Gooden Will Have Hernia Surgery

New York Yankee pitcher Dwight Gooden will have surgery Monday to repair a small hernia.

Joseph Diaco will operate on Gooden in Tampa, Fla. Gooden probably will be sidelined more than a month.

Gooden has been bothered by abdominal pain since spring training.

Gooden, 32, beat Oakland on Saturday in his first start, giving up five runs and six hits--including three homers--in 5 2/3 innings. He was 11-7 with a 5.01 earned-run average last year, pitching a no-hitter against Seattle, but was dropped from the postseason roster because of a tired arm.

Ramiro Mendoza will start instead of Gooden against the Athletics on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

Also, the lawyer for Yankee outfielder Darryl Strawberry denied that the federal government is seeking to revoke his client’s probation. A revocation hearing was postponed in Los Angeles on Tuesday after a 20-minute proceeding in a judge’s chambers.

Strawberry pleaded guilty in 1995 to one felony count of tax evasion for failing to report $344,000 in income he made from 1987 to 1990 signing baseball memorabilia and making personal appearances.

*

Only 4,000 tickets will be available to the public for this summer’s All-Star game at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field. . . . Reggie Jefferson and the Red Sox agreed to a $6.6-million, two-year contract extension. . . . Billy Brewer was put on the 15-day disabled list by Oakland, which purchased the contract of right-hander Aaron Small from Edmonton of the Pacific Coast League. Brewer has an inflamed ulnar nerve in his left elbow. . . . Mariner reliever Josias Manzanillo might lose his right testicle after being hit by a line drive by Cleveland’s Manny Ramirez on Tuesday. He was put on the 15-day disabled list and Seattle recalled left-hander Tim Davis from triple-A Tacoma.