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Baseball news

By SHARON GINN and Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 6, 2001

Perez going back to the front office

ATLANTA -- Tony Perez, who came out of the front office in May to manage the Marlins, said Friday he won't return to the field in 2002.

Perez is going back to his job as special assistant to general manager Dave Dombrowski.

"I feel okay," Perez said. "I made my decision. I feel good that I will still be with the Marlins like I was before. It's not like I'm leaving. I'm just going back upstairs."

The decision was expected with the Marlins finishing far back in the NL East and facing the prospect of another salary purge during the offseason.

CUBS: Catcher Joe Girardi had surgery to remove bone fragments from his left knee. Girardi, who turns 37 on Oct. 14, should be ready for his 13th major-league season when spring training begins next year.

EXPOS: Right-hander Tony Armas will miss his final start after being hit in the thumb by a comebacker.

X-rays showed no injury to Armas, who was hit by the ball Tuesday, but the team decided not to start him in Sunday's finale against the Mets.

"We thought it better to just shut him down," manager Jeff Torborg said,

Armas went 9-14 with a 4.03 ERA in 34 starts this season.

YANKEES: New York will decide Sunday whether pitcher Orlando Hernandez will be on the first-round playoff roster.

Hernandez, who has complained of a tired right arm, threw for 18 minutes in the outfield, one day after an MRI showed no problems with his shoulder, arm and neck.

"He's smiling," pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said. "He's much happier. He had better arm strength."

COIN FLIP: If a playoff game is required to decide the NL wild-card berth, it would be played Monday with Houston at San Francisco. The Giants won a coin flip to determine home field.

JAPANESE HR RECORD: Tuffy Rhodes, who tied Sadaharu Oh's season record Sept. 24 with his 55th homer, was hitless in four at-bats Friday, completing his season without breaking the record.

Few watch Bonds tie record

The Giants-Astros game was played in prime time Thursday on the East Coast, but outside of Houston and San Francisco, relatively few saw Barry Bonds' record-tying 70th home run. The game broadcast on Fox Family Channel garnered a .6 rating and 1 share, meaning just more than 600,000 households of the 83-million that get Fox Family tuned in.

ESPN, which cut in live to every Bonds at-bat, fared better. ESPN garnered a 2.35 rating during the 15-minute period that included Bonds' homer. One ratings point equals just more than 1-million homes, or 1 percent of the nation's households with televisions.

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