About 24 hours after taking two needles full of cortisone in his left shoulder, Gary Sheffield held a sliver of hope that he could play last night against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.
“I am going to get treatment, heat it up and see if I can play,” Sheffield said at 4 yesterday afternoon. “Right now I can feel something gushing around in there but if I get it heated up . . . ”
In reality, Sheffield had no chance to talking his way into the lineup to face neophyte lefty Gustavo Chacin, who made his major league debut.
“I didn’t ask him,” said Joe Torre, who started Kenny Lofton in right and used Ruben Sierra as the DH. “We are taking it a day at a time. It’s worth the investment to make it a little more comfortable.”
Originally, Sheffield wanted to get the shot Wednesday night and be ready for the Red Sox on Friday. However, team physician Dr. Stuart Hershon strongly suggested Sheffield wait until the latest version of Baseball Armageddon was over before taking the spike.
While the MVP candidate didn’t devour Red Sox pitching – he went 3-for-11 (.272) – Sheffield set the tone Sunday with a two-run homer off Pedro Martinez in the first inning. So, the decision worked out.
Now, Sheffield is predicting he won’t have to miss three games like he did in late June when he took a cortisone shot.
“I can tell it’s working better than the first shot,” said Sheffield, who left the Stadium Sunday not being able to feel his left arm. “I can touch the spot and it doesn’t hurt as bad.”
Sheffield, who has been diagnosed with bursitis and a separated muscle, took a shot on top of the shoulder and in the back. And unlike the June shot, his shoulder wasn’t killing him afterward.
“The good part is I didn’t have to take pain pills to be comfortable like I did the first time,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield, hitting .297 with 35 homers and 116 RBIs, insists surgery in the off-season isn’t in the plans. Instead, he believes rest and rehab exercises will allow him to avoid the knife.
Even though noted surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe advised Sheffield the shots may not help, Sheffield went ahead with them anyway after experiencing trouble getting his glove above his waist to catch fly balls and not being able to extend his left arm on a fly ball into the corner on Sept. 11 in Baltimore.
“I want the range of motion needed to complete my swing and start my swing,” Sheffield said. “That fly ball in Baltimore was embarrassing. The range of motion was not good. It’s things you do naturally that are taken for granted.”
Once criticized by George Steinbrenner for playing Lofton in right field, Torre gave the left-handed batter his fifth start there and was comfortable with it.
“The choice was Kenny or Ruben and Kenny is more athletic,” said Torre, who started Sierra in right field 18 times and twice in left. “He is good going after the ball and has been taking fly balls out there. I am comfortable with him out there.”
The Boss said, “I never want to see him out there again” on Aug. 9 after Lofton botched a play in his first career start in right.
Steinbrenner was on hand last night to see Lofton play right again.
Hurts so good
Despite being bothered by an injured left shoulder most of the season, Gary Sheffield has put together an MVP-worthy season. Here are his AL totals in several key offensive categories:
Home runs 35 tied 5th
RBI 116 4th
Runs 111 3rd
On-base pct. .400 5th
Slugging pct. .548 9th
