Bowa Will Not Be Fired During the Season

Philadelphia Manager Larry Bowa will retain his job through the end of the season, but General Manager Ed Wade wouldn’t address whether Bowa will return in 2005.

“As is the case at the end of every season, we will sit down at that point to review and address the status of our players, our manager and his staff,” Wade said in a statement Saturday. “Until that time, our sole focus will be on our performance on the field.”

After a flurry of off-season moves over the previous two years, including the acquisition of closer Billy Wagner and starter Eric Milton last off-season, the Phillies were the favorite in the NL East. They were 44-37 on July 5 and led the division by three games, then went 20-28 and are 11 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta.

“Much of the speculation has come about because of the inconsistent performance of the team and the high expectations that many of us had coming into the 2004 season. But the season is not over,” Wade said.

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After five mediocre starts, Esteban Loaiza lost his job in the New York Yankee rotation and was sent to the bullpen Saturday.

Loaiza failed to make it out of the fifth inning in Friday’s 8-7 victory over Toronto.

He is 0-2 with a 7.30 earned-run average in five starts with the Yankees since he was traded on July 31 from the White Sox for Jose Contreras, and is 9-7 overall with a 5.23 ERA in 26 starts this season.

Right-handers Kevin Brown, Mike Mussina, Orlando Hernandez, Javier Vazquez and Jon Lieber remain in the rotation.

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Chicago Cub reliever Kyle Farnsworth is on the 15-day disabled list after he injured his knee Friday by kicking an electric fan after a six-run ninth inning that led to a 15-7 loss to the Houston Astros.

Farnsworth has a sprained and bruised right knee that might force him to sit out for three weeks.

“He was rather upset after the game,” Manager Dusty Baker said. “You hate for it to happen. You wish things had been handled better. You know everybody has done something similar at some time in their career. There’s a valuable lesson here, an expensive one.”

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The St. Louis Cardinals put left-handed relief pitcher Steve Kline on the 15-day disabled list because of a groin injury. Kline, who pitched the eighth inning of Friday’s 8-5 win over Pittsburgh, was injured when he ran to cover first base. Kline (2-2) has a 1.86 earned-run average with three saves in 63 appearances.