Tejada, 33, Says He Lied About His Age

Astros SS Miguel Tejada has told the team he's actually 33, two years older than he's listed in the club's media guide and other baseball records.

Saying he wanted to rid himself of a burden, Tejada approached GM Ed Wade and asked to correct misinformation he gave the Athletics when he signed in 1993.

"I was a poor kid," Tejada said yesterday. "I wanted to sign a professional contract, and that was the only way to do it. I didn't want or mean to do anything wrong. At the time, I was two years older than they thought."

Tejada was 19 when he signed out of poverty-stricken Bani, Dominican Republic. At the time, he says, a local coach encouraged him to say he was 17.

ESPN said it showed Tejada a copy of his birth certificate from the Dominican Republic during an interview Tuesday. Tejada said at the start of the interview that he was born in 1976. After he was shown the birth certificate, he walked out of the interview.

"It was brought to our attention that the date we carry for Tejada, the year of birth, is incorrect," Wade said. "We told Miguel we were going to go ahead and make the appropriate changes and all the information was put forward. But the fact of the matter is he's playing like he was 25."

· BRAVES: Reliever Peter Moylan may need season-ending surgery on his injured right elbow. He will undergo another two weeks of treatment, the team said yesterday. An examination Wednesday determined that a bone spur is pressing against a ligament in his elbow.

Moylan was 0-1 with one save and a 1.59 ERA in seven games this season. His one loss came when he gave up Ryan Zimmerman's home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the inaugural game at Nationals Park.

-- From News Services