Baseball

Injuries bedevil Phillies

CLEARWATER -- The list of injuries continued to grow for the Phillies on Sunday when right-hander Brandon Duckworth prematurely left his exhibition outing against the Cincinnati Reds at Jack Russell Stadium.

Duckworth, projected as the fourth starter, felt tightness in his forearm and walked off the mound after throwing three warmup pitches before the start of the second inning.

"Any time a pitcher grabs his arm you're concerned, especially the way this kid is pitching," manager Larry Bowa said. "He's having a great spring."

Duckworth, who has pitched seven scoreless innings in three outings, said he felt the discomfort as he was pitching to the final batter in the first inning.

"I have full motion with my arm," Duckworth said. "I'm not an expert on these things, but I take that as being encouraging."

Earlier, shortstop Jimmy Rollins was scratched because of tightness in his left hamstring.

The injury list already included catcher Mike Lieberthal and reserve infielder Tyler Houston. Lieberthal is nursing an abdominal injury and has not played since the first game of the Grapefruit League schedule. Houston is out with a tender arm. Neither is expected to play before Thursday.

THE GAME: Turk Wendell, Pat Burrell and Marlon Byrd provided good news during a 3-2 win over the Reds. Wendell, who missed last season with an elbow injury, made his first game appearance since Sept. 18, 2001, and pitched a scoreless inning. Burrell, who entered hitting .150, hit his second spring home run to tie it at 2 in the ninth. Byrd, hitting .143 going in, collected two hits, including a winning double off reliever Ricardo Aramboles.

-- BOB BROOKOVER

Yanks' Contreras rocked

ST. PETERSBURG -- Sunday was a forgettable day for Yankees right-hander Jose Contreras.

The Cuban defector gave up seven earned runs on seven hits in three innings, including back-to-back home runs to Greg Vaughn and Travis Lee in the seventh. Manager Joe Torre said he will have a conversation with Contreras to make sure he does not get too down on himself.

"He looked like he was frustrated out there," Torre said. "Every time he was trying to make a pitch it looked like he was trying to overthrow it because he was missing by a lot."

Torre said Contreras did not have good command of his fastball.

WEAVER WANTED: Jeff Weaver gave up five hits while striking out three in his first start in three spring appearances.

"I have a smile on my face every time I see him because he's just such a free spirit," Torre said. "Then when he gets out on the mat he's very serious and that's a nice combination."

MISCELLANY: Much to the delight of the about 115 members of the Japanese media, Hideki Matsui had a triple in the fifth inning. ... American media darling Derek Jeter was 1-for-3 with a walk.

-- KRISTEN LEIGH PORTER

Walker good enough

FORT MYERS -- Pete Walker got his first start of the spring and pitched well enough to warrant a return engagement.

The right-hander allowed three hits and one run in 22/3 innings of a 5-4 Red Sox win. He threw 48 pitches, 31 for strikes.

"I felt good, I still felt like I was in my groove. Maybe I ran into a wall a little bit," he said. "The ball started going up a little."

MOVES: Francisco Rosario, who is recovering from offseason elbow surgery, and infielder Howie Clark were sent to the minor-league complex for reassignment.

-- Times wires

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