Orioles Pick Up Ripken’s Option

Cal Ripken’s $6.3-million option for the 2000 season was exercised by the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.

Ripken, who turns 39 next month, is batting .314 with 12 homers and 36 runs batted in. He will make his 17th consecutive All-Star game appearance and 16th consecutive start for the American League on Tuesday at Fenway Park.

“At the start of the season, I had a number of things hanging over my head, and the contract situation was one of them,” Ripken said.

“It was an uncomfortable situation. But after I sort of got myself physically back and got my focus back mentally, the contract thing sort of took care of itself.”

Ripken, who played in a record 2,632 consecutive games before asking out of the lineup last Sept. 20, is 51 hits shy of 3,000 and four homers away from 400.

*

The Arizona Diamondbacks, in desperate need of a closer, got Matt Mantei from the Florida Marlins for reliever Vladimir Nunez, top pitching prospect Brad Penny and a player to be named.

Mantei, was 1-2 with 10 saves and a 2.72 earned-run average for the Marlins. The hard-throwing right-hander, who turned 26 this week, has 50 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings.

Arizona has blown 14 of 29 save chances.

The trade was made on Matt Mantei pin night at Pro Player Stadium. The Marlins, last in the National League East, announced the deal before playing Tampa Bay.

*

As if the Chicago Cubs didn’t have enough pitching injuries, starter Kevin Tapani was forced to leave Friday night’s game against the cross-town White Sox after two innings because of a bruised right thumb from fielding a hard hopper back to the mound, and three innings later, his replacement, Matt Karchner, also had to depart because of a strained right groin. . . . Colorado Rockies left-hander Brian Bohanon has bone chips in his throwing elbow and will be given about 10 days’ rest over the All-Star break to determine if he can pitch with the injury. . . . New York Yankee outfielder Darryl Strawberry worked out briefly at the team’s minor league facility in Tampa, Fla., for the first time since being suspended from baseball three weeks ago for violating baseball’s drug policy. Strawberry, who has been working out on his own during his 120-day suspension, took batting practice for about 15 minutes. . . . Detroit pitching coach Rick Adair was fired and replaced by Dan Warthen, the Tigers’ pitching coach for triple-A Toledo. . . . Cincinnati Red pitcher Jason Bere will start Sunday for triple-A Indianapolis at Columbus as part of his rehabilitation program to overcome elbow pain and control problems. . . . The St. Louis Cardinals activated infielder Shawon Dunston from the disabled list and optioned right-handed pitcher Mike Busby to triple-a Memphis.

Reliever Matt Anderson, sent from the Tigers to Toledo last month, has been declared fit for a diversion program that could keep felony counts in an Arizona drug case off of his record. Anderson, 22, was arrested in October in Scottsdale while playing in the Arizona Fall League. Police said he accepted an overnight package containing marijuana. If he completes the six-month program--in which he could be randomly tested for drug use--no charges will appear on his record. . . . Carlton Fisk’s home run ball that won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series sold for $113,273 on the first day of Leland’s two-day auction of sports memorabilia in New York. Bidding continued Friday with the centerpiece of the auction the uniform Lou Gehrig wore on July 4, 1939, the day he made his famed retirement speech at Yankee Stadium. Opening bid on the Gehrig uniform was $295,000.