Sports digest: Mark Teixeira withdraws from World Baseball Classic

Mark Teixeira's stay with the U.S. team at the World Baseball Classic didn't last long.

The Yankees slugger strained his right wrist while taking some light swings off a tee in the batting cage Tuesday, forcing him to withdraw from the tournament even before the Americans could play the Chicago White Sox in the first of their two scheduled exhibition games.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Tuesday night in Tampa, Fla., that Teixeira would be out a minimum of 10 days. X-rays were negative and an MRI revealed the strain, U.S. manager Joe Torre said.

Major League Baseball intends to expand the use of instant replay for the 2014 season and will be studying over the course of this year which calls to review and how to do it.

Jungho Kang hit a two-run homer with two out in the bottom of the 8th inning to give South Korea a 3-2 victory over Taiwan in Taipei in a World Baseball classic Group B game, but the South Koreans missed out on a spot in the next round because they lost a tiebreaker against the Netherlands. ... Jonathan Schoop's two-run homer helped the Netherlands to a 4-1 victory over Australia. ... In Fukuoka, Japan, Ray Chang drove in two runs and China rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat Brazil 5-2 in Group A.

NFL

Safety Mike Mitchell, a second-round pick in 2009 and widely regarded as a reach by Raiders owner Al Davis, has apparently impressed

the current regime enough to be a possibility in 2013.

Mitchell, scheduled for unrestricted free agency Tuesday, said his agent has had talks with the Raiders about a contract.

"It's good for me to know they want to bring me back and it's good for me to know they're talking to my agent trying to get a deal done," Mitchell said in a phone interview. "That's reassuring. I believe Coach (Dennis Allen) and Reggie McKenzie are men of their word. But it's still an extremely tough decision."

The NFL Network reported that the Raiders were scheduled to visit with defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins on Wednesday. Jenkins, 32, was released by the Philadelphia Eagles and reportedly visited the 49ers on Tuesday.

Jenkins played with Green Bay from 2003 through 2010, during which time McKenzie was a personnel executive with the Packers.

Linebacker and three-time Pro Bowl selection and 2005 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Shawne Merriman, 28, said on his website that he intends to file retirement papers.

Golf

Rory McIlroy says he should have finished his second round at the Honda Classic, telling Sports Illustrated magazine that "it was not the right thing to do" to walk out after eight holes of his second round.

McIlroy was 7-over for the round and headed for another missed cut when he hit his second shot into the water on the 18th and withdrew without finishing the hole.

Media

Fox has an in-your-face challenge ESPN -- a 24-hour sports cable network called Fox Sports 1, set to launch Aug. 17.

The new network will be available to 90 million homes.

Staff writer Jerry McDonald contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/other-sports/ci_22726738/sports-digest-mark-teixeira-withdraws-from-world-baseball?source=rss

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