Baseball
Lowell cancer scare has a happy ending
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 22, 2003
MIAMI - Mike Lowell feared cancer had returned. He happily learned he was wrong.
"I was very scared, and that's an understatement," the Marlins third baseman said Monday before returning to the lineup.
In 1999 Lowell had surgery for testicular cancer after a small mass was found during a routine physical examination.
His groin felt sore the past three weeks, and he took Friday's game off to see a doctor. Lowell left a hospital on crutches after being told that a golf-ball-sized mass above his left femur might be a tumor that could be eating at the bone.
He then went to tumor specialists in Gainesville.
"On the way up to Gainesville it was with the honest best-case scenario being a benign tumor, surgery, a possible steel rod in the hip, and miss this year," he said. "That what I was hoping was my best-case scenario."
Additional tests determined the mass was not a tumor or cancerous. Doctors said it was fibrous dysplasia.
"It's a benign condition of the bone, something they say I might have had since I was 4 years old," Lowell said. "We just started jumping up and down like I had won the lottery. Everyone was crying. I went from thinking I had to go chemotherapy or radiation again, to doing nothing, that I had had a normal strain. I don't care about the strain now, that's the least of my worries now."
LUXURY TAX: Only one team is projected to pay the new tax.
You guessed it: the Yankees.
After last week's acquisition of reliever Armando Benitez from the crosstown Mets, the Yankees payroll comes to $180.3-million for the 40-man roster, including benefits. The updated figure compiled by the commissioner's office translates to a projected tax bill of $10.8-million that will come due Jan. 31.
No other team is above the $117-million threshold established by the new labor contract.
CARDINALS: Right-hander Matt Morris bruised a knuckle after he was hit on his right index finger by a line drive in the first. He is day to day.
CUBS: Right-hander Mark Prior went on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder contusion. Prior was hurt after colliding with Braves second baseman Marcus Giles on July 11.
DODGERS: Although the team soon might face an outfield logjam, manager Jim Tracy said struggling rightfielder Shawn Green won't be asked to move to first base.
INDIANS: Shortstop Ricky Gutierrez went on the 15-day disabled list with a career-threatening compression of the spinal cord.
PIRATES: Right-hander Kris Benson will miss a scheduled start for the second time in just over a month, but he disagrees with manager Lloyd McClendon on the reason. McClendon said Benson is having mechanical troubles. The pitcher said his shoulder hurts and he needs to rest it.
TWINS: First-round draft pick Matt Moses has a heart condition, delaying the completion of his contract. The team learned of the problem after a routine postdraft physical. The tests were sent to a heart specialist in Miami for a diagnosis.
YANKEES: First baseman/DH Nick Johnson, who is working his way back from a stress fracture of his right hand, appears to be ahead of schedule and could return this weekend.
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Sideline
The first practice in pads is a hard-hitting reality check
