Etc.

Not long at short

Michael Garciaparra, the younger brother of former Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, has been converted from short to second base as he struggles to make his way in the Seattle Mariners' farm system. Michael Garciaparra, a supplemental 2001 first-round draft pick, has been plagued by injuries. Last season, Garciaparra had wrist surgery, and this season he missed a month after undergoing surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee. On the day of his knee surgery, he said, he was watching on TV when his brother crumpled to the ground after tearing his groin muscle. Michael Garciaparra is playing for Inland Empire in the Single A California League. He was batting .286 with two home runs and eight RBIs through Thursday.

No-win situation

Mark Rogers, the Maine prep star chosen No. 5 overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in last year's draft, still has not won a game professionally. Rogers, from Orrs Island, Maine, is 0-5 with a 4.67 ERA in 13 games (eight starts) for the Single A West Virginia Power; he was 0-3 with a 4.73 ERA in nine games (six starts) last season for the Brewers' rookie league team in Arizona. ''I remember 1972 in Williamsport, when Don Aase turned down a scholarship with USC and signed with us," Sox minor league instructor Dick Berardino said. ''He went 0-10, and at the end of the year he came to me and said, 'Did I make a mistake?' A couple of years later, he was the Carolina Pitcher of the Year, and of course wound up in the big leagues. But when you don't win a game, you question yourself."

Arm of the law

In an odd coincidence, just before Kenny Rogers was getting himself in trouble with the authorities, the Rangers looked to a lawman to help their pitching staff. The club signed former Rangers pitcher and current Dallas police officer Tim Crabtree to a minor league contract. Crabtree had left baseball after hurting his throwing shoulder in 2001, underwent surgery the following season, and was working as an officer at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Feeling good enough to pitch again, Crabtree contacted the Rangers about a tryout, was signed to a minor league deal, and currently is working out at the team's minor league facility in Arizona.

Dinner for one

Nobody would even notice if they weren't losing, but Moisés Alou of the Giants said that no one on the club has invited him to dinner this season. ''I think it's very sad that I haven't been to dinner with anybody on the team, and it's June. I haven't seen other guys go out to dinner, either," Alou told Sports Weekly. ''That has to change. You play harder for guys and pull for guys more when you're close. But it's hard to get closer when no one ever hangs out." Last weekend, outfielder Michael Tucker had a birthday party, and only eight teammates showed up. Alou has a point. Giants reliever Scott Eyre told Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, ''I think he's right. No one around here goes to dinner after games. It's hard to believe no one has gone to dinner with Moises because he's such a good guy."

Quite a changeup

Maybe this is why Billy Beane is rejecting the suggestion that he is willing to trade lefthander Barry Zito. He's developed a slurve and is pitching as well as he has in recent memory. ''That's the best I've seen Barry pitch in two years," said Bret Boone of the Mariners. ''He was locating his fastball really well. He didn't give me a good pitch to hit until my third at-bat." Said Mariners lefty Jamie Moyer, who lost to Zito last week: ''The last two games we've seen him, he looks like a completely different pitcher, even from spring training. His changeup's gotten better and now he's got that slider he can go to."

Men in blue

Colleague Bob Ryan, still steamed that the manager of the Olde Towne Team mixed up his Philly cheesesteak restaurants and mistakenly accused Geno's, which uses only provolone, of using a cheap alternative, promises he'll be in much better spirits Tuesday when he and Channel 4 sportscaster Bob Lobel will serve as umpires at the annual ''Field of Dreams" fund-raising event at Fenway. The event, to benefit Action for Boston Community Development, the nation's longest-serving antipoverty agency, will feature corporate teams squaring off in softball games. The event is open to the public and Ryan promises he'll be in full schmoozing mode.

Lefthanded compliment

Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek entered Friday batting a league-leading .411 against lefthanded pitchers. Only three players this decade have hit .400 or better against lefties: Ichiro Suzuki (.404 in 2004), Milton Bradley (.402 in 2003), and Bret Boone (.444 in 2001). Manny Ramírez hit .407 against lefties in 1995 while playing for the Indians, a reminder of how baffling it is that he's hitting .176 against lefties this season.

Getting testy

Lowell Spinners manager Luis Alicea made some telling comments about baseball's drug-testing program to Rob Bradford of the Lowell Sun.

''Today we had our drug test, but was it supervised? No. I could have easily [urinated] for another guy," said Alicea, whose club underwent the same test on two occasions last season. ''It was no different than last year except last year we had a guy there looking. This year there was nobody looking. I was like, 'Wow!' "

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.