Galarraga to play for Stingers

Andres Galarraga is back in baseball.

The Anaheim Angels signed Galarraga to a minor league contract Wednesday, and the 43-year-old free agent first baseman will report to Triple-A Salt Lake today.

Galarraga recently beat cancer for a second time and wants to return to the major leagues so he can reach 400 home runs. He has 398, tied with Dale Murphy for 40th on the career list.

Galarraga missed the 1999 season after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. In November, he had a recurrence, underwent surgery and had a transplant in February that eliminated the disease.

He spent the 2003 season with San Francisco, where he hit .301 with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs in 110 games. Known as "The Big Cat," he also has played for Montreal, St. Louis, Colorado, Atlanta and Texas in his 18-year career.

"We'll see if he's going to help us," manager Mike Scioscia said before Anaheim's loss in Minnesota. "The guys is two years younger than me, and he's still playing. That's incredible."

The Angels also recalled catcher Wil Nieves from Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday to take the roster spot of catcher Bengie Molina, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday night with a broken right index finger suffered Saturday behind the plate.

Nieves was batting .292 with nine homers and 45 RBIs in 336 at-bats for the Stingers. Jose Molina, Bengie's brother, and Josh Paul will handle most of the catching duties for now.

CLEMENS FIRES BACK: After a strong pitching performance in the Houston Astros' latest victory, Roger Clemens was in no mood to celebrate.

Emotional as he addressed for the first time his ejection from his 10-year-old son's youth league baseball game, Clemens said, "This is a shame and it's not even an issue.

"It's very scary that it affects my family," he said Tuesday night in the Astros clubhouse. "A lot of people owe my family an apology."

Clemens was banished to a parking lot during his son's game Saturday in Craig, Colo., after an umpire said Clemens spit a sunflower seed at him. His son had just been called out after a close play.

Speaking after the Astros' game, Clemens at first joked with reporters about the ejection. But he grew more exasperated with each question, finally going on a five-minute tirade.