BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : Franco Injures Himself

New York Met reliever John Franco sustained a minor injury to his non-pitching hand Tuesday night when he hit something in a fit of rage after the Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

Team spokesman Jay Horwitz said Franco, a left-hander, had one or two stitches taken in his right hand, but he said Franco would be able to pitch tonight against the Braves. Horwitz would not say what Franco hit.

Franco had just given up Brian Hunter’s game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth.

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Pittsburgh’s Andy Van Slyke, out for about two months with a broken collarbone, says the wall in St. Louis is to blame for his injury.

Van Slyke slammed into the center field wall on rookie Erik Pappas’ home run during an 8-3 loss to the Cardinals at St. Louis Monday night.

He was playing slightly shallow on Pappas and was on the dead run when he hit the thinly padded wall.

“I did everything right to break it,” Van Slyke said. “The wall punched me back, instead of slapping me.”

Van Slyke was critical of the padding.

“When the ball hits the wall here, it comes right back to you,” Van Slyke said. “That tells you something about the padding. There is no question in my mind that if I would have hit the wall in Pittsburgh in the same angle and same velocity, I’d be playing today.”

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Ken Hill will miss his second consecutive start as the Montreal Expos decided to scratch him from tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Hill (6-1) strained his right groin on May 21 in Philadelphia. . . . The Seattle Mariners placed Edgar Martinez on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday after he aggravated a pulled left hamstring against the Kansas City Royals. Martinez, last year’s AL batting champion, missed the first 39 games of the season after pulling the hamstring April 3. In 19 games, he was hitting .213 with one home run and six runs batted in. . . . Philadelphia Phillie third baseman Dave Hollins underwent surgery Tuesday to remove a fractured bone fragment from his right hand and will be sidelined four to six weeks. Hollins is hitting .288 with nine home runs and 47 runs batted in, second on the team to Darren Daulton’s 52.