AROUND THE MAJORS : Surgery to End Ripken’s Season

Cal Ripken will undergo back surgery today and sit out the rest of the season, leaving him nine hits shy of 3,000 for his career.

“I feel bad that Cal’s hurt because I wanted him to get 3,000 but he’ll get it next year,” Baltimore Oriole Manager Ray Miller said Wednesday night.

Ripken traveled to Cleveland on Wednesday to visit specialist Dr. Henry Bohlman after experiencing back spasms overnight. He will have surgery there to relieve pressure on a nerve that has been causing him discomfort.

“He is in a lot of discomfort and felt that it was time to get it done,” General Manager Frank Wren said.

Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive games before voluntarily ending the streak last September. This season, however, he twice was placed on the disabled list because of back pain, the first two trips to the disabled list over a career that began in 1981.

“You expect him to come back and play well because of who he is,” teammate Mike Timlin said. “It says a lot about the guy that he went this long without surgery. You see a guy in pain and yet continue to play at the level he was, you admire that. He’s an iron guy.”

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Center fielder Brian Giles, enjoying one of the best seasons by a Pittsburgh Pirate in the last quarter-century, has a broken right middle finger and will not play again this season.

Giles, batting .315 with 39 homers and 115 runs batted in, will return to his California home today.

Second baseman Mickey Morandini of the Chicago Cubs was suspended two games and fined an undisclosed amount by the National League for “overly aggressive behavior” toward an umpire.

The suspension is supposed to start with today’s game against Pittsburgh, but Morandini can appeal.

Morandini and Cub first base coach Dan Radison were ejected in the seventh inning of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 17 for arguing an out call at first base.

Bob Watson, set to interview for the Seattle Mariners’ general manager spot, insisted that he’s the right person to help turn around the struggling team. Another candidate mentioned is Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. Watson did not sound worried about his competition.

“They’re in trouble. Take a look at my credentials. Across the board, from a player, a coach, an assistant GM, a GM, and you tell me they’re not in trouble,” Watson, 53, said in a phone interview from his Houston home.

Mariner General Manager Woody Woodward will resign effective Oct. 31.

The New York Mets bought a Class-A minor league team and plan to relocate the club to Brooklyn for next season.

The Mets purchased the St. Catharines franchise of the New York-Penn League. St. Catharines has an affiliation agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays through the 2000 season, and the new team will field Blue Jay minor leaguers for its first season.

The team would be the first to play in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left following the 1957 season.

Ernie Johnson, 75, retired after nearly four decades as a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves.