Sports briefs 8/10/04

Baseball

Phillies slugger Pat Burrell will have season-ending wrist surgery Friday, another blow to Philadelphia's playoff hopes. Burrell, who injured his left wrist in batting practice last Tuesday, was hitting .263 with 18 homers and 68 RBIs. He'll be replaced in left field by a combination of Doug Glanville, Jason Michaels and rookie Lou Collier.

Trying to bolster a rotation depleted by injuries, the Phillies acquired starting pitcher Cory Lidle from the Cincinnati Reds for two minor leaguers and a player to be named. Lidle, who is 7-10 with a 5.32 ERA in 24 starts, will step into an inconsistent rotation that had been missing Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla. Lidle is tied for second in the NL with three complete games, and he led the Reds with 149 innings pitched. Cincinnati obtained Class-A outfielder Javon Moran and left-handed pitcher Joe Wilson in the trade.

Two-time AL batting champion Edgar Martinez announced Monday that he will retire at the end of the season, ending his career with the Seattle Mariners as one of baseball's greatest designated hitters.

Martinez, 41, was a seven-time All-Star. He batted over .300 in 10 seasons, and led the league in hitting in 1992 and 1995. Martinez holds the DH record for home runs and RBIs, and has the highest batting average among DHs with at least 1,000 at-bats, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Overall, Martinez is a .312 lifetime hitter with 305 home runs and 1,244 RBIs. He has 2,205 hits, including 510 doubles.

Basketball

The Houston Rockets hope they have solved their point guard problems with the signings of free agents Charlie Ward and Bob Sura on Monday. The two veterans will compete with recently acquired guard Tyronn Lue.

Horse racing

Trainer Shug McGaughey, jockey Kent Desormeaux and 1998 Horse of the Year Skip Away were inducted into thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame on Monday.

Flawlessly, perhaps the most successful offspring of 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, entered in the contemporary female horse category. Jimmy Winkfield, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner in the early 1900s, was enshrined in the historic jockey category, and Bowl of Flowers entered in the historic horse category.

McGaughey, 53, has saddled more than 1,300 winners and his horses have earned more than $84 million in a career that began in 1979. Desormeaux, among the top riders in Southern California, won the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Real Quiet and the 2000 Derby aboard Fusaichi Pegasus. The 34-year-old rider from Maurice, La., has won more than 4,500 races with total purses earned topping $186 million. He holds the record for wins in a single season with 598 in 1989.