ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks following surgery Friday on his injured right knee. That’s unexpected good news for a player who thought he might miss the rest
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks following surgery Friday on his injured right knee. That’s unexpected good news for a player who thought he might miss the rest of the season and perhaps be forced into retirement.
The team said the arthroscopic surgery found a partial tear in the medial meniscus, which was removed. Doctors also found a cartilage tear that was debrided, but judged the ligament sound.
Orioles, Jones talk
long-term extension
BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles and the agent for center fielder Adam Jones are nearing agreement on a contract extension for the one-time All-Star.
Jones’ current contract expires after this season, although he will still be under club control in 2013. Jones would then become a free agent, but the Orioles want to lock him up before that happens.
DNA on beer can needle
‘likely’ Clemens’
WASHINGTON — A needle stored with a beer can appeared to contain an extremely tiny amount of Roger Clemens’ DNA, which turned out to be good news and bad news for both sides in the perjury trial of the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.
A forensic scientist on Friday linked Clemens to cotton balls and a syringe needle saved from an alleged steroids injection 11 years ago. His testimony, laced with statistics and probabilities, was one of the last pieces of the government’s case in its effort to prove that the pitcher lied to Congress in 2008 when he denied using performance-enhancing substances.
Under cross-examination, Clemens’ lawyer tried to poke holes in the physical evidence. He got the expert to acknowledge there were “hundreds of thousands” of white males in the United States who could be a match for the scant amount of DNA found on the needle, and that it’s “conceivable” the cotton balls could have been contaminated by beer and saliva.
Rockies put Hernandez on DL with hand injury
CINCINNATI — The Rockies put catcher Ramon Hernandez on the 15-day disabled list Friday with a strained left hand that has bothered him for several days and made it difficult to grip a bat tightly.
Colorado called up catcher Wil Nieves from Triple-A Colorado Springs to take his spot. They also transferred infielder Hector Gomez from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL with a strained groin.
Pirates designate McLouth for assignment
PITTSBURGH — The Pirates designated outfielder Nate McLouth for assignment on Friday and recalled infielder Matt Hague in hopes of injecting some life into their listless offense, which ranks last in the National League in batting average (.217) and last in baseball in runs (126).
McLouth, who signed a one-year deal worth $1.75 million in the offseason was hitting just .140 and had gone hitless in his last 20 at-bats.
