NBA will further review altercation after Game 6

NBA commissioner David Stern joins ESPN Radio's Mike Tirico during halftime of Game 6 of the NBA Finals to update the state of labor negotiations in the NBA.

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Yanks put Colon on DL with strained hamstring

Updated: June 13, 2011, 1:36 AM ETBy Mike Mazzeo
Special to ESPNNewYork.com
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NEW YORK -- New York Yankees right-hander Bartolo Colon was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday with a strained left hamstring.

Outfielder Chris Dickerson has been called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take Colon's spot on the team's 25-man roster.

Colon underwent an MRI at New York Presbyterian Hospital on Saturday night, but did not know the grade of the sprain. Manager Joe Girardi said the results of the MRI were "pretty good," but Colon will still need to be shut down for at least two weeks.

"I feel good, I just have a little bit of pain," Colon said through a translator. "I'm on the DL now, but I hope to be back after 15 days. ... After the 15 days, I should be back."

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Colon will continue to work on other parts of his body, but doesn't know when he'll be able to start rehabbing his legs.

"I feel bad because the team needs help and I got hurt," Colon said. "But there's nothing I can do about it."

The 38-year-old suffered the injury while trying to cover first base and left Saturday afternoon's game with two outs in the seventh inning.

Colon (5-3, 3.10 ERA) ended up winning for the third straight start on Saturday afternoon, going 6 2/3 scoreless innings as the Yankees shut out the Cleveland Indians, 4-0, at Yankee Stadium. In his last 21 innings, Colon has surrendered just three earned runs.

Hector Noesi, who was summoned from Triple-A to replace Amauri Sanit (disabled list, elbow), could make Colon's next scheduled start on Thursday afternoon against the Texas Rangers, according to Girardi. The right-handed Noesi threw six innings of two-run ball out of the bullpen on Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox before being sent down to the minors.

In four Triple-A starts, Noesi went 1-1 with a 3.92 ERA, allowing nine earned runs and 25 hits over 20 2/3 innings.

"I was a starter (in the minors) and it's normal for me to throw six, seven or eight innings," said Noesi, who was unaware that he might have to step into the rotation. "It's just (easier)."

Although he wouldn't commit to Noesi, Girardi said he's thrown 75 pitches and could conceivably give the Yankees 80-85 if need be. Other internal minor league options to take Colon's turn could be Adam Warren (4-2, 3.53), D.J. Mitchell (4-5, 3.04) or David Phelps (4-4, 2.95).

Colon was en route to snag first baseman Mark Teixeira's flip to retire right fielder Shin-Soo Choo on a grounder, but he came up lame and walked gingerly off the field.

Colon lost out of the fifth spot in the Yankees' rotation coming out of spring training and began the season in the bullpen, but emerged out of nowhere with ace-like dominance after right-hander Phil Hughes was placed on the DL in mid-April with right shoulder inflammation.

Third baseman Alex Rodriguez called general manager Brian Cashman's free agent signing of Colon in February "the signing of the century."

"He's been consistently great all year. 1-A stuff," Rodriguez said Saturday.

Colon's loss couldn't come at a worse time for the Yankees, who are already dealing with a depleted bullpen due to the losses of Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano, Pedro Feliciano and Damaso Marte due to various injuries.

Hughes is slated to make his first minor league rehab start on Tuesday for the Gulf Coast Yankees, but the Yankees don't know when he'll be back.

Colon's weight -- 265 pounds -- could be an issue as he begins rehab, but Girardi said "he's pretty quick for how big he is."

"I think you worry (more) about if a guy's favoring something that he could be hurting his arm," Girardi said.

Colon's success with the Yankees this season comes on the heels of an unorthodox offseason shoulder surgery that involved stem cells being injected into his painful shoulder and elbow.

The doctor who performed the surgery has given HGH to other patients, though he claims that he did not give it to Colon. The surgery is being investigated by Major League Baseball.

Mike Mazzeo is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com. ESPNNewYork.com's Matt Ehalt contributed to this report.

 

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Thomas: Focus on ice, not Luongo comments

Updated: June 12, 2011, 11:05 PM

BOSTON -- Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas has a message for Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo and it's not in the form of flattery.

Luongo has taken a few digs at his counterpart, and fellow Vezina Trophy finalist, the last couple of days, and when asked to respond after the Bruins' practice Sunday at TD Garden, Thomas took a different route.

"I did hear about what he said, but I don't really want to go into that," Thomas said. "My focus is on what I can do to help my team win going into Game 6. It's obviously a must-win game and I think it's important for our whole team to focus on that game and what we can do on the ice."

The Canucks lead the best-of-seven Stanley Cup final 3-2 with Game 6 Monday night.

"I know we're in the Stanley Cup final and everything is under the microscope and going to get blown out of proportion, obviously my whole comment I don't think was a negative comment, if you take the whole comment," Luongo said Sunday. "But at the end of the day you know what? I'm one win away from winning the Stanley Cup and that's all I really care about right now. All the other stuff is noise to me."

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault backed up his goalie in French.

"If you look at the comment as a whole, what he said was flattering toward Thomas. But you guys (media) took only the part that made it a headline," Vigneault said.

Prior to the Canucks flying to Boston on Saturday, Luongo suggested that he hasn't been getting enough respect from Thomas in this series.

"I have been pumping his tires ever since the series started," Luongo said. "I haven't heard one nice thing he had to say about me. That's the way it is."

After Vancouver's 1-0 victory in Game 5 on Friday, Luongo made it a point to criticize and critique Thomas on the game-winning goal.

"It's not hard if you're playing in the paint," Luongo said. "It's an easy save for me, but if you're wandering out and aggressive like he does, that's going to happen. He might make some saves that I won't, but in a case like that, we want to take advantage of a bounce like that and make sure we're in good position to bury those."

The Canucks' Max Lapierre capitalized on Thomas being out of position early in the third period in Game 5 and snuck in the game-winning goal.

Bruins coach Claude Julien defended his goalie on Saturday.

"I don't think Timmy is going to make much of that comment (by Luongo). I think you guys (reporters) are making more out of it than Timmy will. Either way, his stats, you know, are proof itself. He's given up six goals in five games.

"The guy that made the comment, I'm not quite sure how many he let in. I think you guys have a good idea, so I don't think he (Thomas) is going to lose sleep over that."

Thomas isn't about to get into a war of words at this point of the season.

"I guess I didn't realize it was my job to pump his tires," Thomas said Sunday with a laugh. "I guess I have to apologize for that.

"Nobody on our team talks specifically about guys on the other team in that way. We've done a good job of focusing on the important things, which is what you can do on the ice and I think that's what helped us to get this far.

"There is obviously going to be talk in the media and they're going to talk about a whole bunch of different topics and that's fine. When I watched playoffs in the past, sometimes it's fun to listen to what is said, but when you're playing, I think the best course is to remain focused on what you can control and that's on the ice."

Patrice Bergeron said the trash talk was something he's seen before.

"We've seen it before, even in previous series, sometimes guys are trying to play the head games and you just can't worry about that and it's part of the sport," he said. "You just have to worry about what you can control."

Joe McDonald covers the Bruins for ESPNBoston.com.

 

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