Cards’ Ankiel to rest another eight weeks

Los Angeles St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Rick Ankiel, who has thrown only 24 innings in the major leagues since his record wildness in the 2000 playoffs, will not throw again for at least eight more weeks.

The left-hander has tendinitis in his left elbow, which has plagued him since spring training.

“He’s going to rest for the next eight weeks, and at that time we’ll re-evaluate him and put his pitching plan together then,” Cardinals trainer Barry Weinberg said Monday. “You don’t predict or hypothesize on anything. You just take what it is. Right now he’s in a resting mode.”

Ankiel, who turns 23 on Friday, last pitched for St. Louis in May 2001 before getting sent to the minors. In his only spring training start for the Cardinals, on March 3, he left after two innings because of tendinitis, and he was placed on the disabled list on March 28.

Expos’ former partners to sue Loria, baseball

New York The former minority partners of the Montreal Expos intend to file a lawsuit Tuesday charging baseball commissioner Bud Selig and former team owner Jeffrey Loria with fraud.

The 14 owners called a news conference for today to announce the lawsuit, to be filed in federal court in Miami under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a person close to the lawyers for the minority partners, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, said Monday on the condition he not be identified.

The lawsuit concerns the proposed contraction of the Expos, the group said Monday in a brief statement that did not go into details. The 14 corporate entities who together owned 6-to-7 percent of the Expos, currently own 6-to-7 percent of the Florida Marlins.

The lawsuit asks for compensatory damages, which are tripled, plus $100 million in punitive damages.