SAN DIEGO -- Chris Young will be placed on the 15-day disabled list on Friday due to inflammation in his right shoulder, meaning the top two pitchers for the struggling San Diego Padres will be out of action.
Young was hit hard in losing his last four starts, including allowing four home runs to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 9.
He knew he would miss at least his scheduled start Friday night against the Oakland A's.
Ace Jake Peavy was placed on the DL on Saturday, a day after learning he would be sidelined at least a month because of a strained tendon behind his right ankle.
Young (4-6, 5.21 ERA) had a second cortisone shot on Wednesday night.
He's not sure how long it will take for the ailment to go away, although the Padres are encouraged that an MRI showed no structural damage.
The move will be retroactive to Monday, a day after Young lost 6-0 at Anaheim.
Lefty Wade LeBlanc will be recalled from Triple-A Portland to start on Friday and Walter Silva is a strong candidate to be recalled from the Beavers to start Saturday. Full story
Cards activate K. Greene
ST. LOUIS -- The Cardinals eased infielder Khalil Greene back into competition, activating him from a stint on the 15-day disabled list for social anxiety disorder but leaving him out of the lineup against the Detroit Tigers.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Greene could make a start this weekend.
Greene had been on the DL since May 29 and missed 19 games. He played in four games at Triple-A Memphis during his rehab assignment and was 6 for 15 with two doubles.
Greene played two games at third base with Memphis. La Russa has said he might use Greene at third, a position he's never played in the majors although he played there in college. Greene was batting .200 with two homers and a team-high seven errors at shortstop.
Jays place Halladay, Downs on DL
PHILADELPHIA -- Toronto placed ace Roy Halladay and closer Scott Downs on the 15-day disabled list. Halladay has a right groin strain, and Downs injured his big left toe on Tuesday night.
The Blue Jays recalled right-hander Jeremy Accardo from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Accardo was 2-1 with nine saves and a 3.38 ERA for Las Vegas. He had 30 saves for the Blue Jays in 2007, and is 7-16 with a 3.99 ERA and 37 saves in 173 career appearances with San Francisco and Toronto.
Rangers' Francisco sharp in rehab assignment
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas closer Frank Francisco threw seven of nine pitches for strikes while retiring all three batters he faced in a rehab appearance. Francisco started for Double-A Frisco against Corpus Christi, getting two flyouts and a grounder.
Right-hander Dustin Nippert, on the 60-day DL because of a back muscle strain, pitched two scoreless innings after Francisco. Nippert struck out one and walked one while throwing 15 of 25 pitches for strikes.
Francisco is eligible to come off the disabled list Friday. It is his second DL stint this season, this one because of stiffness in his shoulder.
The right-hander last pitched in the majors June 3, when he earned his 12th save of the season. He has allowed one earned run in his 19 appearances.
Tribune 'assessing other alternatives' for Cubs
The Tribune Co. said on Thursday that it's still working toward selling the Chicago Cubs to the family of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, but that it's also "assessing other alternatives."
In January, Tribune picked as lead bidders the Ricketts family, which founded Omaha, Neb.-based brokerage that became TD Ameritrade. The effort has been led by Joe Ricketts' son Tom of Chicago, a Cubs fan who used to live across the street from Wrigley Field and who met his wife in the park's bleachers.
The offer was described at the time as $900 million for the team, Wrigley Field, and a 25 percent interest in a regional sports network.
Ricketts spokesman Dennis Culloton said "things have been moving along very positively in those negotiations."
M's Lopez on bereavement list to visit ill sister
SAN DIEGO -- Seattle placed second baseman Jose Lopez on the bereavement list and called up infielder Chris Woodward from the minors.
Lopez, who leads the team with 42 RBI, will return to his native Venezuela because his sister is seriously ill. Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said he didn't expect Lopez back for at least five days.
Seattle was already without home run leader Russell Branyan, who was attending his grandfather's funeral in Georgia. Branyan is expected to return for Friday night's game against Arizona.
Woodward's contract was purchased from Triple-A Tacoma. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Mariners transferred pitcher Carlos Silva to the 60-day disabled list.
D-Backs disabled Gordon gets in 'pen session
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Arizona reliever Tom Gordon threw 35 pitches in his first bullpen session since going on the disabled list May 4 with a pulled left hamstring. He'll throw off the mound again Saturday.
"It went pretty good," the a 41-year-old right-hander said. "I'm excited about it. My leg is not bothering me. My form is not bothering me. ... We'll go from there, see where we are," Gordon said. "I want do three or four [bullpen sessions] to where I feel totally comfortable. I want to have the feel I like to have before I feel totally sold on being able to go out there and face hitters comfortably."
Gordon, who has 159 career saves, is 0-1 with a 21.60 ERA in three games this year. He began the season on the disabled list with a right elbow injury.
"It's a mess," Gordon said of his season. "I've just got to get some confidence on the stuff I want to do on the mound and I think I'll be OK."
Red Sox-Yankees scoring change
BOSTON -- Major League Baseball announced a scoring change that takes a double away from Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia and instead charges Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher with an error.
In the June 10 game, which the Red Sox won 6-5, Swisher chased Pedroia's fly ball toward the short wall behind the Pesky Pole in right field but pulled up and the ball bounced once off the warning track and into the stands. It was ruled a ground-rule double.
The change gives Swisher an error, takes a double and an RBI away from Pedroia and takes an earned run away from Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang.
Rangers name suite after G.W.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Former President George W. Bush used to be able to sit in the cheap seats. That was a long time ago and isn't practical anymore. Now when Bush attends Texas Rangers games, he can sit in a suite named after him.
The Rangers have renamed the owner's suite at Rangers Ballpark in honor of Bush, who was the managing general partner of the Rangers from 1989-94. That was before he was elected governor of Texas and later as the 43rd U.S. president.
Rangers owner Tom Hicks took part in the ceremony Thursday night before Texas played the Houston Astros in the finale of an interleague series.
Bush says he used to sit in cheap seats, but obviously lost his anonymity forever when he was elected president in 2000.
Star-filled lineup set for civil rights tribute
CINCINNATI -- Major League Baseball is fielding a star-filled lineup to spotlight the first regular-season Civil Rights Game.
Former President Bill Clinton, entertainer Bill Cosby, boxing's Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, basketball's Oscar Robertson, baseball's Hank Aaron and at least three other Hall of Famers are taking part. The weekend's events include Saturday night's game between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox.
The tribute to the civil rights movement also aims to boost baseball's efforts to increase interest among black youths and to highlight Cincinnati's National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Ali, Aaron and Cosby will be honored at a Saturday luncheon with Clinton as the keynote speaker and Leonard, Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson and Commissioner Bud Selig presenting them with baseball's Beacon Awards. Frank Robinson, who was the major leagues' first black manager, will throw out the first pitch Saturday night. Another former Reds star and Hall of Famer, Tony Perez, and Robertson will participate in a round-table discussion Friday at the Freedom Center.
