Red Sox's Juan Pena will miss the season

PHOENIX - Boston's promising young right-hander, Juan Pena, will be out for the season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his elbow.

Pena experienced pain in the elbow during warmups Thursday. An exam confirmed the torn ligament, which will require surgery.

The rehabilitation is expected to take 12 months.

The 22-year-old pitcher was told by Manager Jimy Williams on Wednesday that he would not be in the starting rotation but would be a long-inning reliever. Brian Rose beat out Pena for the fifth starting spot.

Pena was 2-0 in two starts with an 0.69 earned-run average for Boston last season after being called up from Class AAA Pawtucket. This spring, Pena was 2-2 with a 1.64 ERA in 16 2/3 innings.

Notes

-- Everywhere Willie Mays turned, he couldn't escape himself. It was, he admitted, kind of frightening.

The address of the San Francisco Giants' new ballpark is 24 Willie Mays Plaza. The signature entrance is known as Willie Mays Gate. And on a palm-tree-lined concourse just outside the main entrance is the centerpiece, a 9-foot tall statue of Mays unveiled yesterday in a public tribute to the Hall of Famer that drew 5,000 people.

"I'd like to say I feel like the luckiest man in the world for having so many friends," said Mays, 68, who threw out the first pitch at the inaugural game at Pacific Bell Park, an exhibition between the Giants and Brewers.

-- Third baseman Matt Williams was to undergo surgery today to have a metal plate placed in the broken bone in his right foot. The Arizona Diamondbacks said the surgery would not alter the timetable for Williams' recovery.

-- The Mets and Cubs were the first teams to play regular-season games outside of North America. Now, there's a plan on the drawing board that could send the Mets to Venezuela to play exhibition games as early as next spring.

-- The Atlanta Braves decided that 19-year-old infielder Rafael Furcal, who stole 96 bases last year in Class A, is ready for the major leagues. He batted .306 (15 for 49) during the spring with a homer, seven RBI and six steals.

The Braves released veteran shortstop Ozzie Guillen in favor of the switch-hitting Furcal, who has stolen 171 bases in 242 minor-league games.

-- Canada's French and English all-sports cable networks announced that they will not televise Montreal Expos baseball games this season.

Gerry Frappier, the president of the French-language Reseau des Sports, said he would leave room in the summer schedule for some Expos games if an agreement is reached.

-- The San Diego Padres will wear camouflage jerseys and olive green caps to honor the military on April 13 in their afternoon game against the Diamondbacks.

The Padres have always honored the military, but not to this extent. San Diego is home to several Navy and Marine Corps bases.

As part of the pregame ceremonies for what's being called military opening day, the Navy and Marine Corps bands will play, and the Leap Frogs, a Coronado-based skydiving team of the elite Navy SEALS, will parachute into the stadium.