Mets Lose Davis for Season

Pitcher Kane Davis of the New York Mets had surgery on his right elbow Monday and will sit out the rest of the season.

Davis, a right-handed reliever, was 1-1 with a 7.07 earned-run average in 16 appearances. He walked 11 and struck out 24 in 14 innings.

The Mets said Davis is expected to resume baseball activity in six months.

The Texas Rangers claimed infielder Donnie Sadler off waivers from the Kansas City Royals.

The Rangers optioned outfielder Jason Romano to Oklahoma of the triple-A Pacific Coast League. In two stints with the Rangers this season, Romano batted .204 with four runs batted in.

Sadler, 27, batted .191 with five RBIs in 35 games with the Royals. He has played second base, shortstop, third base and the outfield this season.

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The gates were padlocked and hundreds of fans of the Charleston Riverdogs gathered outside Joe Riley Stadium on Monday at Charleston, S.C.

It wasn’t a strike of any kind, just another outlandish promotion by the Riverdogs, the Class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Everybody except employees, scouts and media was barred from entering the stadium on “Nobody Night.”

It was all part of a promotion designed to set the record for professional baseball’s lowest attendance.

Some fans stood on ladders peaking over the fence, but Stephen Parker, 50, and Ute Appleby, 47, chose safer seats. The two plopped beach chairs behind the center field wall and peered through an opening in the fence where the view was strained, but decent.

“We’re Riverdogs fans and could not pass up the opportunity to have truly terrible seats,” Parker said. “I’ve had bad seats but this is ridiculous.”

The Riverdogs, continuing their tradition of zany promotions, turned fans away and sent them to a party with discounted food and beer just outside the ballpark.

Fans were scheduled to be let in after the fifth inning, once the game is declared official and the actual attendance is recorded as zero.

There’s some dispute about the actual lowest attendance record, but radio play-by-play announcer Jim Lucas said the record is the 12 people who braved a rainstorm to see Chicago defeat Troy on Sept. 17, 1881.

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Sammy Sosa’s wife, Sonia, had surgery to repair a deep cut in her right hand. Sosa sat out the Cubs’ weekend series at Atlanta to be with his wife.

“She’s doing great,” he said. “Thank God everything went perfect. She got surgery already and she’s home.”

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Baseball fans are using the Internet to call for a strike of their own.

Thousands of fans have visited at least four Web sites calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball on Thursday to protest a possible work stoppage.

“We’re trying to get their attention and let them know there is a third party that they may not be aware of,” said Don Wadewitz, who designed the Web site calling for the boycott.

There will be a second fan strike Aug. 1 if no contract has been signed by then. The group is calling for a boycott of one game for each game canceled.

If the postseason is wiped out again, “It’s strike three and we’re out,” Wadewitz said.