NEW YORK — The New York Mets placed right-hander John Maine on the 15-day disabled list last night with weakness in his shoulder.

The move was made retroactive to Sunday, a day after Maine was tagged for seven runs and six hits over a season-low four-plus innings in New York’s 7-1 loss at the woeful Washington Nationals.
“It’s nothing serious,” he said. “My shoulder is just fatigued. It’s dead.”
General manager Omar Minaya said team doctors examined Maine yesterday and found “fatigue in his shoulder and some shoulder weakness.”
“I can’t give you a timetable on him because it’s going to be a rehab situation,” Minaya said. “It may need to be rest and it could be some type of exercise to strengthen the shoulder.”

SHORT HOPS

Angels: Los Angeles right-hander Kelvim Escobar has been dropped from the rotation after one start and sent to the bullpen due to a lack of stamina in his surgically repaired throwing shoulder. Manager Mike Scioscia said Escobar will not pitch again until the middle of next week.
Lotte Marines: The Chiba Lotte Marines broke out of a hitting slump with a Japanese professional baseball record of 15 runs in one inning. Lotte sent 20 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning when the team had 12 hits, including 11 singles. The Marines defeated the Hiroshima Carp, 23-2, yesterday.