Surgery to End Season for Orioles’ Matos

Baltimore Oriole center fielder Luis Matos will have season-ending surgery on his right shin after tests showed the stress fracture that put him on the disabled list was more serious than originally believed.

Matos went on the disabled list July 23, two days after he slammed into the wall at Boston while making a catch. He had sat out some games in spring training because of a similar injury.

“I start the year with the injury and then now I have to have surgery,” Matos said Wednesday. “It’s part of the game. I always say my goal is to be healthy the whole year. You don’t know why this happens, but it happens.”

Matos might have been able to return this season, but he opted to have the surgery sooner so that he could be ready for spring training in 2005.

It’s the third time in four years that Matos has had his season cut short by injury.

Matos was batting .226 with six home runs and 28 runs batted in. He batted .303 in 109 games last season but refused to blame the dropoff on the injury.

“I don’t like to make excuses,” he said. “But I know when I’m healthy, I know what I’m capable of doing.”

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Struggling reliever Felix Heredia accepted an assignment to the minors and the New York Yankees purchased left-hander C.J. Nitkowski’s contract from triple-A Columbus.

The Yankees counted on Heredia to get left-handed batters out, but he hasn’t done the job this season. The left-hander was 1-1 with a 6.96 earned-run average in 34 appearances and had given up 16 walks and 39 hits in 32 1/3 innings.

He was optioned to Class-A Tampa and will work with Billy Connors, the organization’s pitching guru.

Nitkowski, 31, was 0-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 16 games for Columbus

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San Francisco Giant right-hander Jerome Williams could sit out the rest of the regular season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow.

Williams, 9-7 with a 4.41 ERA in 21 starts this season, went on the disabled list last week after leaving a start against St. Louis in the fourth inning.

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The Toronto Blue Jays activated right-hander Justin Miller from the 15-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Micheal Nakamura to triple-A Syracuse.

Miller hasn’t pitched since May 30 because of a partially torn right hamstring.

Toronto Manager Carlos Tosca said Miller would pitch as a reliever as he built up his arm strength.

Right-hander Sean Douglass will remain in the starting rotation for at least one more start.

Nakamura has had three stints with the Blue Jays this season, posting an 0-3 record and a 7.36 ERA in 19 games.