Ordonez Could Scoop Up Rookie Award

The New York Mets have been famous for overhyping their top prospects, but as the National League will attest, shortstop Rey Ordonez is every bit as good as advertised.

“He’s a Cuban Ozzie Smith,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “This guy is something.”

Ordonez, already considered the finest defensive shortstop in the league, could put an end to the Dodgers’ four-year control of the award. Besides his defensive prowess, he had three hits Monday and is batting .324.

“Even before he got here,” Met Manager Dallas Green said, “everybody in our entire organization gave him every adjective you could come up with to describe his defensive plays and what they had seen. I’ll tell you what: Nobody was wrong.”

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Shortstop Greg Gagne, who suffered a sprained left ankle last Friday night, likely will sit out the remainder of the home stand.

“The pain in my heel has got to go away before I do anything,” Gagne said. “I don’t want to put anything on it because the pain is still there. But I’ve got to do something. I’m tired of sitting around. Maybe I’ll go for a walk or something.”

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Chad Fonville, who has been playing shortstop in Gagne’s absence, has been bothered by a stiff neck, he said, that now is causing pain in his back.

If Fonville was forced to leave the lineup, Lasorda said he likely would move second baseman Delino DeShields to shortstop and play Mike Blowers at second.