Major League Baseball
AL notes: Despite injuries, Yanks' Sheffield may be MVP

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The New York Yankees haven't had a league MVP since Don Mattingly in 1985, but Gary Sheffield may get the award this year — and only partly for what he has done on the field.

Sheffield, who once had a reputation for being selfish, has played all season with a series of injuries, including a torn ligament in his right thumb and bursitis in his left shoulder.

At the advice of orthopedist Dr. Frank Jobe, Sheffield has decided to forgo cortisone injections and will play in pain the rest of the way. Yet, he still entered the weekend first in the American League with 99 runs and 78 walks and in the top six in homers (32) and RBI (95).

But more important is the example Sheffield has set in a clubhouse filled with 18 All-Stars, none of whom is complaining about aches and pains. "I think everybody's embarrassed to talk about it after they watch Sheffield," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

• Cal Ripken Jr. does not have to worry about a Kansas City player threatening his consecutive-games record.

Every position player in the Royals' opening-day lineup has been on the disabled list this season. The last two holdouts were All-Star Ken Harvey and Mike Sweeney, also the club's leading hitters. Both went out in the last week.

Sweeney has a herniated back disk that probably will sideline him for the remainder of the season. Harvey has a strained rib-cage muscle.

Sweeney's continual back problems concern the Royals. He has missed time because of the back in each of the last three seasons.

"This season, I've never been fully healthy," said Sweeney, who leads the Royals with 22 homers.

The injuries make Kansas City a lock to lose 100 games for the second time in three seasons.
 
• Ozzie Guillen is entertaining, but he has been overmatched in his first season as the Chicago White Sox's manager.

General manager Ken Williams took a risk in hiring Guillen, who had no previous managerial experience and only three seasons as a major-league coach. Williams hoped the energy that Guillen brought to the White Sox as a player would lift a lifeless club.

That has not worked. The spring-training retirement of bench coach Joe Nossek hurt, because Guillen needed his in-game advice. Guillen's in-game moves have been curious.

He also made a big mistake by calling umpire Hunter Wendelstedt "a liar" for his report that led to a suspension for Guillen. Carping about umpires is a rookie mistake.

• Reeling Baltimore gets the last thing it needs on Friday: the opener of a series against the Yankees in New York.

The Orioles have lost 11 of their 13 games against the Yankees this season. Baltimore has not gotten over the first series against the Yankees.

Rookie manager Lee Mazzilli, a former Yankees coach, told the pitchers to follow his scouting report. The Yankees swept the three-game series, scoring 41 runs.

• On Wednesday, Jeff DaVanon of Anaheim became the sixth player to hit for the cycle this season, joining Mark Teixeira of Texas, Eric Valent of the Mets, David Bell of Philadelphia, Daryle Ward of Pittsburgh and Milwaukee's Chad Moeller.

A cycle always creates excitement, but it's really an oddity that is dwarfed by other performances.

Teixeira, for example, collected his cycle when the Rangers routed Cleveland 16-4. The next night Oakland edged Baltimore 5-4 as Erubiel Durazo slugged three home runs that produced all five runs.

• Minnesota is hoping catcher Joe Mauer, the preseason favorite for rookie of the year, will be available as a designated hitter or pinch-hitter next month after bouts with a sore knee and kidney stones kept him on the disabled list most of the season.

Mauer, who hasn't played since July 15, has played in 35 games, batting .308 with six homers and 17 runs batted in.

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