Associated Press
The baseball notebook …
TAMPA, Fla. ó Yogi Berra was fast ó with a quip, anyway.
A day after the 85-year-old Hall of Famer tripped and fell in the clubhouse while going to get a bowl of soup, Berra was at the ballpark Friday for the New York Yankeesí game against Atlanta.
ěI didnít like the soup,î Berra said.
Berra, a spring training instructor, caught one of his sneakers on the carpet Thursday at Philadelphiaís complex. He went by ambulance to the hospital as a precaution after landing on his backside and was released about four hours later.
ěHeís great,î Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. ěHeís the same.î
Berra, who normally travels to away games with Girardi, didnít accompany the manager for Fridayís road split-squad game against Toronto.
ěHe doesnít have road pants, today,î Girardi said.
Berra watched the Yankees lose 6-2 to the Braves from a suite with his wife, Carmen. He spent a few minutes signing autographs and posing for photos with fans in the lobby of George Steinbrenner Field after the game.
ěI feel fine,î he said.
SALAZAR UPDATE
TAMPA, Fla. ó Atlanta Braves minor league manager Luis Salazar is still recovering at an Orlando-area hospital from facial injuries after being hit by a foul ball.
Doctors were evaluating injuries to Salazar’s left eye on Friday. A further update from the Braves could come this weekend.
Salazar was struck by Brian McCann’s foul liner while standing in the dugout during Wednesday’s spring training game against St. Louis.
McCann went 0 for 3 in the Braves’ 6-2 win over a New York Yankees split squad on Friday. It was his first game since the 54-year-old Salazar was hurt.
NATIONALS
VIERA, Fla. ó Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper will remain on the big league roster, at least for now.
The Nationals cut pitcher Cla Meredith and sent several players down to the minors on Friday, but kept Harper with the major league club.
The Nationals have said all along that they intend to start Harper in the minors this season. Manager Jim Riggleman says he’s not sure when the team will make that move with him.
RANGERS
ARLINGTON, Texas ó It didn’t take long for Chuck Greenberg to become a very visible figure for the Texas Rangers, buying the team in a dramatic bankruptcy court showdown and then taking on the role of CEO and managing partner before the team’s first-ever World Series.
On Friday, seven months after his investment group bought the team, the AL champion Rangers abruptly announced that Greenberg was leaving.
Growing differences between the charismatic CEO, team president Nolan Ryan and board co-chairmen Ray Davis and Bob Simpson had been an ongoing issue out of the public eye.
ORIOLES
SARASOTA, Fla.ó Baltimore Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, sidelined this week because of back spasms, will have an MRI exam on Saturday.
After the Orioles’ 13-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday, manager Buck Showalter said Roberts saw a specialist and was given some “trigger-point injections.”
DIAMONDBACKS
PHOENIX ó The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to terms on one-year contracts Friday with 26 pre-arbitration players and renewed the contracts of pitcher Ian Kennedy and infielder Juan Miranda.