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Area camps

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 27, 2001

Henson steps into sun

TAMPA -- Drew Henson walked out of the clubhouse and into the sunshine, standing in his new Yankees pinstripes, exactly where he wanted to be.

Football was a job. Baseball is a love.

"When I'm 40 and have kids," he said, "I'll tell them I could have been a good football player but I went with what my dream was."

He traded his No. 7 Michigan jersey for a No. 69 Yankees uniform, following the path of Lou Gehrig, who went to Columbia on a football scholarship, then helped lead the Yankees to their first seven World Series titles.

He gave up the chance to win this season's Heisman Trophy and the opportunity to be the No. 1 pick in next year's NFL draft for a life that starts in the minor leagues, where he'll spend the summer in Columbus, Ohio, a territory where he has been the enemy in the eyes of Ohio State fans.

His mom, dad and little sister made the trip from Michigan to watch his news conference at the Yankees minor-league complex. Henson, 21, has no doubt he'll triumph.

"Everything I competed in in my life, that I devoted all my effort to, has been successful," he said. "I don't expect that to change."

SORIANO UNSTOPPABLE: Not only can the Yankees' new second baseman make the throw to first, he can hit, too.

Rookie Alfonso Soriano had three hits as New York roughed up Cleveland starter Steve Woodard in a 15-3 rout.

Soriano, playing second with Chuck Knoblauch in leftfield, doubled twice and hit a two-run homer off Woodard. Soriano struck out in his final three at-bats but is batting .383 (31-of-81) this spring.

"The kid, even when he strikes out, it's not like he's feeling for the ball," manager Joe Torre said of the free-swinging Soriano, who has struck out 19 times this month. "Right now, he's seeing the ball pretty good."

EL DUQUE UPDATE: Right-hander Orlando Hernandez was scheduled to return to the mound against the Reds on Wednesday and has a chance to pitch during the first week of the season. Hernandez, who hasn't appeared in a spring game since March 9 because of a sore right elbow and forearm, threw 45 pitches off a bullpen mound during a 12-minute workout.

Quick warning irks clubs

BRADENTON -- Umpires caught both sides by surprise Monday when they stepped in to stop a beanball war in the Phillies-Pirates game.

Pittsburgh's Jimmy Anderson pitched six shutout innings and received a warning from umpires after hitting Gary Bennett with a pitch in the Pirates' 6-1 win.

Anderson and Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon were warned by home plate umpire Chris Guccione after Bennett was hit in the left shoulder by a pitch in the second inning. That came after Philadelphia starter Randy Wolf hit Emil Brown in the back with a pitch in the first.

"I don't know where that call came from, I don't know why the umpires did it," Anderson said. "I wasn't trying to hit anyone. That was pretty weak to warn me. Why would I hit someone in a spring training game?"

"The umpires just felt they didn't want things to get out of hand and that's fine," McClendon said. "They have the option of doing that and they exercised it."

Phillies manager Larry Bowa also said he saw no intent to hit either batter.

"We weren't trying to throw at anybody and I don't think their guy was trying to hit anybody either, to be honest with you," Bowa said.

MORE BAD NEWS: Wolf continued the Phillies' starters spring struggles. The left-hander was tagged for six runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings with three walks and four strikeouts.

TRADE: Minor-league outfielder Kenny Woods was traded from the Phillies' Triple-A team at Scranton Wilkes-Barre to the Orioles' Triple-A Rochester affiliate for a player to be named. Woods batted .303 with two home runs, 35 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 133 games last season for the Red Barons.

No harm done in beaning

KISSIMMEE -- Blue Jays right-hander Pasqual Coco struck Astros leadoff man Craig Biggio in the helmet with a pitch in the third inning.

Biggio, plunked for the eighth time this spring, got right up and played the rest of the game.

"The ball stuck coming off my fingers," Coco said. "I've never tried to throw a ball at someone's head; I'd never try to do that."

Shannon Stewart had three hits for Toronto, including a home run to lead off the game, in Houston's 4-1 win. Astros right-hander Shane Reynolds, making his first appearance since having surgery on his left knee Dec. 19, pitched a hitless seventh.

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