Sheffield Stirs the Marlins’ Pot

Gary Sheffield, the biggest name left with Florida’s World Series champions, might well have been seeking to join the exodus from the Marlins when he said Saturday that he was not satisfied with the medical treatment he has been getting for a back ailment.

He might not be ready for opening day, Sheffield said.

Oh, and it might not bother him to spend it in the employ of the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Sheffield contradicted statements he made two days earlier, when he ruled out a trade and said he expected his back to be 100% in two to three weeks. The Marlins offered the same prognosis, with trainer Larry Starr saying the condition was easy to treat.

But Sheffield said Saturday that he hasn’t received the attention he needs from the training staff.

“Nobody here is hands-on with me,” Sheffield complained. “Yeah, I’m doing my exercises, but I need somebody to oversee me doing them because they’re so hard to do when your back is hurting. You need hands-on help.”

Sheffield said his back ailment--diagnosed a month ago as a narrowing of the vertebra--bothered him during a subpar 1997 season, when he hit .250 with 21 homers and 71 RBIs.

This year, Sheffield said, he won’t play hurt.

“When somebody makes a statement that this can be easily treated, I have a problem with that,” he said. “If it can be easily treated, it would have been treated last year, and it wasn’t.”

Sheffield’s comments may only further strain his relationship with the Marlins, who tried unsuccessfully to trade him but were stymied because of his $61-million, six-year contract.

Sheffield said Thursday that he would exercise his right to veto any deal. But on Saturday, with Tampa Bay in town for an exhibition game that was rained out, he said he would welcome a chance to play in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

“That would be great. I could go home and play with my kids,” he said. “That’s the missing piece to that ballclub: a power-hitting right fielder. If it happens, it happens. I’m not closing those doors.”

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In his first game after sitting out nearly two years because of knee and back problems, Philadelphia’s Lenny Dykstra got his uniform dirty again.

Playing in his first game since May 18, 1996, Dykstra reached on an error in the third inning and took off for second on a wild pitch, sliding in safely without drawing a throw during Toronto’s 3-0 win over the Phillies at Clearwater, Fla.

Dykstra, seeking to reclaim his job in center field, said it’s too early to say whether his comeback will be successful.

“I think in 10 days I’ll be able to stand here and tell you guys if I’m good to go,” he said. “My body felt good, and that’s the main thing.”

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Mark McGwire picked right up where he left off for St. Louis, hitting a 450-foot home run onto the upstairs balcony of the Montreal Expos’ clubhouse in the Cardinals’ 5-0 win at Jupiter, Fla.

He also singled in a run.

McGwire, acquired from Oakland last July 31, had 58 home runs last season and is the first player since Babe Ruth to have successive 50-homer seasons.

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After sitting out last season because of knee problems, Chris Bosio couldn’t wait to pitch in a major league game. It may be a while before he pitches again.

Bosio, a non-roster player with the Boston Red Sox, left Saturday’s 8-6 loss to the Texas Rangers at Port Charlotte, Fla., because of a shoulder injury during the seventh inning. Its severity wasn’t known.

“It felt great getting back on the mound,” said Bosio, who last pitched in the majors on Sept. 22, 1996. “I just felt something pop in the back of my shoulder. . . . It’s painful.”

Bosio, 94-93 in his career, pitched seven years with Milwaukee and three with Seattle before undergoing his seventh knee operation after the 1995 season. He played again in 1996, then pitched in three minor league games in the Boston organization last season.

On Saturday, he struck out the first batter in the seventh inning, then gave up two runs on a triple, a walk and a double. With an 0-and-1 count on Domingo Cedeno, Bosio threw a palmball for a strike and “felt something pop in the back of my shoulder.”

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Kevin Brown, acquired in a trade with the Florida Marlins, pitched two shutout innings in his San Diego debut, a 13-2 rout of the Seattle Mariners at Peoria, Ill. . . . Dennis Martinez, 42, released by Seattle last May and trying to make a comeback as a non-roster player with the Atlanta Braves, gave up a run and two hits in two innings of a 3-2 win over the New York Mets at Kissimmee, Fla. . . . Matt Mieske, who spent six seasons with the Brewers but who was not tendered a contract this season, hit a two-run homer against his former team in the Chicago Cubs’ 11-9 win at Phoenix.