Piniella’s suspension is set at four games

Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella’s suspension was set at four games Monday by Major League Baseball for his weekend dirt-kicking tantrum against an umpire.

“I will serve it and I will learn from this experience,” Piniella said before Monday night’s game at Milwaukee. “These things won’t happen again.”

The commissioner’s office originally planned to suspend Piniella for five games. The penalty was reduced by one game after Piniella spoke with John McHale Jr., MLB’s executive vice president for administration. Piniella said he was suspended for making contact with umpire Mark Wegner -- which the Cubs manager denied -- and for “exciting the crowd, which is not hard to do in Chicago.”

Piniella started serving the penalty Sunday, when baseball said he was being suspended indefinitely pending his talk with McHale.

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Roger Clemens still hopes to make his 2007 New York Yankees debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday after an MRI exam showed he had a scar tissue injury in his right groin.

“We knew [the MRI] wasn’t going to show anything,” Manager Joe Torre said. “He’s had previous problems there. Just the fact that there was old scar tissue leads us to believe he’ll pitch Saturday.”

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The Chicago White Sox shook up their struggling bullpen, optioning Mike MacDougal and David Aardsma to triple-A Charlotte while purchasing the contracts of pitchers Ryan Bukvich and Bret Prinz from the minor league club.

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Combining bits of Earl Weaver, Billy Martin and Piniella, the weekend tantrum by double-A Manager Phillip Wellman prompted his bosses at the Atlanta Braves to take action.

Wellman, who manages the Mississippi Braves, was suspended for three games.