Suddenly, the Situation Doesn’t Look Appealing

The Dodgers expressed frustration Saturday after major league baseball postponed Gary Sheffield’s second suspension appeal hearing without notifying them.

Commissioner Bud Selig had been scheduled to hear the Dodger left fielder’s appeal of a five-game suspension--ordered and upheld on the initial appeal after a brawl at Wrigley Field in Chicago--next week in Atlanta.

But Selig altered the plan, deciding the hearing should be postponed indefinitely. Moreover, the Dodgers were upset that representatives of the commissioner’s office did not notify them.

Two baseball sources said the commissioner’s office has delayed the process to put pressure on the Dodgers to persuade Sheffield to serve the suspension. Selig does not plan to overturn or reduce Sheffield’s suspension, the sources said, and the commissioner wants closure.

The Dodgers thought the hearing would occur before Tuesday’s All-Star game at Turner Field, and hoped Selig would rule quickly. Now, they don’t know what to expect.

“The more you delay any of this stuff, the more you impact the pennant race,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “I mean, we all thought it was going to be heard during the break, that was the opportune time for it, and now we hear it’s not going to be then.

“No one [from the commissioner’s office] has told us anything, and we’re trying to make plans for the second half. We need to know what’s going on.”

And not only with Sheffield.

The Dodgers also wondered when pitcher Carlos Perez and outfielder F.P. Santangelo, who recently dropped appeals, would serve five-game suspensions. Perez was scheduled to sit out starting July 16 and Santangelo July 22.

“Now that they postponed Sheff’s hearing, does that push Carlos and F.P. back?” Johnson said. “I can’t even set up my rotation unless somebody tells me in stone that’s the way it is.

“I may want to look at some other options in the outfield, and I need to know what the time frame is on this stuff. I don’t like to assume things and then be wrong.”

General Manager Kevin Malone phoned executives from the commissioner’s office Saturday to try to clarify the confusing situation.

“We need to find out what’s going on with Sheff’s appeal, and how that affects things,” Malone said. “We’re just trying to figure this out . . . to plan and make some roster moves if we have to.”

*

Seattle all-star shortstop Alex Rodriguez will be sidelined at least a week after suffering a concussion and knee injury Friday in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-2, 11-inning interleague victory.

Rodriguez was injured running into second base trying to break up a double play. Rodriguez’s head hit Dodger shortstop Alex Cora’s knee, and Rodriguez was motionless on the field for about five minutes.

Rodriguez was diagnosed with a grade-three concussion after undergoing a CT scan, and also tore tissue on the interior of his right knee, team physician Larry Pedegana said.

The Mariners might put Rodriguez on the 15-day disabled list. He was voted the starting shortstop for the American League in the All-Star game, but the injury will keep him on the bench.

“He had some altered consciousness, that’s the best way to put it,” Pedegana said of Rodriguez, batting .345 with 24 home runs and 78 runs batted in.

“The week is for the concussion . . . the knee is up in the air right now. It looks like a sprain, but we have to wait and see.”

Rodriguez sat in the Mariners’ dugout in uniform during Saturday’s 11-0 Seattle victory. A sellout crowd of 45,248 applauded when Rodriguez was shown on a video screen.

Cora spoke with Rodriguez in the Mariners’ clubhouse before the game. Cora was shaken after his longtime friend was injured.

“All I care about is his health,” Cora said. “I’ve known Alex since I was a freshman in college [at the University of Miami], and it was kind of hard playing after it happened. I just hope he comes back soon.”

TODAY

DODGERS’ CHAN HO PARK

(9-5, 4.34 ERA)

vs.

MARINERS’ JAMIE MOYER

(7-3, 4.70 ERA)

Safeco Field, 1:30 p.m.

TV--Channel 5.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--This is the final game of a three-city, nine-game trip that leads to the All-Star break. Park has a loss and two no-decisions in his last three starts after winning five in a row from May 29 through June 18. The right-hander is trying to become the first Dodger to win at least 10 games before the All-Star break since Ramon Martinez was 12-3 at the ’91 break.