Mateo suspended 10 days for missing game vs. Yanks

Updated: May 7, 2007, 4:22 PM ET

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Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Julio Mateo was arraigned Sunday on a misdemeanor assault charge following a dispute at a Manhattan hotel that left his wife needing stitches to her mouth.

Mateo

Bail for the 6-foot, 220-pound reliever was set at $3,000, which he posted, said Edison Alban, spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney's office. Mateo was charged with assault in the third degree.

His next court date was set for June 15. His attorney, James Koening, declined to comment further and his agent, Martin Arburua, did not immediately respond to a phone call and an email. Michael Weiner, the players' association's general counsel, said the union will examine the matter Monday.

The Mariners announced Sunday that Mateo had been suspended for 10 days without pay for missing Saturday's game without permission. The suspension, if allowed to stand, would cost him $54,645 of his $1 million salary this year.

The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. Saturday inside the Hilton New York hotel in midtown, police said, shortly after the Mariners defeated the New York Yankees 15-11 Friday in a game where Mateo did not pitch.

Mateo was not there when police were called to the scene; his wife required five stiches to her mouth.

Mateo voluntarily turned himself in at a Manhattan police station early Saturday evening, after missing the second game between the Mariners and the Yankees.

On Sunday, Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said he had spoken to him on Saturday morning but not since then.

"I think it's natural that the guys are going to be concerned. We just move on and go about our business. I don't know if there's any way you can address that. It is what it is. We just move on."

After Seattle's 8-1 loss, Mateo was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma. He was 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA in nine games this season.

The 29-year-old righty was in the final season of a $1,875,000, two-year contract. He and his wife had their second child, Julian, in March.

Last year, Mateo was leading all major league relievers with nine wins when an August weightlifting accident sidelined him with a broken left hand. He was 9-4 with a 4.19 ERA in 48 games last season.