Don Robinson

The San Francisco Giants acquired right-handed pitcher Don Robinson from the Pittsburgh Pirates Friday for minor league catcher Mackey Sasser and $50,000. Robinson, 30, is 6-6 with a 3.86 earned-run average and 12 saves in 42 relief appearances this season with the Pirates. Sasser, who turns 25 Monday, played briefly for the Giants this season, going hitless in five at-bats before being returned to Phoenix in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

Right-hander Don Robinson, waived by the Angels on May 14 after returning from the disabled list, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. Robinson, 34, was signed for the rest of the 1992 season at the $109,000 major league minimum, according to Ed Wade , Phillies player personnel administrator. He said the Angels were responsible for the balance of Robinson's $900,000 contract. Robinson was signed as a free agent on Jan. 3.

Right-hander Don Robinson, waived by the Angels on May 14 after returning from the disabled list, signed with the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. Robinson, 34, was signed for the rest of the 1992 season at the $109,000 major league minimum, according to Ed Wade , Phillies player personnel administrator. He said the Angels were responsible for the balance of Robinson's $900,000 contract. Robinson was signed as a free agent on Jan. 3.

Told by Bert Blyleven they would have to make a decision on his future after he made only two starts for triple-A Edmonton, the Angels decided to keep Blyleven and release 34-year-old Don Robinson because they feared Robinson was repeating his pattern of frequent injuries.

Don Robinson, the former San Francisco Giant pitcher whose resume includes eight stints on the disabled list, has a "leg up" on one of two open spots in the rotation, as Manager Buck Rodgers sees it. But which leg? The right one has caused him to go on the disabled list twice. "He's the Bionic Man," Rodgers said in Mesa, Ariz. "He's going to have problems. We just hope they're not major problems."

If Padre pitcher Andy Benes were Leonardo da Vinci, he'd have run out of paint during the Mona Lisa. If he were Pavarotti, he'd come down with laryngitis at Carnegie Hall. If he were Cecil B. DeMille, there'd be an actors' strike. It's nothing personal, but when Benes jumps into a cab going to the ballpark these days, it's pretty tough finding a teammate who wants to share a ride.

The San Francisco Giants will not exercise their $1.3-million contract option on pitcher Don Robinson and will buy him out for $300,000.

Angel executive Whitey Herzog, whose annoyance with agent Dennis Gilbert led him to say last month that he would negotiate with free-agent outfielder Danny Tartabull "only if he had another agent," has scheduled a Tuesday meeting with Gilbert, probably at Gilbert's Beverly Hills office. That sets the stage for a reconciliation between the two, whose friendship was fractured when Herzog declared that Gilbert falsely told him free agent Bobby Bonilla wanted to play for the Angels.

Unless the Giants find a way to prevent an Oakland sweep, Rick Reuschel, San Francisco ace and National League All-Star game starter, is through for the World Series. Originally scheduled to pitch Game 4 on Saturday, Reuschel was bumped Thursday by Manager Roger Craig in favor of Don Robinson for health reasons. Besides getting hit in his pitching shoulder by a stray line drive the other day, Reuschel has also been bothered by the flu.

Angel pitcher Matt Keough was released from Scottsdale Memorial Hospital Friday and returned home to Coto de Caza less than four days after he underwent lifesaving brain surgery. Keough was struck on the right side of his head by a foul ball Monday while sitting in the visitors' dugout at Scottsdale Stadium. He underwent a 90-minute operation to remove a blood clot pressing on his brain and has progressed rapidly enough for doctors to predict he will make a full physical recovery.

Don Robinson pitched the equivalent of four innings in a simulated game Tuesday and said he is ready to be activated off the disabled list. Robinson was eligible to return last week but probably won't be activated before next Tuesday at New York, the next time the Angels will need a fifth starter. His catcher for Tuesday's exercise was outfielder Chad Curtis, who caught in high school and warms up the Angels' pitchers on occasion. Curtis wouldn't mind being the emergency back-up catcher.

Nolan Ryan's No. 30 will become the third retired number in Angel history in a ceremony on June 16, when the Texas Ranger is to be inducted into the Angel Hall of Fame at Anaheim Stadium. The only others are Rod Carew's No. 29 and owner Gene Autry's No. 26, a number chosen to be symbolic of the 26th man. Ryan, 45, will be the fifth player inducted into the team's Hall of Fame, joining Bobby Grich, Jim Fregosi, Don Baylor and Carew.

Victorious in his American League debut, Don Robinson must have wondered why he wasted so much time in that other league. Robinson shut out the Milwaukee Brewers for 6 1/3 innings Saturday night, the foundation for a 4-1 victory that was the Angels' first in five games this season. Surely, Robinson, who was signed as a free agent last winter, has to be a big AL booster after an easy, five-hit, three-strikeout performance that sent most of the Anaheim Stadium crowd of 22,679 home happy?

Don Robinson, the former San Francisco Giant pitcher whose resume includes eight stints on the disabled list, has a "leg up" on one of two open spots in the rotation, as Manager Buck Rodgers sees it. But which leg? The right one has caused him to go on the disabled list twice. "He's the Bionic Man," Rodgers said in Mesa, Ariz. "He's going to have problems. We just hope they're not major problems."

Angel executive Whitey Herzog, whose annoyance with agent Dennis Gilbert led him to say last month that he would negotiate with free-agent outfielder Danny Tartabull "only if he had another agent," has scheduled a Tuesday meeting with Gilbert, probably at Gilbert's Beverly Hills office. That sets the stage for a reconciliation between the two, whose friendship was fractured when Herzog declared that Gilbert falsely told him free agent Bobby Bonilla wanted to play for the Angels.

The San Francisco Giants will not exercise their $1.3-million contract option on pitcher Don Robinson and will buy him out for $300,000.

As the Angels audition pitchers for the fourth and fifth spots in their rotation, Don Robinson weighed in with a strong performance against his former Giant teammates. The 240-pound right-hander gave up one run and struck out three in four innings Monday to remain in contention for a job. "I'm getting stronger. I can tell," he said. "My fastball is getting better, and if my fastball is getting better, I know the other pitches will come." Robinson also doubled in the Angels' two-run fifth inning.