Urbina Replaces Looper as Closer

Florida closer Braden Looper lost his job to Ugueth Urbina on Wednesday after three rough outings.

Manager Jack McKeon made the change to try to help the Marlins protect their lead in the NL wild-card race.

“Right now I’m going to go with Urbina,” McKeon said. “But we still have faith in Looper.”

Urbina, a right-hander, led the AL with 26 saves when he was traded by Texas to Florida in July. He earned his fourth save in six chances with Florida against Philadelphia on Tuesday and lowered his ERA to 1.49.

Looper, also a right-hander, blew consecutive save chances against Atlanta, then walked the only two batters he faced in the eighth inning Tuesday against Philadelphia. Florida fans booed Looper.

“I can feel their pain,” he said. “Believe me, I’m not out there trying to do what I did.”

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Three teams announced their starting rotations for the first round of the playoffs.

Russ Ortiz will start Game 1 for Atlanta on Tuesday. Brave Manager Bobby Cox said that Ortiz (10-7) will be followed by Mike Hampton (14-8) and Greg Maddux (15-11). Atlanta will play either Chicago or Houston. For Oakland, Manager Ken Macha selected Tim Hudson to pitch Game 1. Barry Zito will pitch Game 2, followed by Ted Lilly. Minnesota Manager Ron Gardenhire named Johan Santana to start Game 1 against the New York Yankees, followed by Brad Radke and Kyle Lohse.

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Curt Schilling has been shut down by the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final week of the season. “We don’t see any upside in sending him out there one more time,” Manager Bob Brenly said.

The right-hander, 8-9 with a 2.95 ERA in 24 starts, was on the disabled list twice this year. An appendectomy forced him out from April 18 to May 2. He sat out 38 games from May 31 to July 11 because of a broken right hand.

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St. Louis Cardinal catcher Mike Matheny, Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan were suspended and fined for their conflict with an umpire last weekend. Matheny was suspended for three games, La Russa for two and Duncan for one.