Cardinals’ Davis Is Coming Along

Eric Davis, coming back from a torn rotator cuff, is expected to start playing games soon, St. Louis Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said.

Davis, 37, had surgery last fall. He is about two months ahead of the original prognosis and expects to be in the Cardinals’ opening-day lineup.

LaRussa said Davis could accumulate 30-40 at-bats before the end of spring training. “He’s been off since June, so we’ll just wait and see. He’s in such good shape, I think he’ll bounce back as fast as anybody.”

Davis said he won’t rush it.

“I’ll be back when I’ll be back,” he said. “Because when I start, I don’t want to have to stop.”

But he has a defiant tone when he says he’ll show everyone. He was upset that the Cardinals explored the possibility of acquiring Jim Edmonds from the Angels.

“You say he’s older and has lost a step. OK, glad you went to college to learn that,” Davis said. “But who are you being compared to when you talk about losing a step. My step is still a lot faster than a lot of these guys.”

Davis said he can play as long as his body holds up because, unlike many players from the younger generation, he’s well-schooled in fundamentals and knows the game.

“There’s a lot of players in this game that don’t know how to play,” he said. “That’s why you have the Rickey Hendersons playing till they’re (41). That’s why you have guys like Jesse Orosco getting guys out at 41, 42. The competition is not that fierce.”

Davis knows something about comebacks.

He suffered a lacerated kidney while making a diving catch in the 1990 World Series. He retired in 1995, then realized it was a mistake and returned with 26 homers and 83 RBIs the following season. In 1997, he had his most serious setback, colon cancer, and rebounded from the life-threatening illness with 28 homers, 89 RBIs and a career-best .327 average.

*

Nomar Garciaparra’s much-belated spring training debut was a success, even if the Boston Red Sox shortstop did make a throwing error on one of three grounders hit his way Sunday in an exhibition against the Philadelphia Phillies at Fort Myers, Fla.

But Garciaparra showed no ill-effects from the knee injury that kept him out of action for Boston’s first 10 spring games.

“It felt good. Good to be out there and getting the kinks out,” he said after going one for two and leaving as planned after three innings. “I just went out there and did my thing.

The Red Sox lost, 9-8, in 12 innings.

*

San Francisco left-hander Shawn Estes, bothered by a troublesome left shoulder, had an MRI. He was scratched from a Tuesday start. “I feel positive I can get back,” he said. “When is the question.” Mark Gardner, last year’s opening day pitcher, will probably take Estes’ place in the rotation. . . . Pittsburgh first baseman Kevin Young played for the first time this spring, going one for three in six innings in a 2-1 victory over Cincinnati at Bradenton, Fla. Young missed nine games as he continued to recover from the arthroscopic surgery on his right knee he had last October. . . . Sammy Sosa hit his fourth home run in the Chicago Cubs’ 12-3 victory over Arizona at Mesa, Ariz. . . . Detroit released right-hander Mike Oquist, who started the 1999 season with Oakland’s triple-A farm club at Vancouver but ended up making the Athletics’ starting rotation. He signed with the Tigers as a minor league free agent on Nov. 29. He told the club at that time he was more interested in pitching in the majors than in their minor league system.