Associated Press
The baseball notebook …
CHICAGO ó Jake Peavy is staying with the San Diego Padres.
The ace pitcher turned down a trade to the Chicago White Sox, choosing Thursday to remain with his longtime team.
The Padres and White Sox had reached an agreement, but needed the 2007 Cy Young Award winner to waive his no-trade clause.
“As of right now, this is the best place for us to be. We made that decision for the time being,” Peavy said before Thursday night’s game against San Francisco.
“It’s been a crazy 24 hours,” he said. “I don’t want to be any kind of distraction to the team. We’re playing as well as we possibly can, winning five in a row and I’ve got a big game tomorrow night vs. the Chicago Cubs.”
White Sox general manager Ken Williams said in a statement the organization still has “championship aspirations for this season” and will keep looking to improve.
MORE PADRES
SAN DIEGO ó The San Diego Padres have acquired outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. in a trade that sent outfielder Jody Gerut to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Gwynn, who has been with Triple-A Nashville, got the news of the trade in a call from his Hall of Fame father, who played for the Padres for 20 seasons and is now San Diego State’s baseball coach.
The younger Gwynn played parts of three seasons in the majors.
SELIG ON ECONOMY
NEW YORK ó While Major League Baseball’s attendance is down 6.4 percent from a year ago and 20 of 30 teams have experienced drops, commissioner Bud Selig is pleased with how the sport is surviving a season of recession.
“The clubs are very aggressive now in the way they’re reaching out. I actually complimented them today at the end of the meeting,” he said Thursday after the owners’ quarterly gathering. “You’ve got some teams in economic markets that are have really, really been hurt.”
The 30 teams averaged 28,661 through Wednesday, down from 30,636 through May 20 last year. And Selig said per capita spending on tickets combined with concessions had been “quite a bit reduced, there’s no question about it.”
SMOLTZ
AUGUSTA, Ga. ó John Smoltz took a big step in his return form shoulder surgery, throwing three scoreless innings in his first rehabilitation outing.
Pitching for the Boston Red Sox’s Class A affiliate in Greenville, Smoltz struck out two and threw 29 pitches in his first game action in almost a year.
The 42-year-old Smoltz opened the season on the disabled list following surgery last June to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
Smoltz, who has 210 career victories, agreed to a $5.5 million, one-year deal with the Red Sox in January after 20 seasons with the Atlanta Braves.
BRAVES
ATLANTA ó Infielder Omar Infante and left-hander Jo-Jo Reyes were placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday by the Atlanta Braves.
Infante broke a bone in his left hand during Wednesday night’s game against the Rockies and Reyes strained his right hamstring.