Sports: AL briefs

AL briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

Rangers' rookie righty stepping up on the mound ARLINGTON, Texas -- Doug Davis doesn't care whether he's a starter or a reliever. The rookie right-hander simply wants the ball.

Davis' status for next season improved Friday when he matched David Wells for eight shutout innings before the Rangers went on to beat Toronto 1-0 in 11 innings.

Wells was bidding to become the first 19-game winner in the majors, but Davis blocked his path with the longest scoreless stretch of his career.

"I don't care how they use me, as long as I get in there," said Davis, who was coming off a complete-game victory over Boston on Aug. 20. "I'm trying to go out there with a bulldog attitude and get ahead of guys.

"I'm getting ahead with fastballs, then establishing my changeup and slider. I've taken a lot of confidence out my last two outings."

ANGELS: Gary DiSarcina has been doing his physical therapy at an Anaheim clinic and has been to Edison Field only three or four times since surgery to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder. Manager Mike Scioscia, however, asked him to come to the stadium this weekend and expects him to be around a little more often. "Part of the mental therapy for myself is to not be around the guys," DiSarcina said. "There's no sense being dead weight, getting in everyone's way, if I can't play. That's the way I've always felt."

RED SOX: Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra and pitcher Pedro Martinez have a chance to become the third pair of teammates to lead the league in batting and ERA, respectively, for back-to-back seasons. Al Simmons and Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics did it in 1930 and '31, and Tommy Davis and Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers did it in 1962 and '63.

TIGERS: Dave Mlicki, 4-10 this season, will make a rehab start today for West Michigan of the Class A Midwest League. He has been on the DL since July 23 with severe sinus infection.

WHITE SOX: General manager Ron Schueler compares his team, which has been lackluster in the second half, to Lou Piniella's 1990 Reds, who went wire-to-wire for the NL West title, then won the pennant against Pittsburgh and the World Series in a sweep of Oakland. Schueler scouted the Reds for the A's that year. "This club reminds me a lot of the '90 Reds," he said. "I followed them for 21/2 weeks in September. They had a 10-game lead the whole summer, but it got down to one or two games at the end and they just sneaked in. Then, when we played them in the World Series, they did everything right."