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Arizona’s Gonzalez to Have Surgery

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From Associated Press

Outfielder Luis Gonzalez finished his season with a quiet, hitless day, then began thinking ahead to the season-ending ligament-replacement surgery he plans to have today.

Gonzalez, who played this season with a partially torn ligament in his right elbow, was 0 for 4 in Arizona’s 10-2 loss to Colorado on Sunday at Denver. He was 0 for 10 in the three-game series.

“When I decided not to have the surgery after last season, this wasn’t the script I was expecting, especially with the guys we had picked up and thinking everybody was going to be healthy,” Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t the way things turned out.”

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The Diamondbacks suffered a rash of injuries beginning with the early loss of first baseman Richie Sexson, and they have the worst record in the major leagues.

And to top it off, veteran center fielder Steve Finley was traded to the Dodgers on Saturday.

“Think how strange it’s going to be without Steve in center and me not in left,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve been together for six seasons.”

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Boston slugger David Ortiz dropped his appeal and began serving a five-game suspension.

Ortiz was suspended by the commissioner’s office for throwing bats onto the field after he was ejected from a game July 16 at Anaheim.

He initially appealed his suspension, but dropped the appeal before Sunday’s game against Minnesota.

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Montreal right-hander Zach Day will be sidelined four to six weeks after breaking a bone in his right middle finger while trying to bunt in a game against Florida that eventually was rained out.... Tampa Bay called up shortstop B.J. Upton from triple-A Durham. The Devil Rays’ first-round draft pick in 2002, Upton batted .311 with 12 home runs and 36 runs batted in at Durham. He started the season at double-A Montgomery.

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During the All-Star break, Esteban Loaiza got a pretty good idea the New York Yankees were interested in him. He just didn’t think they meant this soon.

“[Jason] Giambi was saying ‘We want you, we want you,’ ” Loaiza said. “The way they were talking -- [Manager Joe] Torre and the coaching staff -- they wanted me since four years ago, when I was with Texas.”

Loaiza was approached by Torre, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and several players at the All-Star game in Houston in July.

But the 20-game winner didn’t expect anything to happen before the off-season -- when he can become a free agent -- until he received a phone call from Ken Williams, general manager of the Chicago White Sox, while Loaiza was on the team bus heading for the ballpark in Detroit.

When Arizona declined to make a trade proposal for left-hander Randy Johnson, the Yankees made their last-minute deal for the right-handed Loaiza before the non-waiver trade deadline Saturday.

The Yankees sent inconsistent right-hander Jose Contreras and $3 million to the White Sox for Loaiza.

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