were 0-5, 8.26.

Moss, who blew a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning , told reporters he thought he "did a great job," which is sure to endear himself further to his manager.

• Speaking of the Devil Rays, best wishes to their hitting coach, Lee Elia, who had his gall bladder removed Thursday morning. Elia, who also coached under Piniella in Seattle, will be out for at least another week.

• Detroit's Brandon Inge, who lost his starting catching job when the Tigers signed Ivan Rodriguez, has turned into a utility wizard.

Inge has started games at catcher, third base, left field and center field, which according to research by STATS Inc. makes him the first major-leaguer in more than 20 years to achieve that particular combination in the same season.

Ron Pruitt, in 1980, was the last player to start at those four spots in one season. Pruitt split the season between the Indians and White Sox and started just one game at third.

According to Detroit manager Alan Trammell, Inge is also the Tigers' emergency pitcher.

• President Jed Bartlett threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Friday's game at Camden Yards between the Orioles and Blue Jays.

Actually, it was Martin Sheen of "The West Wing," who became the third fictional president to film a first-pitch ceremony at an actual Orioles game. The two others: Kevin Kline ("Dave") and Chris Rock ("Head of State.")

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company