DIERKER RECOVERING: Drowsy but upbeat, Houston Astros manager Larry Dierker emerged from brain surgery joking about his aggressive managing style.
"He says he's still going to do it," a laughing Dr. Rob Parrish said, after the Methodist Hospital neurosurgeon removed two tangled sets of blood vessels from the front of Dierker's brain Tuesday.Dierker's faces four weeks of convalescence following the 5 1/2-hour surgery that sliced the ruptured snarl of blood vessels, known as an arteriovenous malformation, free from his brain.
"As Larry said, 'They always say don't worry about it, it's not brain surgery, but it's brain surgery,' " Parrish said. "Certainly, it's serious surgery."
The mass touched off a seizure in Dierker's brain Sunday night after the 52-year-old manager collapsed in the Astros dugout in the eighth inning of the team's game against the San Diego Padres.
VALENTINE'S APPEAL DENIED: Bobby Valentine made his case for a reduced penalty Tuesday for returning to the New York Mets dugout in disguise after an ejection last week but got nowhere with NL president Len Coleman.
After hearing Valentine's side of the story, Coleman stood by his decision that the manager should get a two-game suspension and $5,000 fine.
DIMAGGIO COLLECTION FETCHES 'MILLIONS': Ralph Perullo's office is now the home to Joe DiMaggio's personal collection of signed baseballs, jerseys and other memorabilia. Perullo worked out a deal with Morris Engelberg, DiMaggio's close friend and attorney, to buy more than 10,000 signed items and more for a price "in the millions."
While Perullo intends to sell many of the items, the longtime Yankees fan from Bayonne, N.J., also plans to keep a large number of the pieces for himself.
TAMPERED PCL BAT: If Edwin Diaz returns to the Triple-A Tucson Sidewinders this season, he'll face immediate suspension from the Pacific Coast League for doctoring his bat.
Tucson Manager Chris Speier said PCL commissioner Branch Rickey Jr. notified him on Tuesday that Diaz's bat, confiscated on June 10, was found to have been tampered with.
Diaz, who was called up to the Arizona Diamondbacks two days after the bat was questioned, will have to sit out a week upon his return to the minor leagues.