Pakistan Information & News

John Smoltz knew the pain was too intense to keep pitching this season. Now the Atlanta Braves right hander hopes to add one more comeback to his remarkable career. Smoltz will undergo season ending surgery on his ailing right shoulder next week, but the 41 year old is not ready to concede his next move is retirement. I have pulled off a lot of miracles Smoltz said Wednesday at a hastily called news conference before the Braves game against the Florida Marlins. I probably shouldn’t have played this long. I am looking forward to seeing if I can extend it. The only pitcher in baseball history with 200 wins and 150 saves already has returned from four operations on his elbow but it is highly improbable for someone his age to come back from a major procedure. No wonder the news conference took on the tenor of a retirement announcement. This is a sad day for us in many ways general manager Frank Wren said. We don’t know the outcome of the surgery whether it will allow him to come back and pitch, or just allow him to go on with his life. Still Smoltz has defied the odds before. It wouldn’t surprise me if he came back as a left handed pitcher said Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez a former Braves coach. Smoltzs shoulder began hurting nearly a year ago during a start in Milwaukee. He is been on the disabled list three times since then and tried all sorts of radical solutions to cope with the pain. He came up with a new routine at spring training spending most of his time on the back fields pitching against minor leaguers. When the discomfort persisted through his first five starts, he decided to return to the closer role he held from 2001,04 believing that fewer innings would help him get through the season but one inning against the Marlins on Monday night convinced him that it was futile to continue. I certainly was prepared for it. I never had two days in a row where I felt good, Smoltz said. I realized it the next day. Actually I realized an hour afterward that the pain was just too great and I couldn’t continue. Initially diagnosed with severe inflammation Smoltz isn’t sure what the real problem is. He will put his future in the hands of Dr. James Andrews the sports surgeon who will perform the arthroscopic procedure in Birmingham Ala. We won’t know until they get in there Smoltz said. I am sure when I wake up the first question I will ask is what did you find? I will have no problem with whatever they tell me. If nothing else he is hoping for a better quality of life. Smoltz said it’s been difficult to sleep, play with his children or just do ordinary chores around the house because of his aching shoulder.

Popularity: 1% [?]

 Coco Crisp hit a tie breaking double and Boston won the matchup of the AL Easts top two teams with a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. Crisp snapped a 1-for-25 slump with the two-run double in a four-run sixth inning and Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a sacrifice fly with Ortiz sidelined for at least three weeks with a left wrist injury Sean Casey was in the original lineup as the designated hitter with Crisp on the bench but when left fielder Manny Ramirez was shifted to DH because of sore legs Crisp started in center and Jacoby Ellsbury went from center to left. The Red Sox won their 11th straight game at home matching the longest AL streak of the season held by the Rays. Boston cut Tampa Bays lead in the division to one half game although the Rays are 12 games over .500 eight more than their previous best during their 11 year history. Justin Masterson 2-0 allowed four runs in six innings, and Craig Hansen got out of a 1^st and 2^nd  jam with no outs in the eighth by retiring the next three batters. Jonathan Papelbon struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 19 opportunities. Matt Garza 4-2 started the sixth with a 4-3 lead but hit the first batter Kevin Youkilis with a pitch. He went to second on an error by shortstop Jason Bartlett on Ramirez’s grounder only the 24th error by the Rays the fewest in the majors. J.D. Drew walked to load the bases with one out before Jason Variteks run scoring single tied the game at 4. Crisp then doubled low off the left field wall scoring Ramirez and Drew  after Julio Lugo walked Ellsbury drove in the final run. Akinori Iwamura led off the game with his third homer of the season then Masterson held the Rays scoreless until consecutive doubles by B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena in the fourth tied the game 2-2.The Red Sox had taken a 2-1 lead in the second on Mike Lowells eighth homer a two run shot after Ramirez singled. Drews sixth homer gave Boston a 3-2 lead in the fourth but Tampa Bay went ahead in the sixth on Penas two run homer following a walk to Upton and one important thing Ramirez received a standing ovation and tipped his helmet to the crowd as he stood at the plate before his first at bat. He was playing his first home game since hitting three homers in his last three road games that gave him 502 for his career Carl Crawford didn’t start after having an MRI on his right hamstring in Birmingham Ala. He returned just before the game and hit into a fielders choice groundout as a pinch hitter in the eighth before the game Jon Lester received the pitching rubber he used in his no hitter at Fenway Park on May 19 Iwamuras homer was the fourth of his career and second of the season leading off the first inning for the Rays.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Willie Randolph kept his job for now and after their embattled manager had a much-anticipated meeting with ownership Monday the New York Mets got another ineffective outing from Mike Pelfrey and fizzled on offense following a strong start in a 7-3 loss to the Florida Marlins. Luis Gonzalez hit a three run double for the young and hungry Marlins 30-20 who moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since Sept. 14, 2005. They lead the NL East despite a major league-low payroll of $22 million on opening day. Jose Reyes homered twice for the $138 million Mets but committed a two out error at shortstop in the first that led to two unearned runs. Pelfrey 2-6 lasted only four innings and dropped his sixth straight start as fourth place New York 23-26 fell three games below .500 for the first time since Sept. 18, 2005 according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Mets have lost seven of eight and 10 of 14 overall. With few fans remaining at Shea Stadium in the late innings a chant of “Fire Willie! could clearly be heard. Earlier in the day Randolph sat down with owner Fred Wilpon and his son- Jeff the clubs chief operating officer as well as general manager Omar Minaya to discuss two things in particular the teams sluggish play and Randolphs comments last week about his portrayal on Mets broadcasts in which he raised the issue of race. Randolph subsequently apologized for those statements. Willies job was never in danger going into this meeting Minaya said. Willie has my support. He has the support of our ownership and there is no limbo period. Willie is the manager. So was he told he will definitely manage the Mets for the rest of the season? No they didn’t say that Randolph answered. Randolph then met with his players after batting practice but it didn’t help on the field. Coming off a doubleheader sweep of San Francisco on Sunday the Marlins made their first trip to Shea Stadium since knocking New York out of playoff contention on the final day of the last season. Florida looked like the better team on this day too and after beating Arizona ace Brandon Webb in his previous outing Ricky Nolasco 4-3 won his third decision in a row. He allowed three runs and nine hits in five innings. The Mets stranded seven runners through the first five innings before Doug Waechter Renyel Pinto and Joe Nelson combined for four perfect innings of relief. Pelfrey retired his first two batters before Reyes botched Jorge Cantus one hop grounder. Ex,Met Mike Jacobs followed with a broken bat double that scored Cantu and streaking Dan Uggla added an RBI double. The Mets came right back in the bottom half with four consecutive hits. Reyes hit his 11th leadoff homer extending his team record, and New York loaded the bases with none out. Carlos Delgado hit a shallow sacrifice fly to tie it, but that was all New York got. Reyes homered to right again in the second for a 3-2 lead before Florida batted around against Pelfrey in the third. The right-hander loaded the bases with two outs on a single a walk and a hit by pitch before Gonzalez hit a sinking liner to center that got past a sliding Carlos Beltran for a three run double. Matt Treanors RBI single made it 6-3. Jacque Jones made a jumping grab at the center field fence in the bottom half to save a run and rob Nick Evans of extra bases. Delgado who entered batting .219 was booed after fouling out weakly with two on and none out in the fifth. Jeremy Hermida added a run-scoring single off Matt Wise in the eighth.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Oliver Perez plays baseball like a kid in a school yard hitting, pitching, stealing bases, experimenting with different arm angles and all were on display in the New York Mets’ 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday in which the left-hander earned his first win since April 19.“He might drive you nuts every once in a while, New York manager Willie Randolph said but he competes, man. The day’s oddest moment came not from Perez but the Reds, who batted out of order in the ninth inning after an earlier double switch. Sorting it all out resulted in a 10-minute delay. Outfielder Corey Patterson was charged with an out when backup catcher David Ross came to the plate instead of him in the No. 8 spot and lined out. Ross had to hit again, and this time he singled. The Mets, who hadn’t hit back-to-back home runs all season before Saturday, did it for the second straight day. Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church went deep in the fifth inning as their offense continues to show hints of finding the consistency that’s been lacking much of this year. The Mets have at least 11 hits in four of their last five games. The one exception was a 7-1 loss in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader, in which they managed just four. They had that many in a three-run first inning Sunday. Jose Reyes led off with a single, stole second and scored on Luis Castillo’s triple. Castillo ripped a line drive to right-center between Ken Griffey Jr. and Ryan Freel. Griffey pulled up at the last second, while Freel dived unsuccessfully for the ball, which rolled all the way to the wall. We had a little communication problem,” Freel said, “but it was also tough to read the wind out there and castillo felt discomfort in his left quadriceps on the triple and later left the game. Doubles by Beltran and Moises Alou off rookie Johnny Cueto (2-4) drove in two more runs.

Popularity: 1% [?]