Play Ball

C.C. Sabathia threw a one hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, completing a sweep for the Brewers.

Or was it a no hitter?

The lone hit he allowed was on a ball grounded back to the box; one that he botched…allowing Andy LaRoche to reach first base. The Pirates, at home, were awarded a hit by the official scorer. That was the lone hit of the game.

Sabathia is now 9-0 with the Brewers.

The team is going to appeal the scoring decision in order to give Sabathia a no hitter on his resume. That would just add to his asking price on the free agent market this season. Like going 9-0 with his new team in the middle of a pennant race wasn’t enough already.

The Brewers put up 7 runs on 11 hits in the win, their 80th of the season. This is the first time since September 1992 that the Brewers are 24 games above .500.

Sabathia is the first Milwaukee pitcher to throw a one hit shutout since 1987 when Teddy Higuera did it.

On the day when it was announced that wide receiver Chad Johnson legally changed his last name to Ocho Cinco, the Bengals released two of their former starters, running back Rudi Johnson and offensive tackle Willie Anderson.

Johnson, often injured, lost his starting job at running back during training camp to Chris Perry. Johnson sat out most of the camp because of a hamstring injury.

Perry, a 2004 draft choice for Cincinnati, becomes the starter after an impressive pre-season and camp.

Johnson ran for a franchise record 1,458 yards in 2005 but lingering hamstring problems only allowed him to start in nine games in 2007 and averaged only 2.9 yards per carry.

Anderson, the longest tenured Bengal with 12 seasons in Cincinnati, was cut after he declined to take a pay cut to stay with the team. He lost his starting job in camp to Stacey Andrews. He was limited to only seven games in 2007; which broke a string of four straight Pro Bowl appearances.

Manu Ginobili, the guard for the San Antonio Spurs, said on Friday that he will need surgery to repair his injured ankle.

Ginobili injured his left ankle towards the end of the NBA regular season and still played on it during the Olympics for his native country Argentina.

Ginobili led Argentina to the bronze medal in this year’s summer Olympics.

The Spurs did comment on the impending surgery to the extent that Ginobili would need surgery.

Ginobili will have the surgery to repair a posterior impingement in his left ankle.

He will undergo surgery sometime next week in Los Angeles and no timetable will be set for his return until after the surgery has been completed.

The agent for Colts center Jeff Saturday said he will miss at least six weeks due to an injury. The announcement came through the Indianapolis Star on Thursday.

Saturday has a damaged ligament in his right knee and could miss more than six weeks if he elects to have surgery on the knee.

Saturday has started 59 straight games for the Colts since 2004 but that streak is all but over.

He damaged the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during the Colts’ game against the Buffalo Bills.

It was also said that if Saturday does elect to have surgery to repair the ligament he could wind up missing anywhere from 11 weeks of the season to the entire season.