Martinez Will Sit Out July to Rest Shoulder

Boston Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez will take the rest of July off to rest his ailing right shoulder, he said Friday from the Dominican Republic.

“The reality is that I will need 30 full days of rest instead of 15,” Martinez told the Dominican newspaper Ultima Hora. “I prefer to wait a bit more and return with my arm in good shape.”

Martinez, who has won the last two Cy Young awards in the American League and three in his career, was put on the disabled list June 27, a day after giving up four runs in less than five innings against Tampa Bay.

Martinez, who is 7-2 and leads the AL with a 2.26 earned-run average and 150 strikeouts, said doctors have told him there will be no need for surgery.

Mark McGwire said that while he’s disappointed he is slumping, he is not contemplating retirement at the end of this season as was reported in a front-page story in Friday’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“I’m struggling,” McGwire said before the Cardinals opened a three-game series with the Cleveland Indians. “The question was asked, ‘Do I think about it [retirement]?’ Well, when you’re 37 years old and you’ve played as long as I have, you always think about it.

“Who doesn’t think about it? . . . It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out I’m at the end of my career. It’s going to happen one of these days.”

McGwire snapped a career-long 0-for-29 slump with a single in his first at-bat Friday.

New York Met Manager Bobby Valentine sent Florida’s Cliff Floyd a letter saying he regretted the controversy caused by not picking the Marlin outfielder for the All-Star game.

Valentine dismissed talk that he deliberately set up Floyd for a fall because Floyd called him a “stupid manager” earlier this season. Floyd is hitting .349 with 21 home runs and 70 runs batted in.

Delino DeShields, waived this week by the Baltimore Orioles, agreed to contract terms with the Chicago Cubs.

In other news, the Cubs put outfielder Rondell White on the 15-day disabled list because of a left groin strain and recalled infielder Jason Smith from triple-A Iowa.

Outfielder Brady Anderson, mired in a season-long slump, is the latest victim of the Baltimore Orioles’ youth movement.

With Chris Richard and rookie Jay Gibbons playing well, the 37-year-old Anderson was told by Manager Mike Hargrove that he probably will see limited action until he significantly lifts his .206 batting average.

Pawtucket Red Sox outfielder Izzy Alcantara has been dropped from the triple-A International League all-star team for his part in a bench-clearing brawl with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Alcantara was suspended six games for karate-kicking catcher Jeremy Salazar in the facemask and rushing the mound.

Philadelphia sent struggling starter Bruce Chen to double-A Reading and activated right-hander Cliff Politte from the 60-day disabled list. . . . Milwaukee put outfielder James Mouton on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained left hamstring. . . . Atlanta put outfielder Bernard Gilkey on the disabled list because of a strained left quadriceps. . . . Seattle called up outfielder Scott Podsednik from triple-A Tacoma and sent right-hander Dennis Stark to double-A San Antonio. . . . Pittsburgh Manager Lloyd McClendon was fined $1,000 by major league baseball for walking off the field with first base during a game last week. . . . Rick Ankiel struck out 15 in six innings, overpowering rookie-league hitters and pitching the Johnson City (Tenn.) Cardinals past the Kingsport Mets, 4-2.