waymoresports.thestar.com

Mar. 5, 2003. 05:25 PM DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Roy Halladay pitched three perfect innings and Josh Phelps homered Thursday as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-3 in exhibition baseball action.

The win was the fifth straight for Toronto, the lone unbeaten team during spring training.

Phelps, who has been bothered by right knee problems, went 2-for-4 and homered in his first at-bat this spring.

"Some kid will get a souvenir at recess," Phelps said after his homer landed in the school yard behind the left-field fence. "It kind of made me giggle, being lucky in my first at-bat.

"But my main objective was to be pain free, and I was. It was no problem running the bases, especially when you get a jog."

Halladay didn't allow a ball out of the infield, throwing 21 of 31 pitches for strikes.

"He had a good fastball and slider," Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said. "He threw the ball where he wanted to throw it."

Pete Walker allowed one run — Jason LaRue's homer — and three hits in three innings. Toronto closer Kelvim Escobar struggled in his first spring appearance, giving up two runs and three hits in one inning.

"He's a little bit behind (physically) because of the political situation in his country (Venezuela) because he couldn't get his work in," Tosca said. "He was just out there today to get his feet wet."

Loser Chris Reitsma gave up four runs and six hits in three innings.

Josh Dubois, taken by Toronto in the winter meeting draft, hit a three-run homer. The Blue Jays belted out 16 hits.

Jose Guillen had two of Cincinnati's seven hits.

NOTES — Toronto shortstop Chris Woodward (hamstring) is still a day or two away from appearing in a game, according to Tosca . . . Cincinnati shortstop Barry Larkin, who left Tuesday's game after being hit on the right elbow, will be examined by team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek and could play Thursday.

acs.yellowbrix.com Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) Publication date: 2003-03-05

Mar. 5--Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. just dodged a large nail in the road.

The Akron tire maker has a new credit-line agreement that gives it access to much-needed cash, and it has a one-month extension on some existing loans so it can arrange new terms. Both provide financial breathing room.

Once the company renegotiates those bank loans it plans to announce fourth quarter and 2002 earnings -- numbers that are due no later than the end of the month.

Goodyear also is working to dodge other nails in the road as it tries to shed billions of dollars of debt and make money again.

With a Friday deadline looming, Goodyear announced on Wednesday it will receive a new, $1.3 billion credit line that depends on it finishing a restructuring of major loan agreements with its banks.

The Akron company received the three-year credit commitment from JPMorgan and Citigroup. And it now has until April 4, instead of March 7, to comply with covenants on other bank loan agreements, the company said. Goodyear had received previous waivers on the covenants, which include a provision that could force it to distribute $500 million to its pension plans.

The company said it is working with JPMorgan to restructure, refinance and extend the loan agreements into 2005.

"Extending the agreements into 2005 gives you more time to turn around the business," Goodyear spokesman Keith Price said.

"In essence, the banks bought them more time," said Brian Fox, a fixed income analyst who follows Goodyear for McDonald Investments in Cleveland. "The banks are going to give some time to Goodyear to shore up its operations."

The new financing will help Goodyear pay its bills, Fox said.

Goodyear obviously had violated some covenants in its loan agreements as of Dec. 31, said Saul Ludwig, equity analyst at McDonald Investments. The banks agreed to work with Goodyear until March 7 to get the company out of default on those covenants and have now given the company another month, he said.

"The new asset-based facility ...provides additional liquidity that offers financial and operational flexibility for our businesses," Robert W. Tieken, Goodyear executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a prepared statement.

Goodyear stock rose 29 cents, or 7.3 percent, to close at $4.29. The stock has fallen 37 percent this year, and is down 84 percent from a year ago.

Some of the new financing will be used to pay down other loans, Price said.

In addition, Goodyear said it will announce fiscal 2002 results once the loan agreements are worked out, but did not give a specific date.

"We want to be able to talk about the bank deal and the fourth-quarter numbers at the same time," Price said. "It simplifies things."

The company may release earnings figures as early as next week or the week after, Fox said. The Securities & Exchange Commission requires publicly traded companies whose fiscal years end on Dec. 31 to file detailed annual reports called 10Ks no later than the end of March.

"It's not like we're late," Price said. "We're waiting until the bank agreements are done."

Goodyear has not asked the SEC to allow the company to file the financial results after March 31, he said.

The company lost $203.6 million in 2001. Earlier this year, Goodyear eliminated its dividend in a move intended to save $84 million a year in cash. Also this year, it laid off 500 employees and said it won't fill 200 open positions, which will save it another $80 million a year.

Goodyear needs to make as much as $3 billion in debt repayments over the next three years. Its latest public financial filings show Goodyear has to repay about $370 million in long-term debt this year, and another $809 million in 2004.

While the new line of credit and anticipated bank loan agreements will help Goodyear in the near future, it still has long-term problems involving its pension fund, asbestos liabilities and high raw material prices that are greatly affected by crude oil, Fox said.

"This isn't going to be a quick turnaround," he said.

The company needs the stock market to turn around in order to help it with pension funding, he said.

In addition, the company would be helped greatly if crude oil prices fell from around $36 a barrel to between $20 and $25 a barrel, he said. Oil prices will largely depend upon the outcome of any military conflict in Iraq and the restoration of Venezuela's oil production, he said.

"There are a number of different variables that have to go in different directions to be favorable for the company," Fox said.

To see more of the Akron Beacon Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.ohio.com

(c) 2003, Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

GT, C,

minnesota.twins.mlb.com By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com

Johan Santana is behind his normal spring schedule because he was not able to pitch in winter ball. (Jim Mone/AP) FORT MYERS, Fla. -- If Twins pitcher Johan Santana had a normal offseason, he would have arrived to Spring Training with 80 innings of work under his belt already from pitching in winter ball.

But like everyone else living in Santana's homeland of Venezuela, nothing was normal this winter. The nation remains paralyzed by a national strike and a continuing political crisis. Santana was ready to begin playing winter ball Dec. 4, but the strike started Dec. 2 and cancelled the rest of the Venezuelan league season.

"I had to shut down everything," Santana said.

The Twins have already tapped Santana to join their starting rotation after veteran Eric Milton reinjured his left knee and had surgery. The young left-hander still displayed some of the rust during his second spring start, walking four batters in two innings in a 5-0 loss to the Phillies.

Santana still doesn't have the feel for his best pitches -- the changeup and slider. On Wednesday, he struggled to locate his fastball because he was trying too hard, according to manager Ron Gardenhire.

"If you throw the ball 89 mph, don't try throwing it 92," Gardenhire said. "That's what he was doing out there. He was overthrowing the baseball."

In the first inning, Santana allowed a hit and walked three batters, including slugger Jim Thome with the bases loaded. He said he was not comfortable working from the stretch position, possibly another bi-product of his inactivity.

"I have to start all over again," said Santana, who is 1-1 this spring. "I'm in the process of putting everything back together. The good thing is I feel good. It's going to take a little while. That's what Spring Training is for."

  Johan Santana   /   P Height: 6'0" Weight: 195 Bats/Throws: L/L More info: Player page Stats Splits twinsbaseball.com

"He's just not there," pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "It takes ballgames and time. He has to work his way up like the rest of (the pitchers) for a change."

Complicating matters for Santana is that he had to recover from a pulled hamstring suffered in Venezuela, while practicing before the crisis. He was unable to seek proper treatment for the injury because a gasoline shortage prevented most citizens from driving.

Instead of pitching or recuperating, Santana spent much of his time waiting to fill his car with gasoline. The nation's rich petroleum business was also affected by the strike.

"I was in the line for eight days," he explained.

Santana didn't have to spend all of the time waiting in the car. Family and friends from his small town of Tovar Merida would take turns waiting too. Fellow Venezuelan pitcher Juan Rincon could sympathize about getting fuel and not throwing. He only had to wait three days in his town, but he had to do it alone. He passed the time playing dominoes with friends in other cars or sleeping.

"I'm the only one in my family who could do that," Rincon said. "My dad couldn't and my mom can't drive. I wasn't going to make my sister do it. I was the one who had to take the car."

When it came time to go to the embassy for a visa to report to Spring Training, Santana's athlete status came in handy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------"I have to start all over again. I'm in the process of putting everything back together. The good thing is I feel good. It's going to take a little while. That's what Spring Training is for." -- Johan Santana ------------------------------------------------------------------------"I talked to those people (at the embassy) and the National Guard took me to the gas station and they took my car and filled it up," Santana said. "Because I was a ballplayer, they said 'OK.' They allowed me to get some gas."

Imagine his delight when he was filling his car back in the United States. He wasn't quite sure what to do.

"The first time I drove from Miami to here, the first thing that came to my mind was Venezuela," Santana said. "When I got to the gas station, there was nobody there and I thought maybe they ran out of gas."

The inactivity before Spring Training may have actually done Santana's shoulder some good. Innings not used up in December and January should provide him plenty of gas in his arm come September.

"Last year I was tired at the end," Santana said. "The last month of the season, I was feeling tired. But you get in a situation where you don't think about it." "I think it was the best thing to happen, that I didn't play in winter ball, because I was able to recover."

In 2002, Santana filled a jack-of-all-trades role for Minnesota's pitching staff. He worked well as a starter and in middle or situational relief. He led the club with 137 strikeouts in only 108 1/3 innings.

Because of the stability of working in a rotation, starting is Santana's favorite role. Although he would prefer not getting the job by default because of an injury to another pitcher, he's ready to run with it.

"I want to earn my spot the right way," Santana. "If they give me the chance, I don't want to waste any time or opportunity. I want to show I can start games."

Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. This report was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

www.startribune.com Susannah A. Nesmith, Associated Press Published March 6, 2003

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA -- A bomb ripped through a shopping center in northeastern Colombia on Wednesday, killing seven people, injuring at least 20 and setting the complex on fire. Rebels are suspected in the bombing.

Television images showed shocked survivors wandering around the shopping stalls, black Ash Wednesday marks still on their foreheads.

Government officials said the attack in Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, was part of an attempt by guerrillas to bring the nation's long-simmering war to Colombia's cities.

Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said the urban offensive is a response to government offensives in the countryside. "Unfortunately, that is the risk we have to run," she said.

Cucuta Mayor Manuel Guillermo Mora said seven people were killed in the blast.

Police Gen. Luis Alfredo Rodriguez said the National Liberation Army, or ELN, was responsible for the attack. The bomb was left next to a car in the basement parking lot, police said.

Firefighters, rescue crews and police officers hustled past frightened passers-by and through the smoke into the shattered complex.

Family members of shopping center employees gathered nearby, waiting for word of their relatives.

The ELN and the nation's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, are battling outlawed paramilitary groups for control of Cucuta. The city has one of the highest murder rates in Colombia.

Colombia is torn by a 38-year civil war that pits the leftist rebels against the government and right-wing paramilitary groups. About 3,500 people, mainly civilians, are killed in the fighting each year.

www.usatoday.com

As the USA moves closer to war with oil-rich Iraq, gas prices are on the rise. So are concerns about terrorist attacks that might involve radiological materials available from widespread sources. In addition to tackling these pressing concerns, the Bush administration has proposed spending $1.7 billion over five years to start developing hydrogen fuel cells that could power cars, eventually eliminating U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the administration's point man on these issues, met this week with USA TODAY's editorial board. His comments were edited for space and clarity:

Question: A USA TODAY poll found that 66% of Americans believe oil companies are overcharging. What is your view?

Answer: The average price of gasoline is about 10 cents higher this winter than the winter two years ago. The strike in Venezuela has constrained supply. The economy in comparison to last year is stronger, so demand is greater than it was a year ago. The reduction in production from OPEC on several occasions in recent years has affected supply. And uncertainties about what is going to happen in Iraq have fueled a lot of speculation in terms of price in the energy markets. All that having been said, we do not want to see people exploited. The Energy Department has a hot line available to anyone who wants to report evidence of price gouging. The Federal Trade Commission and others are monitoring. We should always be vigilant. These high prices hurt average working families, and we are concerned about them.

Q: How do you fend off charges that a war with Iraq would be an oil grab?

A: That is blatantly untrue. Our concerns have nothing to do with oil. We believe the oil in Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq. They should decide how much of it is sold and what the proceeds should go for.

Q: There is increasing concern about terrorists getting a nuclear or radiological weapon. What is being done to prevent that?

A: One reason we focus so much attention on Iraq is the concern that a nuclear weapon or radiological material could be used by Saddam Hussein or conveyed to terrorists for their use. We also have worked with Russia for a long time — very intensely since 9/11 — to secure such materials in the former Soviet Union. We've reduced by about two years the time frame for securing the materials our department works on. The other challenge, radiological dispersal devices, is a big one because the material that could be employed in that type of a weapon is available in almost every country. I've been concerned about this for quite some time. Next week, there's a conference in Vienna of about 600 representatives from about 100 countries that will focus on this threat and give people a better understanding of ways to account for and secure these materials.

Q: What is the long-term solution to our energy challenges?

A: Because of his background in the world of energy, the president has a pretty strong understanding of the challenges ahead. He asked us for game-changing technologies and approaches, and we took that seriously. Our idea is a hydrogen-fuel-cell powered vehicle. Instead of trying to design the vehicle itself, our focus will be on operating systems that can be applied to the kinds of vehicles that Americans desire to drive, rather than what Washington might think consumers should have. At the same time, we faced a chicken-egg sort of challenge: What comes first, the operating system — the vehicle — or the infrastructure to support it? We concluded you have to do these concurrently, not consecutively. If you don't, it'll always be 30 years before we have a hydrogen-fuel-cell motor-vehicle fleet. If we move them together, we believe a commercialization decision would be made as early as 2015 that would translate into mass-market penetration in showrooms by the year 2020. We are very serious about this commitment.

Q: What are the advantages?

With a hydrogen-fuel-cell powered fleet, we wouldn't have to import oil. We would produce the fuel from a variety of sources here at home. There would be a lot of other applications. And the great thing is that the only byproduct is water. If we can get to that point, we will surmount both how we deal with our growing dependency on energy and how we can continue to allow consumers to have choice and continue to grow the economy in a way that is consistent with environmental concerns.

Q: How do you respond to critics on the right who see this as a misguided policy?

A: This has managed to create some unusual coalitions in opposition. The role we project for the government is perfectly legitimate, given the stakes and the potential payoff. First, we will fund the high-risk research the private sector cannot justify because it's so long-term. The other thing that makes the federal role so indispensable is the real need for coordination to bring everybody to the table. But we're not going to mandate and dictate, we're not going to pick the cars, we're not going to do the sorts of things that are within the venue of the private sector.

Q: Does this put all your eggs in one very expensive basket?

A: No. Hybrid-technology, clean-diesel, hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines all have a role to play here. But they all require oil to work, and our goal is to transcend that debate at some point. Where the game could be changed is in moving beyond oil-based operating systems, or oil-focused ones, to ones in which the source is hydrogen. And we think we've got an approach that can make that happen. But we by no means put all our eggs in that basket.