Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 54

DETROIT FREE PRESS I WWWFREEP.COM No surgeiy: Wilson out 4-6 weeks SPORTS EDNESDAY. APRIL 1L JB DETROIT 3. DALTII IOHE 1 T7 12773 TIGERS CORNER By IOIINLOWE Hf HKi-iSSI'URISWHIIIR MIKt Hess Kevin Borseth will coach U-M women's basketball. His associate head coach will be Dawn Plit-zuweit, who left Grand Valley. Borseth deal for 6 years at U-M i 77 ft? If -J ') hi At By MARK SNYDER FRI PKt ss MUK rs VMt I I I BALTIMORE Tigers catcher Vance Wilson said Tuesday he won't need surgery on his right elbow, and he expects to play again in four to six weeks.

Wilson gave the report after he was examined by famed sports orthopedist James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. "Dr. Andrews saw what our doctors in Detroit saw," Wilson said. "I obviously have degeneration in a ligament in my arm, but it's not a big deal. I'm 34, and I've been catching for a long time.

"I definitely have a tear in the pronator (arm muscle) mass, but I won't need surgery. I need to rest it for about a month. I can resume building it up a little bit in about 3'A weeks." Wilson was placed on the disabled list three days before Opening Day. He had originally hoped to miss only two weeks. But by the time he visited Andrews, he faced possible surgery.

"I'm happy I won't need surgery, but I'm sad I'll miss that much time," he said. Wilson has been replaced on the ro' ter by Mike Rabelo, who was due to catch at Triple-A Toledo. Manager Jim I eyland has said Rabelo will make his first start Thursday night in Toronto. RING CEREMONY: About two hours before Tuesday's game, three Tigers officials stood halfway between the Orioles dugout and the foul line: manager Jim Ley-land, presidentGM Dave Dombrowski and pitching coach Chuck Hernandez. A few minutes later, out of the Orioles clubhouse came pitcher Jamie Walker.

Dombrowski handed Walker his American League championship ring. Dombrowski, Leyland and Hernandez shook hands with Walker, and there were smiles all around. Moments later, in the Orioles clubhouse, Walker was admiring the ring. "It's really pretty, with the English he said. Then he noticed the word', on the inside of the ring: "Nine Full Innings." "That's what Jim preached," Walker said.

"That's the only way to pk.y." Walker was with the 119-loss Tigers in 2003. "That's what made it so special last year," Walker said. really proud of my former teammate who stuck together that year." NOTEBOOK: Leyland gave Brandon Inge (0-for-20) the night off and replaced him at third base with Ncifi Perez (who entered 4-for-8 lifetime oil' Wright). Leyland said Inge would return to the lineup tonight against left-hander Adam Loewen. Perez was in Tuesday night's 3-1 victory, including l-for-2 against Wright.

Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada, discussing the new four-year contract signed by his friend, Tigers shortstop Carlos Guillen: "It's great for him. He really likes Detroit. It's great for Detroit to have him, because he's a great player and a great person." Contact JOHN LOWE at or jlowein frefprcss.com. Check nut his Tigers blog at www.freep.comsports. Tigers schedule Home games shaded.

Also on WGN. 6AIL BURTONAssoclatwf Press From left, shortstop Carlos Guillen, rightfielder Magglio Ordonez and centerfielder Curtis Granderson celebrate at Camden Yards after Todd Jones got the last out for his fourth save. Granderson doubled twice, scored twice and threw out a runner at second. Error, Polanco3 heady plays back Robertson's gem By JOHN LOWE FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER Tigers on FSN FSN Detroit is offering games on FSN PLUS this spring on nights when the network has Red Wings playoff games or Pistons regular-season or playoff games scheduled. Most cable and satellite providers will open up an alternate channel to show the FSN PLUS telecast.

The first telecast will be today, when the Tigers play Baltimore at 7 p.m. WHERE TO FIND FSN Provider Channel Comcast (Detroit, SE Mich.) 8 Bright House 77 WOW! 14 Wyandotte 17 DirecTV 669 Dish Network 450 or 451 By Tuesday afternoon, Kevin Borseth was realizing the weight of his recent decision. Sitting at his soon-to-be-former desk at Wisconsin-Green Bay, Michigan's new women's basketball coach was busy. "It's overwhelming now with the phone calls and the e-mail it's pretty amazing and all the things that come with it," said Borseth, who will receive a six-year contract for about $300,000 per year, with a base salary of $170,000, nearly the same as predecessor Cheryl Burnett. "I'm certain I'm going to find that out.

I have a lot of respect for basketball at the elite level. I don't know if I can draw an analogy, but you can think about being a college athlete, then a professional athlete. I'm going to a level where the elitist of the elite play." And he's not going alone. In addition to Borseth, Michigan hired Grand Valley State head coach Dawn Plitzuweit to be the program's associate head coach, just a year after she led the Lakers to the Division II national championship. The two have a long association, dating back nearly 20 years, from Plitzuweit's four years playing for Borseth at Michigan Tech (1990-95) to her four years as his top assistant and primary recruiter at Green Bay (1998-2002) before accepting the Grand Valley job.

Because Borseth is 52, he admitted that having a little youth on his bench should help. Former UNLV men's coach "Jerry Tarkanian said, when you hire assistants, hire assistants with energy," Borseth said. "She's got young energy. If you're a young coach, you get an older person as an assistant. I'm an older coach, so I want to get some younger assistants, even though I've got a lot of energy in me." While Michigan pursued a number of candidates, including Eastern Michigan's Suzy Merchant, Bowling Green's Curt Miller and Vanderbilt's Melanie Balcomb, Borseth's success at Michigan Tech and Green Bay where he won the Horizon League regular-season title the past nine years is unmatched.

"We are excited about the future of the Michigan women's basketball program with Kevin as head coach," U-M athletic director Bill Martin said in a news release. "He knows how to teach and coach, and he has the ability to motivate student-athletes as players and people." Borseth said his system involves protecting the ball on offense and limiting easy baskets on defense. He accepts that raising the program from its current status 10 Big Ten wins combined the past four years will be a challenge, but has made solid strides in three years at each of his past two stops. Borseth will be introduced at a noon news conference For channels from other providers or in other areas, please contact your local cable provider. donez hit his apparently routine double-play grounder to Tejada at short.

But Polanco was charging into second. "He was able to get a good lead because the bases were loaded, and he got down there to second good," manager Jim Leyland said. "He made a good, clean, hard slide, and it definitely disrupted him (Roberts). Tonight, that definitely won us the ballgame." Summing up everything Polanco did well Tuesday night, Leyland said, "You kind of expect that out of Polly. He's an excellent, excellent major league player.

He's the total baseball player. He's more talented than most people think." The Tigers are 4-3, with all the wins tense as Todd Jones pitched a scoreless ninth. They are 3-2 on this 10-game trip, even though their 1-2-3 innings are significantly outnumbering their scoring threats. Robertson, first baseman Sean Casey and catcher Pudge Rodriguez survived the fourth. Rodriguez took a foul ball on the two outer toes on his left foot; he said afterward he felt better, although Leyland wasn't sure he'd play tonight.

Casey avoided Markakis' flying broken bat on what became the infield single that brought up Tejada with two aboard. Robertson got him to ground into an inning-ending double play. That fourth inning did something Polanco never seemed to do it veered off course a bit. Polanco has hit in all seven games and is batting .448. If he keeps this up, he might blow his cover.

He might win the American League batting championship. BALTIMORE Let's count the ways that second baseman Placido Polanco won Tuesday night's game for the Tigers. In the sixth inning, he slid hard into second baseman Brian Roberts as Roberts was trying to turn an inning-ending double play. Roberts threw low past first base, and the first two runs scored. In the eighth, Polanco drove in the Tigers' other run when his fly ball scored Curtis Granderson, who had reached on his seventh extra-base hit in the seven-game season.

And with two out in the Orioles' ninth and dangerous Miguel Tejada on deck, Polanco made a diving stop on Nick Markakis' smash up the middle and threw him out. Tejada didn't get a chance to hit a game-tying homer, and the Tigers won, 3-1. "Very exciting," Polanco said of his game-ending play. "It's exciting to win the game, period, especially when your offense is not there the way it's supposed to be." When the Tigers are slugging, Po-lanco's skills and gifts can get drowned out. But the Tigers aren't slugging at all right now, so Tuesday night at Camden Yards was an ideal test case of how much Polanco means.

"He is my favorite player," said left-hander Nate Robertson (2-0), who pitched 7'A scoreless innings for the win. "When Polanco is going good, this team is going good. And when he got hurt last year, that was a left hook that put us back on our heels a little bit." The Tigers faded in the 5'a weeks Polanco missed late last summer with a shoulder injury. They swept the championship series in which he hit above .500, and disappeared as he went hitless in the World Series. If not for Polanco's slide, Tuesday night's sixth inning would have been the most exasperating inning of a season in which the hitting has been erratic.

Polanco greeted reliever Scott Williamson with the sacrifice attempt that became the bunt single that seemed to arrange the ideal scoring opportunity: bases loaded, none out, the Nos. 3-4-5 hitters coming up. Then Gary Sheffield fanned for the sixth time in seven career at-bats against Williamson. And Magglio Or SUN I MON 1 TUE 1 WED 1 THU FRI SAT 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Det.3, Eal.6, Det.3, Pal. Tor.

Tor. Tor. K.C.2 Det.2 Bal.l 7:05 7:07 7:07 107 I FSN FSN FSN I FSN 15 16 I 17 18 19 a Tor. K.C K.C. K.C.

CWS CWS 1:07 7.05 7:05 1:05 7:05 1:05 FSN FSN FSN FSN FSN FS1T 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 CWS LAA LAA CWS CWS Win. Mi'; 1:05 10:05 3:35 8:11 8:11 7:05 1:05 Ch.2 FSN I FSN 1 FSN FSN 1 FSN I FSN LIONS I Williams, McCown no-shows for practice From Page ID tired," Jones said. Jones began jogging Monday. He will have two screws removed this month, go back into a boot to let swelling subside, then return to rehab. "My goal is to be back for camp," Jones said.

"I'm on pace, a little ahead of pace, I guess." Marinelli is cautiously optimistic. "It looks like he's really progressing well," Marinelli said. "I think everybody's excited about it. But I don't want to build false hopes to anybody." Though McCown has been supportive in his backup role, he wants to move on now. The Raiders are interested in trading for him, adding intrigue to the upcoming NFL draft.

The Raiders pick first, the Lions pick second, and McCown could be key. What will the Raiders offer for McCown? And if the Raiders, get McCown, would that free them to take wide receiver Calvin Johnson, perhaps hurting the Lions' ability to trade down? Or if the Raiders get McCown, would that allow them to take quarterback Ja-Marcus Russell and give him a year to develop? McCown has only one year left on his con tract. JONES UPDATE: Kevin Jones doesn't sound threatened by the acquisitions of running backs Tatum Bell and T.J. Duckett. "I see Tatum as an every-down back," said Jones, who is recovering from a serious left foot injury.

"I don't see Duckett as an every-down back. "I guess they do need insurance. Were my feelings hurt? No. Because when I'm healthy, I'll be the guy. That's all that matters to me." If Jones sees Bell as an every-down back, how would Bell work with him? "He'll spell me when I'm in Detroit some for off-'ason workouts, but not much.

"I've seen him around," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "I think he came ouc one or two days to throw." Williams already has lost his No. 88. The roster listed him as No. 81 on Tuesday.

Spokesman Bill Keenist said the team had taken No. 88 -ut of circulation in honor of former tight end Charlie Sanders, who has been elected to the Hall of Fame. McCown came to Detroit as a free agent last year hoping to start, after starting 22 games in four years with Arizona. But he didn't play a snap at quarterback, sneaking into only two games at wide receiver. said: "I'm going to talk about who showed up." Williams and the Lions have been at odds virtually since they drafted him 10th overall in 2005.

Williams has lost a lot of money and playing time because of various issues, most notably his weight. His caree totals are a tremendous disap-pointmort: 22 games, 37 catches, 449 yards, two touchdowns. At the eid of the 2006 season, Williams said 220 pounds was an unrealistic weight for him and there would be talk of a compromise. But Marinelli said he would not budge. Apparently Williams has Contact MARK SNYDER at 313-223-3210 or msnyderiSfreepress.com.

Check out his Wolverines blog at www.freep.comsports. Contact NICHOLAS J. COTSONI-KA at 313-222-8831 or ncotsonikaii ifreepress.com. 4..