Notebook: Urbina's mom rescued after kidnapping

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan police stormed a mountain camp and rescued Detroit Tigers pitcher Ugueth Urbina's mother from kidnappers yesterday after five months in captivity. The raid left at least one of her abductors dead, authorities said.

Officers from a special anti-kidnapping unit rescued 54-year-old Maura Villarreal from a remote mountainous area in the southern state of Bolivar, said Joel Rengifo, the chief officer in the division.

The major-leaguer's mother, who had been missing since she was kidnapped from her home Sept. 1, told reporters the experience was "unexpected — I never thought they would kidnap me."

"You can't say they treated me either well or poorly. The most hurtful thing was having to bear them saying that my son didn't love me because he didn't pay," said Villarreal, who was unharmed.

Urbina was not expected at the Tigers' spring-training camp in Lakeland, Fla., until at least early next week.

Rengifo said the kidnappers had demanded $6 million in ransom, but that the family didn't pay. He said the rescue operation began early yesterday and lasted eight hours in an area near the Guaniamo River, some 340 miles southwest of Caracas.

The kidnappers, after seeing the police, were mostly able to flee in heavy exchanges of gunfire, Rengifo said. One of the abductors was killed.

Robinson says steroids cast cloud on game

VIERA, Fla. — Frank Robinson, Hall of Fame slugger and Washington Nationals manager, believes steroids have created a "cloud over baseball" and that new penalties against steroid use aren't strong enough.

In his most extensive comments to date on the topic, baseball's No. 5 all-time home-run hitter said many fans are willing to ignore steroid use because they enjoy the "home runs, the RBIs, the big explosion offensively" of the last few years.

"But I'll tell you one thing," Robinson added. "The players that play this game do care, and the players that have played this game care.

"It's a cloud over baseball right now about steroids," Robinson said before a Nationals spring-training workout.

Robinson has been reluctant to comment on the steroid issue, but he is clearly concerned about the blanket suspicion cast over all players, especially those who have bulked up their bodies by more natural means.

"It's like when they had testing, back when I was playing, for certain drugs," Robinson said. "A lot of players took it as an invasion of privacy to be tested. I said I have nothing to hide. I'd love to be tested."

For decades, Robinson's 586 home runs ranked fourth all-time — behind Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays — before he was passed by Barry Bonds. Robinson didn't link the home-run record directly to steroids, but he openly wondered whether the power explosion will dwarf his accomplishments.

"Probably before I take my last breath, I'm going to be about 99th on the list," Robinson said. "And I'm afraid people are going to say, 'Frank Who?' "

White Sox's Thomas still hasn't recovered

TUCSON, Ariz. — Frank Thomas, Chicago White Sox slugger, hasn't recovered from an ankle injury that required offseason surgery and will miss Monday's reporting deadline.

Head trainer Herm Schneider said that the team has "no real timetable" for Thomas' return.

Thomas had a bone graft and two screws inserted on Oct. 6 to repair a partial stress fracture of his left ankle, injured while fielding a grounder June 17.

Notes

• The Nationals signed OF Terrmel Sledge, who hit 15 home runs as a rookie last season, to a one-year contract. Sledge, 27, hit .269 with 69 runs batted in over 133 games with the Montreal Expos last season.

• SS Nomar Garciaparra already got a raise from the Chicago Cubs. Garciaparra will have a base salary of $8.25 million this year, up from the $8 million deal he agreed to in December. As part of the reworked contract, he will be able to earn $2.75 million in incentives instead of $3 million.

• Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda, 77, the only manager in history to win a World Series and an Olympic gold medal, was appointed special adviser to Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

• RHP Ramon Ortiz and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to a $3.55 million, one-year contract, avoiding arbitration.