Phillies’ Person Gets Six-Game Suspension

Philadelphia right-hander Robert Person was suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount Thursday for hitting Arizona’s Reggie Sanders with a pitch.

In the sixth inning of Sunday’s Phillies-Diamondbacks’ game in Phoenix, Person barely missed Sanders’ head with a 1-0 pitch before drilling him in the back with the next pitch. Person was ejected from the game.

Sanders had hit a two-run homer off Person in his previous at-bat.

Person appealed the suspension, handed out by baseball’s chief disciplinarian Frank Robinson, and will be eligible to play until a hearing his held.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” he said. “Reggie reacted, but he knows me better than that.”

St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa said Mark McGwire, sidelined because of a knee injury, could come off the disabled list on June 5.

When asked if McGwire might be ready to serve as a designated hitter when the Cardinals begin interleague play June 12, La Russa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “I think he’ll be playing before that.”

“Based on what I saw [last weekend], I think he’ll be ready to play soon,” La Russa said. “He’s really doing a lot of stuff and he’s feeling pretty good.”

McGwire is trying to regain strength in his right knee after having off-season surgery. He started the season as a regular but found his knee wasn’t ready to take the physical demands of daily play.

McGwire went on the disabled list April 16 after playing only six games.

A “very sick” Darryl Strawberry was given yet another chance when a judge sent the former baseball standout to rehab instead of prison for going on a four-day drug binge.

“You are at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes against you. You are a proven winner on the field. Now you must prove you are a winner off the field,” Circuit Judge Florence Foster said in a Tampa, Fla, courtroom.

Strawberry, 39, was ordered into a treatment program, as he had requested. He is to serve two years there, then a year of probation.

If he violates his release again, he faces 18 months in a Florida prison under the judge’s order.

Ken Griffey Jr. is making slow progress from his torn hamstring and there is no plan for the Cincinnati outfielder to have surgery. . . . Pittsburgh pitcher Kris Benson doesn’t have a torn ligament, but planned to decide today whether to have surgery on his strained right elbow. . . . Texas all-star catcher Ivan Rodriguez was activated from the 15-day disabled list. Rodriguez, who is batting .309 with six home runs and 11 runs batted in in 23 games, went on the disabled list May 2 because of a severe bone bruise on his left heel. . . . Tampa Bay outfielder Jose Guillen was taken off the field on a stretcher after injuring his left knee while stepping onto first base in the Devil Rays’ loss Thursday at Kansas City. . . . Atlanta sent second baseman Marcus Giles back to triple-A Richmond only two days after he hit a game-winning grand slam. Giles was sent down to make room for pitcher John Smoltz. . . . Detroit bullpen coach Ed Ott rejoined the team, a day after doctors relieved a 75% blockage in an artery near his heart. . . . The Tigers sent left-hander Matt Miller to triple-A Toledo and recalled right-hander Dave Borkowski. . . . The New York Mets activated right-hander Rick White from the 15-day disabled list and sent pitcher Jerrod Riggan to triple-A Norfolk.