FRIDAY'S TIDBITS Line of the Day Curt Schilling Almost had a complete-game shutout, but gave up a solo homer to the Giants' Rich Aurilia with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in a 2-1 victory. IP H ER SO 9 4 1 11 Hero of the day Rangers pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto, who didn't start for the third straight game with an injured groin, knocked in the winning run with two outs in the ninth with a single in Texas' 7-6 victory over the Orioles. Goat of the day Mariners reliever Jeff Nelson gave up five earned runs in two innings -- including a grand slam to the Twins' Torii Hunter -- to help Minnesota rally to defeat Seattle 8-4. Injury report Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter didn't play with a bruised left leg but might play this weekend. Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney had two stitches in his right ring finger after getting hit by a pitch and is day-to-day. Tigers designated hitter Dmitri Young left the game in the fifth inning with an aggravated hernia. Streak of the day The Orioles have lost eight straight games against the Rangers. Stat of the day Cardinals outfielder Albert Pujols is the first player in Cardinals history to hit 20 or more homers in each of his first two seasons. The last word "Ted was like John Wayne. He was a man's man.'' -- Hall of Famer Joe Morgan about Ted Williams, who died Friday at 83.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tigers at Red Sox
Detroit: LHP Mark Redman entered 3-3 with a 2.18 ERA in his last eight starts after going 0-5 with a 5.33 ERA in eight starts before that. ... Coming in, the Tigers' last win by more than one run was June 16 in Atlanta. ... Robert Fick, Detroit's only All-Star, had two hits in three of his previous five games. ... George Lombard's single in the third was his ninth hit in 17 at bats.

Boston: 2B Bryant Nelson, playing in his 21st game, made his first error of the season when he let a routine grounder get by him in the third inning. ... RHP Frank Castillo made his first start since serving his second five-game suspension of the year. ... Boston began the final series of a 14-game, 13-day homestand before the All-Star break. ... The numeral ''9'' was mowed into the left-field grass before the game in honor of Ted Williams, who died Friday at the age of 83. His uniform No. 9 has been retired by the Red Sox.

Blue Jays at Yankees
Toronto: The Blue Jays entered with a season-high seven-game losing streak on the road. ... Before giving up a second-inning home run to Jorge Posada, Blue Jays starter Esteban Loiaza had held the New York Yankees catcher to a .125 average (3-for-24). ... Toronto has nine rookies on the roster, three short of the team record set in 1977, the Blue Jays' first season.

New York: Jorge Posada's home run was the 100th of his career. ... Bernie Williams went 125 consecutive at-bats without a home run, the third-longest streak of his career. ... The Yankees held a pregame meeting to discuss baseball's troubled labor talks. ... LHP Ted Lilly will replace Roger Clemens as New York's starter Sunday. Clemens left Tuesday's start with right leg cramps, and the Yankees talked him into taking a 10-day rest. ... New York SS Derek Jeter, whose left lower leg was bruised Thursday on a takeout slide by Cleveland's John McDonald, hopes to play Saturday but the Yankees aren't sure.

Orioles at Rangers
Baltimore: The Orioles' bullpen is beginning to pitch more like it did at the beginning of the year. Baltimore relievers didn't allow a run in their first eight games, going 24 2/3 scoreless innings to start the season. Going into Friday night's game, they had allowed just nine earned runs in 44 innings (1.84 ERA) over the previous 15 games. ... 3B Tony Batista is the only Baltimore player to start all 83 games this season.

Texas: RHP Jeff Zimmerman will report to Class-A Port Charlotte on Sunday to begin a rehabilitation assignment. Zimmerman has missed the entire season with tendinitis in his right elbow. Zimmerman, the Texas representative for the players' union, will go to Chicago on Monday for the union meeting and then return to Port Charlotte. He hasn't pitched in a game since spring training. ... Former Rangers closer John Wetteland, who retired after the 2000 season because of back problems, was back on the mound for Texas. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch as part of the team's season-long celebration of 30 years in Texas. While the injury forced his retirement, the 35-year-old Wetteland hasn't missed baseball. "I get to watch my kids grow up and be with them every day.'' He has four children, the oldest being 6-year-old twins. Wetteland, who had 330 career saves, recently moved from New Mexico back to Texas.

Indians at White Sox
Cleveland: One night after his streak of seven straight games with a homer ended, 1B Jim Thome was given a rest and left out of the starting lineup. Newcomer Lee Stevens batted cleanup and played first base. ... GM Mark Shapiro expects all three prospects acquired for RHP Bartolo Colon to reach the majors by July of next season. SS Brandon Phillips, LHP Cliff Lee and OF Grady Sizemore have all played well in the minors since the June 27 deal with Montreal. "All three guys have a chance to be players of impact. Two of them (Phillips and Lee) very quickly so up here. But part of the pain that goes with the rebuilding process is, the fruits of our pain are not yet evident,'' Shapiro said. ... OF Ellis Burks, who came up with the Red Sox, remembered when he first met Ted Williams in the mid-1980s as a minor leaguer. "One time he said to me, 'Hey kid, you got an agent?' And I said, 'No, sir, I don't.' He said 'I want to be your agent. You're going to be a star one day.' So I called my mom and dad and said 'Ted Williams wants to be my agent!' But I come to find out that he used to tell all the guys that,'' Burks said, laughing.

Chicago: DH Frank Thomas was not in the starting lineup. Thomas, who's mired in skids of 0-for-15 and 1-for-22, has watched his batting average drop to .239, well below his .319 career mark. Manager Jerry Manuel said he just wanted to give Thomas a rest. ... Jeff Liefer got a start at first base the same day a newspaper story expressed his desire to be traded because of a lack of playing time. Liefer came in hitting .188 with a paltry .246 slugging percentage in 69 at-bats. Mostly he has sat behind Paul Konerko and Thomas. Liefer played a bigger role off the bench last season, when he slugged .533 in 254 at-bats. Manuel said he didn't know about Liefer complaining publicly. "That doesn't determine whether I play anybody or not. That's no problem for me. Liefer's a guy who wants to play, he's an older player, he had a big year for us last year. He was like an insurance policy,'' Manuel said. ... OF Magglio Ordonez was presented with the "Order for Labor Merits'' -- a medal -- by the Consulate General of Venezuela, his birthplace. ... Former White Sox pitcher and 1993 Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell -- now trying to make it as a musician with his band, Stickfigure -- played guitar and sang the national anthem.

Devil Rays at Angels
Tampa Bay: CF Randy Winn, the team's All-Star representative, needed one hit to reach 100 and join Quinton McCracken as the quickest to do so in team history. ... Four of Tampa Bay's eight consecutive road losses have been decided in the eighth inning. The Devil Rays' last road win was June 18 at San Francisco.

Anaheim: 3B Troy Glaus was in the starting lineup after leaving Thursday's game in the seventh inning with a mildly sprained left ankle that he sustained Wednesday night. ... C Shawn Wooten, on the DL since the start of the season with a separated joint in his right thumb, will play at Triple A-Salt Lake this weekend, then play California League games Monday and Tuesday. "Hopefully, he's ready to go shortly after that,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ... RHP Al Levine, on the 15-day DL with tendinitis in his right shoulder, will likely make a minor league rehabilitation start after the All-Star break and then rejoin the team. He will throw again Saturday. "We need Al to be there as quickly as possible,'' Scioscia said.

Royals at Athletics
Kansas City: 1B Mike Sweeney, named to his third straight All-Star game, was out of the lineup for the second straight game against the Athletics. Sweeney had two stitches in his right ring finger after getting hit by a pitch from Seattle's Joel Pineiro on Wednesday. Sweeney is listed as day-to-day. ... Sweeney has gone hitless in his two All-Star game at-bats. ... The Royals came in with 19 home runs in their last 13 games after hitting just 50 in the first 60 games. ... Former Oakland C A.J. Hinch was in the starting lineup.

Oakland: The A's stole two bases in the series opener, their first multisteal game since Sept. 20, when they also stole two against Texas. ... In the 38 games after May 25, the A's pitching staff lowered its ERA from a season-high 5.01 to 4.14. They've allowed three or fewer runs in 24 of those games. A's starters are 20-7 over that span, after going 4-14 in the previous 22 games. ... Saturday's starter Aaron Harang has a 2.43 ERA, best among AL rookies with 13 or more innings. He's tied for fifth with 36 strikeouts. In five of his eight starts, he has pitched at least six innings, and he has not allowed a run in three starts.

Twins at Mariners
Minnesota: Twins bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek played six games as a catcher for the Washington Senators in 1972, when the team was managed by Ted Williams. "Ted loved the offensive part of being a manager,'' Stelmaszek said. "He didn't care much for the running of the game, though. He thought everything revolved around hitting.'' Stelmaszek said Williams was short on patience with his players. "He was a big student of the hitting part of the game,'' he said. "He broke it down into a science. He couldn't understand why other people couldn't grasp it.'' Stelmaszek said Williams loved to talk about hitting for hours. "The one thing that got me was he talked to the opposition,'' he said. "I said to myself, 'Wait a minute, we're trying to beat them.''' Stelmaszek said Williams never talked about his own hitting. "He never bragged about himself or his personal records.''

Seattle: All-Star RF Ichiro Suzuki wanted to meet Ted Williams when he came to the United States, but never got the opportunity. "But I did not think that would happen because of his health,'' Suzuki said. "It's sad to hear that he passed away.'' Suzuki hit .385 for the Orix Blue Wave in 1994 and .387 in 2000, his final season in Japan. Williams was the last .400 hitter in the majors. "His name was always mentioned to me in Japan,'' Suzuki said. ... Manager Lou Piniella met Williams when he was a young player in the majors and Williams was managing the Senators. Piniella said they talked about hitting, or rather, Williams talked about hitting. "You just listened,'' Piniella said. "One day I told him my theory on hitting and he said, 'Hogwash.' So I just listened some more.'' ... Suzuki, who started 82 of the team's first 85 games either in right field (78) or at DH (4), was held out of the lineup. Suzuki was 0-for-7 and hitless in his last 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position. He will start in Tuesday's All-Star game in Milwaukee. "I think it'll be good for him,'' Piniella said of his decision to rest Suzuki, who is batting .360. ... Piniella said LHP John Halama will start Sunday against the Twins. Halama has appeared in 18 games this season, four as a starter. RHP Ryan Franklin, Piniella's other candidate to start Sunday, has strep throat and was not available for the second straight game. Halama is starting in place of rookie RHP Rafael Soriano, expected to be optioned to Triple-A Tacoma after the All-Star break. Soriano, who is 0-3 with a 4.56 ERA in 10 starts, had some shoulder stiffness and was not available Friday night.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Expos at Phillies
Montreal: 2B Jose Vidro was named Expos Player of the Month in June. Vidor, who will receive the award prior to Montreal's home game next Friday against Atlanta, hit .352 with 16 runs and 15 RBI while playing 25 of the team's 26 games last month. ... The Expos signed fifth-round pick RHP Willard Pearson to a contract on Friday. Pearson was 4-7 with a 5.28 ERA for Jackson State last year but led the team with seven complete games. Opposing batters hit just .223 against him. ... Saturday's starter RHP Javier Vazquez has given up 11 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings in two games against the Phillies this season.

Philadelphia: Contrary to reports earlier this week, 1B Travis Lee will not have to go on the disabled list after feeling soreness in his left shoulder and missing the team's last two games. Lee, who was hurt while sliding into home on Tuesday against New York, had an MRI on Friday and no tear was found. Because he has no pain or stiffness, he is available to pinch-hit and his status will be updated day-to-day. ... Lee's injury caused sent Phillies minor leaguer Eric Valent intobaseball limbo for two days. On Wednesday, Valent was summoned from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Lee's roster spot. But Lee felt better on Thursday and was cleared by the MRI on Friday. Valent was never activated and he was sent back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. ... The Phillies have won four of the last five games that Saturday's starter RHP Brandon Duckworth has pitched. Duckworth is 3-1 in that span.

Brewers at Reds
Milwaukee: Jeffrey Hammonds' two-run homer in the third inning off Elmer Dessens was the 100th of his career. ... Matt Stairs' solo homer in the second inning was his fifth of the season. Four of them have come on the Brewers' current trip. ... RHP Jamey Wright, who will start Saturday night, has won his last four starts against the Reds, giving up nine earned runs in 26 2/3 innings during the streak. ... Wright will be trying to win consecutive starts for the first time since the end of last season. ... LHP Glendon Rusch singled in his first at-bat, his ninth hit of the season. Jamey Wright set a franchise record for hits by a pitcher last season, when he had 13. Rusch has hit safely in nine of his 16 starts when he made a plate appearance.

Cincinnati: SS Barry Larkin doubled in the first inning, moving him ahead of SS Dave Concepcion into second place on the franchise list with 390. Pete Rose holds the club record with 601. ... Larkin also hit his 100th career homer at Cinergy Field in the third inning. Larkin has 186 homers overall. ... RHP Jose Rijo threw in the bullpen again Friday and was pleased with how his shoulder felt. Rijo threw 65 pitches, including eight or 10 forkballs and five or six sliders. He's on the disabled list with a weak shoulder, but is expected back in the next few weeks. "My fastball has improved so much,'' he said. "I still don't think I've reached my potential. I know I'm going to get better. I'm throwing better than I was in spring training.''

Astros at Pirates
Houston: Astros player representative Gregg Zaun will hold a team meeting before the All-Star break to judge the players' reaction to the ongoing labor talks. Zaun wants a team consensus before voting on a possible strike date. ... RHP Dave Mlicki, on the disabled list with a strained shoulder muscle, plans to pitch a simulated game Saturday. If there are no problems, he could begin a rehabilitation assignment after the All-Star break. ... Nelson Cruz, another of the Astros' fill-in starters with Carlos Hernandez and Shane Reynolds injured, makes his second start of the season Saturday night in Pittsburgh. He is 2/3 with a 7.46 ERA in seven career starts. Cruz didn't figure in the decision in a 7-3 victory over Arizona on Monday, his first major league start since July 9, 1999, for Detroit. Pete Munro made a spot start Thursday against Pittsburgh, lasting 4 1/3 innings.

Pittsburgh: Something was missing from the Astros-Pirates game Friday night -- a rain delay. The Pirates had three rain delays at PNC Park from Monday through Thursday, giving them 16 rain delays totaling 17 hours, 33 minutes at home this season, the equivalent of about six games' worth of play. They have had only two rain delays on the road. ... Brian Giles is the first Pirates player to hit 20 or more homers in four consecutive seasons since Willie Stargell did so for 13 straight seasons from 1964-76. ... When Jack Wilson, Abraham Nunez and Adam Hyzdu each homered Tuesday against Milwaukee, it marked the first time since July 1995 that three teammates have hit their first homers on the same day so late in a season. Franklin Stubbs, Ron Tingley and Scott Fletcher each hit their first homers for Detroit on July 16, 1995.

Dodgers at Cardinals
Los Angeles: Dave Hansen tied the teams career record with his 106th pinch-hit in 11 seasons with the Dodgers on Thursday, and sixth of the season. He's tied with Manny Mota, a Dodgers' coach. Hansen is third on the overall career pinch list with 116, trailing Lenny Harris (162) and John Vander Wal (117). ... Dodgers starters led the majors with 43 victories, two more than the Boston Red Sox, and had the second-lowest ERA at 3.39. ... Dodgers farmhand Joel Hanrahan of Class-A Vero Beach threw his second no-hitter of the season Thursday in a 5-1 victory over Brevard County. He and Sid Fernandez (1982) are the only Vero Beach players to throw two no-hitters in a season. ... RHP Hideo Nomo, who starts Saturday, is 7-0 with a 2.76 ERA his last eight starts. He's 5-3 against the Cardinals.

St. Louis: RF J.D. Drew, on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right knee, is expected to be put right back into the lineup when he's eligible to return the second day after the All-Star break. Manager Tony La Russa said Drew might start two of three games for a while just to be on the cautious side. "It's going to be hard to win without him, so whatever it takes to get him ready,'' La Russa said. ... Most of the Cardinals regulars got a day off during the 13-game homestand leading up to the All-Star break, so La Russa anticipates putting his regular out the last few games. "At this point we're going to try to win the games,'' La Russa said. "We've got three left and then everybody takes a break.'' ... Jason Isringhausen's 19 saves before the break is the most for the team since Lee Smith had 30 in 1993.

Mets at Marlins
New York: LHP Mike Bacsik made his first major league start Friday night and gave up two earned runs in the first inning. Needing to fill RHP Steve Trachsel's spot in the rotation, the Mets recalled Bacsik from Triple-A Norfolk of the International League before the game. Trachsel has been on the DL since July 1 because of a strained back muscle. Bacsik, 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA at Norfolk this season, made his major league debut in 2000 with Cleveland. He had three relief appearances before getting sent back down. ... 3B Edgardo Alfonso was back in the lineup Friday, a day after leaving the game with dizziness. He was hit in the helmet by a pitch Thursday. "There were no ill effects,'' manager Bobby Valentine said. ... OF Timo Perez hit in the No. 5 spot for the first time this season.

Florida: SS Alex Gonzalez had a setback in his rehab. Gonzalez, on the DL since May 21 because of a dislocated left shoulder, left a rehab assignment Thursday with pain in the shoulder. Tests showed torn scar tissue. Manager Jeff Torborg said Gonzalez will take the weekend off, then start another rehab assignment Monday. "Surgery might be in the future,'' Torborg said. "Until then, he's going to be in pain. We've talked about it. The question is how much and whether or not it's going to stop him from his normal abilities.'' ... C Charles Johnson was out of the lineup Friday night because of back spasms. He left Thursday's game when his back tightened up in the sixth inning. ... RHP Josh Beckett will make a rehab start Saturday for the team's affiliate in the Gulf Coast League. Beckett has been on the DL since June 5 because of a blister.

Cubs at Braves
Chicago: New GM Jim Hendry, named to his post Friday, joined the Cubs in 1994 as director of player development. He became scouting director a year later, and then in 1998 took over both departments. In August 2000, he was named assistant general manager. He was coach at Creighton from 1984-91, and worked for three years as a special assistant to Florida GM Dave Dombrowski until joining the Cubs. ... Roosevelt Brown made his first start of the season in right field, taking Sammy Sosa's place. Sosa flew back to Chicago for a family emergency and wasn't expected back in Atlanta for the final two games of the series.

Atlanta: SS Mark DeRosa and 2B Marcus Giles, on rehab assignments at Triple-A Richmond, have been playing multiple positions. DeRosa has seen time at third, and Giles has played the outfield. ... RHP John Smoltz was trying to become the fifth reliever in team history to reach 30 saves. He has 29 in 32 chances. Mark Wohlers did it twice, including a club-record 39 in 1996. Gene Garber (30), Kerry Ligtenberg (30) and John Rocker (38) also have reached that mark. ... Despite some recent struggles, RHP Kevin Millwood entered Friday night's start with a career record of 62-43 and a 3.86 ERA.

Padres at Rockies
San Diego: Prior to Friday's game with Colorado, San Diego placed OF Ray Lankford on the 15-day DL retroactive to July 4 with a strained right hamstring. Lankford, who was hitting .237 with six home runs and 25 RBI at the time, was injured trying to make a catch of a line drive hit by Jim Edmonds of St. Louis. "Ray tries to make a play, a great play in the middle of the game,'' Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "It wasn't like he wasn't loose. These are times of bad luck for us.'' Bad luck indeed. Lankford becomes the 12th player including nine pitchers on the DL for the Padres at the start of the night. "I have never seen anything like this -- all the injuries and not knowing why,'' Bochy said. ... San Diego purchased the contract of OF Trenidad Hubbard from Triple-A Portland to replace Lankford and placed Hubbard on the 40-man roster. The Padres designated 1B Kevin Barker for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Hubbard.

Colorado: Manager Clint Hurdle announced LHP Denny Neagle will begin the second half of the season in the bullpen. RHP Denny Stark, who was 4-1 and 10 starts before being sent to the bullpen when Shawn Chacon returned from the DL takes Neagle's place in the rotation. "This isn't a trip to Siberia. This is a pause,'' Hurdle said of Neagle. "This is hopefully a change of scenery where maybe he can recapture the command that we know he can have and become the reliable starting pitcher that we planned on having and has been at times here at Colorado.'' ... LHP Kent Mercker had a setback in his comeback a lacerated left hand. Mercker had surgery to insert pins between the first and second fingers of his pitching hand a day after being hit by a ground ball in the June 5 game against Los Angeles. "Mercker will not throw over the weekend, but will keep his hand immobilized,'' Hurdle said. "Mercker had the pins taken out of his hand today and they had to dig deeper than they anticipated.'' ... 2B Jose Ortiz played his second game at Triple-A Colorado Springs where he is on a rehab assignment.

Giants at Diamondbacks
San Francisco: An MRI on RHP Jason Schmidt's right shoulder showed no serious damage. Schmidt complained of tightness in the shoulder in the second inning of the Giants' 6-3 loss to Arizona on Thursday night. Manager Dusty Baker says Schmidt's next start will be pushed back a day to July 13 at Colorado to give him a little more rest. RHP Russ Ortiz will move up a day to start on July 12, the second game after the All-Star break. ... Since moving to the No. 3 spot in the batting order, 2B Jeff Kent is hitting .531 (17-for-32) with eight runs, five doubls, three homers and 13 RBI. ... Barry Bonds had a pair of doubles and an RBI Thursday night but hasn't homered in 29 at bats.

Arizona: 2B Junior Spivey's 18-game hitting streak ties Mark Grace for fourth-longest in the Diamondbacks' brief history. It's also the longest active streak in the majors. Spivey has batted .371 during the streak, which was interrupted by his stint on the 15-day DL. ... Spivey was in Luis Gonzalez's customary No. 3 spot in the batting order Friday night, while Gonzalez dropped to cleanup. Gonzalez ended an 0-for-17 drought with an RBI single Thursday night. ... C Damian Miller was back in the lineup Friday night after missing two games with tendinitis in his left wrist. ... In his last two appearances, RHP Matt Mantei has thrown two pitches against Los Angeles Wednesday -- and got the victory -- then threw one pitch on Thursday, retiring Reggie Sanders. Mantei has pitched three innings in four appearances since returning from elbow surgery. He has yet to allow a run.