Franco threw 15 pitches in the Class-A game against Sarasota, striking out two and allowing one homer. Nine pitches were for strikes and other than the homer, the only balls put in play were groundouts.

"Everything was good, but one pitch up in the zone," Franco said.

Cleveland Indians: Left-hander C.C. Sabathia, his sprained left ankle wrapped, began working out in anticipation of taking his regular turn in the rotation.

	Sabathia

Sabathia sprained the ankle when he stepped on the foot of Detroit's Dmitri Young during a close play at first base Wednesday night in the sixth inning of Cleveland's 4-0 victory.

"He's sore, but it is good to see him walking around," manager Eric Wedge said. "He'll throw his usual bullpen between starts, but it will probably be a little lighter than usual."

Sabathia's next scheduled start is Monday at Detroit.

Boston Red Sox: Management will wait until the end of the season before deciding whether to upgrade Fenway Park or build a new stadium.

Larry Lucchino, the team's chief executive, said a struggling economy is the reason for the cautious approach.

The Red Sox have added hundreds of seats on the field and atop the fabled Green Monster in left field. The team also turns neighboring Yawkey Way into an open-air Fenway concourse on game days.

"The longer we are here, the more we see the possibilities of Fenway," Lucchino old executives at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday. "We think we can do things to improve it, expand it, without destroying the essential charm."

Attendance at Fenway is down about 1 percent from last year. Team spokesman Charles Steinberg told the Boston Herald the drop was statistically insignificant and due mainly to the unseasonably cold weather.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays: The Devil Rays activated outfielder Ben Grieve from the 15-day disabled list and optioned left-hander Jim Parque to Triple-A Durham.

Grieve had been out since April 18 with a left thumb infection. He was hitting .244 with two RBI before the injury.

Parque started Wednesday night's game against the Texas Rangers and gave up five runs in 2 1/3 innings. He is 1-1 with an 11.94 ERA in five starts this season.

Grieve was the starting designated hitter Thursday against the Rangers and scored a run in four at-bats.

Seattle Mariners: Freddy Garcia was supposed to be the ace of the pitching staff this season. These days, though, he's getting booed by Mariners fans before opposing hitters' home runs even touch down.

	Garcia

Times are tough, but Garcia -- 3-6 with an ERA that climbed to 5.90 after Wednesday's loss to the Royals -- insists he can reverse his fortunes.

"It's not going to be easy," he said Thursday. "You get through it because you are a professional."

Garcia has lost three straight starts. This month, he allowed nine runs in a 10-run inning by the Yankees and seven runs in a loss at Cleveland.

His struggles for AL West-leading Seattle occurred after Mariners manager Bob Melvin made it clear at spring training that he'd be the No. 1 starter. And fans expected a lot after Garcia won a $6,875,000 salary at arbitration.

"I understand," said Garcia, who made his second All-Star Game appearance last summer and finished last season 16-10, 4.39 after going 11-5, 3.44 before the break. "But how can they forget so soon what else I've been through? It's not like I've been down for a long time."

Pittsburgh Pirates: Outfielder Matt Stairs was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a torn ligament in his right index finger.

The move was retroactive to Monday. Stairs was replaced on the 25-man roster by outfielder Adam Hyzdu, who hit .111 with one homer and six RBI in 14 games with the team earlier this season.

Hyzdu was recalled from Triple-A Nashville, where he was hitting .273 with two homers and nine RBI in 15 games. He has played for the Pirates in each of the last four seasons.

Stairs was in the original starting lineup Wednesday night, only to be scratched about an hour before game time. He was hurt while swinging at a pitch Sunday in Arizona.

Former Negro Leaguer "JB" Spencer dies
Joseph B. "JB" Spencer Jr., who played with the Homestead Grays and Birmingham Black Barons in three Negro Leagues championships, has died. He was 83.

Spencer, who died May 17 in Louisiana, spent 14 years barnstorming with a number of Negro Leagues teams and played against and with some of the top players of the time, including Jackie Robinson. On the Grays, Spencer gave Robinson fielding tips, said Herbert Simpson, Spencer's roommate at the time.

Spencer, who played all positions except pitcher, played for the Grays in 1943 and '44 when they won the championship and with the Barons in '45 when they won it, said Don Motley, executive director of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo.

Spencer also played for the Baltimore Elite Giants, Harlem Globetrotters, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Seattle Steelheads, New York Cubans and New York Black Yankees.

He also spent five years in the minor leagues, ending his career in 1955.