Sheffield gets support from player who's been there

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published April 24, 2005

Mariners reliever Jeff Nelson said he was disappointed, but not surprised, some media reports portrayed Yankees rightfielder Gary Sheffield as the bad guy in the incident at Fenway Park.

Nelson and former Yankees teammate Karim Garcia were involved in a scuffle with a grounds crew member in the park's bullpen during the 2003 ALCS.

"It's the exact same thing the way the media portrayed it, and I hate it," Nelson told the Seattle Times. "We're at fault right away before anything ever happens. The fans? "Oh, there's nothing wrong with what the fan did.' I get tired of that."

Nelson and Garcia were charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. Nelson said the charges were erased April 1 after 50 hours of community service.

Nelson praised Sheffield for his restraint after a fan seemed to swing at him as Sheffield tried to field a ball along the rightfield fence. Sheffield shoved the fan and got in his face but avoided physical contact.

"He did a great job of keeping himself under control," Nelson said. "There's a situation where, as a player, your competitive nature, you get someone swinging at you, you want to go after him." As for fault? Nelson was clear.

"New York might be a rough place, as far as fan-wise, but it's nothing like when you're a Yankee playing in Boston," he said. "It's ridiculous. Boston is a great city and it isn't bad playing there but it makes it worse because it's the Yankees and Red Sox. They escalate that thing worse than the New York fans ever have.

"You pray nothing escalates further because it could. With these people it could."

MORE FIREWORKS: This time between White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and slugger Frank Thomas. Guillen was miffed Thomas said the red-hot Carl Everett would be moved from designated hitter to outfield when Thomas, a DH, comes off the disabled list after ankle surgery. But the headline was about Guillen's trashing of Thomas' attitude.

"It's good to have him here because now he can see a winning attitude because he was part of the bad attitude from the past," Guillen told Chicago reporters. "Frank was a big part of the bad attitude. Now he can see the guys, how we handle stuff, why we're not whining every day. Everybody is happy and I want Frank to be part of it."

Asked to define bad attitude, Guillen said, "Because he was here for 20 years and he was part of the bad attitude. He was a big part of the bad attitude. Why? Because he was their leader."

"That's Ozzie," Thomas said. "That's why I don't get upset. He hasn't changed. He keeps guys loose and this is his team. This isn't going to change anything between Ozzie and me."

GOING HOME: Orioles bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks returned to Baltimore Wednesday after a five-day stay at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg for treatment of a mild stroke, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Hendricks was taken off the team plane and rushed to the hospital April 14 after the final game of the Orioles' three-game series with the Devil Rays. Head trainer Richie Bancells noticed signs of a stroke, including numbness in Hendricks' face and slurring of speech.

"He was in great spirits," Orioles vice president Mike Flanagan said after Hendricks' return. "His speech was terrific. He was a little tired from the ordeal. ... We don't know the cause. We certainly would like to know that and take it from there."

ETC: The Yankees' $96-million pitching staff is foundering with its starters third-worst in the AL with a 5.46 ERA. ... Rockies catcher JD Closser wants everyone to know there are no periods between the initials of his first name. And the initials don't stand for anything, either, even though his parents gave him the name Jeffrey Darrin when he was born. "I legally changed my name five years ago to JD," he said. "I asked my parents if it was okay. I always went by JD, so it seemed I should be JD." ... The Padres are the only club in existence since 1969 without three consecutive winning seasons. ... Not even a month into the season and the Cubs have gone from shortstop Nomar Garciaparra (groin tear) and second baseman Todd Walker (knee) up the middle to Neifi Perez at short and Jerry Hairston at second. ... Cincinnati's Adam Dunn has gone 831 plate appearances, without a sacrifice fly. He also was called out Wednesday for leaving third base early after tagging up on Rich Aurilia's flyout to left. "Not only can I not hit a sacrifice fly, I can't score on one," Dunn said.

Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

[Last modified April 24, 2005, 01:03:20]