Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson issued a five-game suspension and an undisclosed fine to Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse for throwing a fastball around the head area of Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez on Sunday.

The situation arose after Volquez threw a pitch in the top of the fifth up-and-in on Lohse.  In the bottom of the inning, Lohse threw the pitch which landed him the suspension.  During the game, following Lohse’s up-and-in pitch, umpire Greg Gibson warned both teams.

Lohse appealed the penalty and is allowed to pitch until there is a hearing.  Immediately following the game, Lohse asserted that the inside pitch was not intentional. 

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Braves pitcher Tom Glavine will have surgery on Thursday on a partial tear of the flexor tendon scheduled after an examination by Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday.  This is potentially good news for Glavine who vowed to retire if Dr. Andrews recommended Tommy John ligament replacement surgery.

Glavine has four to five months of rehab to look forward to following Thursday’s surgery but did state prior to the examination that he wanted to attempt a comeback in 2009 if this was the diagnosis.  However, Glavine also stated he would only return if the Braves welcomed his return.  Fortunately for both sides, Glavine’s rehab expects to be completed in time for him to see action in Spring Training.

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The Arizona Fall League named Jimmy Rollins and Eric Wedge as their 2008 AFL Hall of Fame inductees on Wednesday.  The Hall of Fame, founded in 2001, expands to 23 members with the additions of Rollins and Wedge.

Rollins played in the Fall League in 2000 with the Maryvale Saguaros.  In 2007, he became the fifth Fall League alum to win the MVP joining Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau, Jason Giambi and Albert Pujols.

Wedge was a catcher for the Tucson Javelinas in 1993 when he was part of the Rockies’ organization.  In 2007, as manager of the Cleveland Indians, Wedge led the team to their first division title since 2001.

Rollins and Wedge join previous inductees Garret Anderson, Dusty Baker, Jermaine Dye, Terry Francona, Nomar Garciaparra, Giambi, Shawn Green, Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Torii Hunter, Derek Jeter, Derrek Lee, Grady Little, Ken Macha, Jerry Manuel, Tony Pena, Troy Percival, Mike Piazza, Pujols, Mike Scioscia and Alfonso Soriano.

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The Houston Astros scooped up infielder Jose Castillo off of waivers on Wednesday.  Castillo previously played for the San Francisco Giants before he was waived by the team. 

The move was made because of the injury to Kaz Matsui and the need to use Ty Wigginton in the outfield.  The team expects Castillo to join the team in New York on Friday for their four-game series with the Mets.  At that point, the team will announce a roster move to make a place for Castillo on the 25-man roster.

Castillo hit .244 with six home runs, 28 doubles and 35 RBI with the Giants this season.

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Jerry Hairston Jr. returned to the 15-day disabled list for the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.  Adam Rosales was recalled from Triple-A Louisville to replace Hairston.

Hairston’s injury was listed a strained right hamstring.  From July 17 to August 1, Hairston was on the DL with the same hamstring injury and aggravated it on his first game back.  Since then, the nagging injury failed to improve and Hairston is out again.

Rosales was with the team last week while Joey Votto spent time on the bereavement list following the death of his father.

In addition to these moves, catcher David Ross was officially released after being designated for assignment 10 days ago by the team.  Ross is expected to land another job soon.  One possibile landing place for Ross is with the Philadelphia Phillies.

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Speaking of the Phillies, Wednesday saw the return of third baseman Pedro Feliz from the disabled list.  The team announced his return from a back injury and also sent reliever Les Walrond to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Feliz is hitting .256 with 12 home runs and 46 RBI in his first year with the Phillies and impressed in the field with his glove.

Walrond made four relief appearances in his first Major League stint since 2006 and went 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA.

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The Minnesota Twins activated second baseman Alexi Casilla from the disabled list on Wednesday and cleared room for him on the 25-man roster by sending reliever Brian Bass to Triple-A Rochester.

Casilla, out since July 29 with a torn ligament in his right thumb, is hitting .313 with four homers and 49 RBI.  He also had a two-game rehab assignment with Class A Beloit where he went 4-for-7 with two walks.

Bass is 3-4 with a 4.87 ERA in 44 games.

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Starting pitcher Luke Hochevar was placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.  The injury, a bruised rib cage, might be serious enough to end Hochevar’s season.  Josh Newman was returned to the 25-man roster less than 24 hours after being optioned to Triple-A Omaha.

Hochevar left Tuesday’s game with the rib injury after he felt a sudden pain throwing warm-up pitches in the sixth inning.  The type of injury is not an injury that usually results from throwing and both Hochevar and the Royals are puzzled by it.

In 22 starts this season, Hochevar is 6-12 with a 5.51 ERA.  His injury creates a second hole in the rotation, the first created by sending Kyle Davies to Omaha on August 15. 

Saturday and Sunday’s spots in the rotations are likely to be filled by Davies and Brandon Duckworth who is currently with Omaha.

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Lower back stiffness landed reliever Matt Herges on the Rockies’ 15-day disabled list on Wednesday.  The team recalled reliever Ryan Speier from Triple-A Colorado Springs to fill in for Herges.

Herges has appeared in 51 games for the Rockies this season and is 3-4 with a 5.09 ERA.

Speier made 30 appearances in two previous stops at the Majors and is 1-1 with a 4.66 ERA.  He continued to shine at Colorado Springs where he has a 2.03 ERA in 11 total appearances in 2008.

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With George Sherrill on the DL, the Baltimore Orioles recalled reliever Kam Mickolio from Triple-A Norfolk.

Like Sherrill, Mickolio was also obtained from the Mariners in the trade that sent Erik Bedard to Seattle.  With Norfolk, the 24-year-old reliever had two saves with a 1.50 ERA in 15 games.  He also pitched in 28 games at Double-A Bowie where he was 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA and a save. 

…Team USA took care of Team Japan in extra innings, earning a 4-2 win. With the victory the US will now have to deal with Cuba to get to the Gold Medal Game. It’s either GO Gold or Go Home for the US. The USA ended pool play with a 5-2 record, and are a man short on the bench with both Jason Nix and Matt LaPorta sidelined with injuries. San Diego State phenom Stephen Strasburg will take the hill against Cuba

….It was reported here yesterday that Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski was hospitalized for chest pains. It turns out he needed triple bypass surgery, the procedure was performed Tuesday night. According to his spokesman Dick Gordon he’s resting comfortably and that the surgery was a success.

…While Major League Baseball is hyped up about the on coming instant replay, the World Umpires Association - not so much. The governing body of the WUA voted to boycott a conference call on Tuesday which was intended to discuss instant replay and it’s introduction to baseball. The Umpires are maintaining that their concerns aren’t being met and are none to happy about it.

“A lot of the procedural issues necessary for instant replay to be implemented need to be worked out,” World Umpires Association spokesman Lamell McMorris said. “Major League Baseball needs to step up to the plate and iron out these issues.”

Of course the MLB maintains the opposite.

“I’m not going to go through these one by one. I will tell you that on a number of them, the comments are simply not accurate,” said Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president for labor relations. “For example, we’ve had an understanding with the WUA for some time that the crew chief and the crew chief only would be the one responsible for reviewing the video and making the decision on instant replay.

“There are other issues that remain to be worked out. It is my general policy that I don’t comment when I’m trying to bargain but I remain confident that we’re gong to be able to make a deal.”

There are plenty of other issues to be iron out, including the fact that the Umpires would have to leave the field of play and “don’t trust the players to behave themselves”. Ok, so when did Umps become babysitters in the first place? And really that statement reeks of the ego’s that the umpires have acquired.

…Texas Ranger’s Designated Hitter Milton Bradley would prefer to remain in Texas where he feels comfortable according to Jeff Wilson of the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.

“I feel comfortable here,” said Bradley, who has a career-high 20 homers. “We’ve got a nucleus in place to do good things. It all just comes down to how things work out in negotiations.”

Negotiations on a new contract according to GM Jon Daniels wouldn’t take place until after the season is over. Bradley has had a great year in Texas after blowing out his knee towards the end of last year with the San Diego Padres.

…Hideki Irabu, remember him? You know, he pitched for the Yankees? Hmm…ok how about his lifetime ERA+ of 89? According to a ESPN.com report the former Yankees pitcher was arrested for allegedly assaulting a bartender after having about 20 brewskys, according to police officials in Osaka Japan. This stemmed from the fact one of his credit cards were declined when he went to pay up his bar tab.

He ended up paying for the tab on another card, and admitted to the assault.

…Larry Stone of the Seattle Times is reporting that current Chicago White Sox bench Coach and former Mariner Second Baseman Joey Cora’s name has been brought up in discussions about being a managerial candidate for the Mariners. That’s if they choose to let interim Manager Jim Riggleman go at the end of the year.

8TH INNING MAGIC
Winning teams, post-season-bound teams, know how to win tight games in the late innings.

As I watched the Mets last night in the 8th inning, I saw a very different team than the one who stumbled through last September. This is a team engaged, energized and on the top step of the dugout. Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, Carlos Delgado hit a go-ahead double off the left-center fence to key New York’s five-run rally and lead them past Atlanta, 7-3. Delgado’s double snapped a teamwide 3-for-42 slump with the bases loaded. The Mets, who were 34-35 under manager Willie Randolph, are 35-22 under manager Jerry Manuel. New York is 16-5 at home since June 29. The Mets won for the 10th time in 13 games while Atlanta has lost eight of nine to fall a season-worst 14 games under .500.

Jayson Werth hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the 8th inning to lift the Phillies over Washington 5-4, the Nationals’ 11th straight loss. It was his career-best 17th homer. The losing streak is the longest for the Nationals since they moved to Washington before the 2005 season. It is the franchise’s longest since the Montreal Expos dropped 11 straight from June 23-July 4, 1991.

Last night, the Rays showed their mettle against the Angels by scoring three times in the 8th to top the LA of A, 4-2. The Rays won for the ninth time in 11 games surviving a strong performance by Los Angeles’ Ervin Santana, who took a no-hit bid into the 6th and left with a 2-1 lead after allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. There is magic to this team and now raucous crowd support, I could feel both as I watched the Rays loaded the bases with no outs against Scot Shields (5-4) on two walks and an error. Carlos Pena drew a one-out walk from Darren Oliver, forcing in the tying run and Willy Aybar hitting a two-run single to break the 2-2 tie. Tampa Bay now has the best record in the American League and has 22 wins against the AL West. The Rays are the only AL team against which the Angels have a losing record. The Rays are two games into a stretch in which they play 28 of 31 against teams in playoff contention, including six against the Red Sox. Good luck to the rest of those teams.

The Red Sox won last night behind Cy Young Award contender Daisuke Matsuzaka who won his fourth straight start, once again, in spite of himself. The Boston Red Sox got homers from Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis in their 7-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Matsuzaka (15-2) gave up two runs, six hits and five walks. The right-hander failed to retire the side in order but stranded nine runners, including five in scoring position, before being lifted after 105 pitches. This was the eighth time Dice-K threw more than 90 pitches and failed to reach the 6th inning. He is second among pitchers with winning records with 77 walks, trailing only the Mets’ Oliver Perez and only Toronto’s A.J. Burnett has a higher WHIP than Matsuzaka among pitchers with at least 13 wins. Batters are 0 for 14 against Dice-K with the bases loaded this season.

CHICAGO WINS 5-0
The Cubs and the White Sox each picked up 5-0 wins last night. Rich Harden allowed two hits in seven innings, striking out 10 and bunting in the go-ahead run for his first major league RBI as the relentless Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-0. This was Harden’s fourth 10-strikeout game in seven starts for the Cubs. With the victory, the NL Central-leading Cubs (77-48) improved to a season-high 29 games over .500. Chicago has won seven of eight and 17 of its last 21. The Cubs are now 34-22 against the NL Central.

The White Sox, behind Clayton Richard topped King Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Miserables, 5-0, at U.S. Cellular Field. Hernandez is now 7-8 after giving up giving up 11 hits and five runs in five innings, including Jim Thome’s 533rd career homer and the second in two nights for Nick Swisher. He failed to strike out a batter. The Mariners left 11 on base, six in scoring position. Ken Griffey Jr. was 0 for 3, hitting into a double play, with a sacrifice fly. He is hitting .209 in 13 games since joining the White Sox.

Kevin Slowey kept the Twins in the hunt with a career-high 12 strikeouts as Brian Buscher matched his career best with five RBIs in the Minnesota Twins’ 13-2 victory over the Athletics. Every Twins hitter registered at least one hit against losing pitcher Sean Gallagher and Santiago Casilla. The A’s are 6-24 since the All-Star break and haven’t won consecutive games since July 10-11. Jack Cust struck out three times, bringing his season total to 156. It was his 45th multi-strikeout game and the 17th time this season he’s struck out at least three times in a game.

OUT WEST
Padres rookie starting pitcher Josh Banks is getting wilder. In his last time out, Banks walked six. Last night against the Diamondbacks he seven walks and lasted only four innings. The Padres trailed 6-2 when he left and eventually lost to Arizona, 7-6. Adam Dunn hit his first homer for Arizona. Dunn is 11-for-27 against the Padres this season with four homers and 10 RBI in eight games. The Diamondbacks are 60-5 when they lead after eight innings.

Ian Stewart homered and drove in a career-high five runs, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-3 for their fourth straight victory. The loss was the second in eight games for the Dodgers. The Rockies have hit at least one homer in 12 of their last 13 games, and have a total of 20 during that time. The Rockies (19-12) and the Dodgers (18-12) have been two of the NL’s better teams since the All-Star break.

WILD CARD LOSERS
Houston won for the 10th time in its last 13 games while Milwaukee lost for the fourth time in six games as the Astros topped the Brewers, 5-2. Brian Moehler extended his winning stretch to five games and Geoff Blum hit a tiebreaking three-run homer to defeat Ben Sheets who lost for the fourth time in his last five starts. Jose Valverde pitched the 9th for his 32nd save in 38 attempts.

Ian Snell outpitched Braden Looper with seven scoreless innings to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis has lost eight of 11 at home and is 33-29 this season at Busch Stadium while going a NL-best 37-29 on the road.

HE COMPLETES ME
Ricky Nolasco pitched a two-hitter for his first shutout and drove in two runs with his first double, leading the Marlins past the San Francisco Giants, 6-0. It was the Marlins first complete game since Anibal Sanchez on Sept. 16, 2006, a major league-record 301 games ago.

AILING
Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski was resting comfortably last night after having triple bypass heart surgery. Yaz is the last player to hit for the Triple Crown but doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital see no correlation between the two triples.

More bad news for the Mets All-Star closer Billy Wagner. An MRI showed the injured closer has increased swelling in his left elbow, so he’s out indefinitely. The Mets don’t know when he might be able to return to the mound, if at all, this season.

Anxious times for the Red Sox as Josh Beckett’s next start has been pushed back a few days while the Boston Red Sox try to determine the cause of lingering numbness in the his right hand. Beckett will undergo tests to determine the cause of the numbness — and to rule out a serious condition such as blood clots.

Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen is likely out for the rest of the season with an elbow injury. The 35-year-old Isringhausen had an MRI revealed right elbow tendinitis and a partially torn tendon, although no ligament damage was found. Manager Tony La Russa didn’t think the injury was career-ending although it could spell an end to Isringhausen’s six-season stay with the Cardinals.

THE PREZ AND THE CATCHER SHARE A LITTLE
Those of you watching the Olympics are I’m sure familiar with Misty-May Treanor and Kerri Walsh the volleyball babes who are looking to defend their gold medal from the 2004 Games in Athens. You may have also seen that Misty-May got an enthusiastic pat on her “lower back” from President Bush, who was casually working out with the United States’ Olympic beach volleyball team in Beijing.

What you may not know is that Misty-May is married to Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, a fifth-year big leaguer. “The leader of the free world, I guess, can do whatever he wants,” a laughing Matt Treanor recently told reporters. “I’ll have a word with him later.
“Misty had a dinner with him at the White House once. She didn’t agree with his politics, but after she met him, she came back like, ‘What a witty, smart, funny guy. He’s not so bad after all.”

DID YOU KNOW?
Former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was arrested yesterday in Osaka for allegedly assaulting a bartender after drinking 20 mugs of beer, a police official said.

Irabu, 39, became angered after his credit card was rejected. Did he also call Irabu “a fat toad?”

MORE ON MANNY
Dodger youngster Andre Ethier is impressed with his new teammate Manny Ramirez,
“It’s been an eye-opening experience, a chance to see one of the best hitters currently in baseball, to see how he goes about his business, how he prepares, how he relaxes,” Ethier said.

“You can see that he’s starting to create a game plan in the dugout, even before his at-bats,” Ethier said. “Four spots ahead, he’s in the dugout, going through certain situations.”

The fans are excited as well. In Ramirez’s first seven games in Los Angeles, the Dodgers drew an average of 50,390 per game, up from the 44,581 they were averaging without him. Four crowds of more than 50,000 fans have watched Ramirez, including sellouts in his first two games with the Dodgers.

    
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide. Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports or from your favorite bookstore.

The last time a Florida Marlin pitcher threw a complete game, Michael Phelps had eight less medals, Brett Favre was a Green Bay Packer, the CW Television Network did not exist and gas in Miami was under $3.00 per gallon.  On Wednesday, Ricky Nolasco ended the streak of 301 games — the longest in Major League history by 40 games — with a complete game two-hit performance in their 6-0 win over the Giants.

From September 16, 2006 when Anibal Sanchez pitched a complete game in a 2-1 loss to John Smoltz and the Braves, 18 different pitchers took the hill for the Marlins and no one went the distance.  From Burke Bandenhop to Dontrelle Willis, every Marlin pitcher who started was in the showers by the end of the game.  Scott Olsen, Chris Volstad and Nolasco all came within one out of ending the streak earlier this year but it took Nolasco’s effort on Wednesday to end it.

Now that the Marlins’ streak has ended at 301, here’s a look at the current list of teams ranked by their active streaks:

• Houston Astros: 201 Games (since 07/06/07 - Wandy Rodriguez) 
• Cincinnati Reds: 155 Games (since 08/29/07 - Aaron Harang)
• New York Yankees: 114 Games (since 04/11/08 - Chien-Ming Wang)
• Kansas City Royals: 112 Games (since 04/14/08 - Zack Grienke)
• Texas Rangers: 79 Games (since 05/21/08 - Sidney Ponson)
• San Diego Padres: 68 Games (since 05/31/08 - Josh Banks)
• Philadelphia Phillies: 63 Games (since 06/05/08 - Cole Hamels)
• Detroit Tigers: 61 Games (since 06/11/08 - Justin Verlander)
• St. Louis Cardinals: 61 Games (since 06/11/08 - Braden Looper)
• Chicago Cubs: 59 Games (since 06/11/08 - Ryan Dempster)
• Atlanta Braves: 56 Games (since 06/15/08 - Jorge Campillo)
• Chicago White Sox: 40 Games (since 07/03/08 - Javier Vazquez)
• Oakland Athletics: 35 Games (since 07/08/08 - Justin Duchscherer)
• Seattle Mariners: 35 Games (since 07/08/08 - Carlos Silva)
• Boston Red Sox: 27 Games (since 07/19/08 - Josh Beckett)
• Colorado Rockies: 25 Games (since 07/22/08 - Ubaldo Jimenez)
• San Francisco Giants: 24 Games (since 07/24/08 - Matt Cain)
• Washington Nationals: 24 Games (since 07/24/08 - Tim Redding)
• Minnesota Twins: 20 Games (since 07/28/08 - Kevin Slowey)
• Los Angeles Angels: 18 Games (since 07/29/08 - John Lackey)
• Los Angeles Dodgers: 18 Games (since 07/30/08 - Chad Billingsley)
• Baltimore Orioles: 16 Games (since 08/02/08 - Jeremy Guthrie)
• Arizona Diamondbacks: 12 Games (since 08/05/08 - Brandon Webb)
• Pittsburgh Pirates: 12 Games (since 08/06/08 - Jeff Karstens)
• Tampa Bay Rays: 4 Games (since 08/15/08 - Matt Garza)
• Cleveland Indians: 3 Games (since 08/15/08 - Cliff Lee)
• Toronto Blue Jays: 2 Games (since 08/16/08 - Roy Halladay)
• New York Mets: 2 Games (since 08/17/08 - Johan Santana)
• Milwaukee Brewers: 1 Game (since 08/18/08 - CC Sabathia)
• Florida Marlins: 0 Games (since 08/19/08 - Ricky Nolasco)

St. Louis Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen lost the closer role twice and is headed to the 15-day disabled list for the second time this year after an MRI on Tuesday revealed right elbow tendinitis and a partially torn tendon.  The injury is serious enough that it Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak speculating this injury might end the season for Isringhausen.

The 35-year-old reliever is a free agent at the end of 2008 and, if his season is over, Isringhausen may have pitched his last game in a Cardinals’ uniform.  He is 1-5 with a 5.7o ERA and 12-for-17 in save opportunities in 2008 and is the franchise leader in saves with 217. 

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Former Yankee Hideki Irabu was arrested in Osaka, Japan and charged with assaulting a bartender after drinking 20 mugs of beer, according to police officials.

The 39-year-old Irabu allegedly pushed the bartender against the wall and smashed nine liquor bottles after his credit card was rejected.  Irabu then paid with another card.  When police arrived on the scene, Irabu admitted the assault.

Irabu played six seasons in the Majors with the Yankees, Expos and Rangers and returned to Japan in 2003 to play with the Hanshin Tigers.  He retired in 2005 and currently resides in California.

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The San Diego Padres activated Brett Tomko from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday.  Tomko went on the DL on July 8 with a right elbow strain just 11 days after joining the Padres after his release from the Kansas City Royals earlier this year.

Tomko made two appearances with the Padres before the injury and gave up one run in three innings.  Before his release from the Royals, Tomko was 2-7 with a 6.97 ERA in 16 games (10 starts) with Kansas City.