Sheffield Still Sidelined by Sprained Index Finger

Gary Sheffield sat out his second consecutive game Friday night because of a sprained left index finger and a precautionary X-ray was expected to be taken Friday night or today.

Sheffield said he first injured the finger during a pregame workout Wednesday, charging and fielding ground balls in the outfield as he jammed his glove hard into the ground at an awkward angle. Sheffield said he hurt it again during the game picking up the ball before throwing out the second of two runners at home plate.

“I’ve just been trying to charge the ball a lot harder and be more aggressive since I moved over to left field,” said Sheffield, who has played left for the Dodgers since 1999. “I’m just used to right field. In left field the ball gets to you pretty quick.”

Sheffield said the finger bothered him during the course of the game, in which he went 0 for 3 with a walk.

“But with the adrenaline, you’re not thinking about nicks and cuts and things,” Sheffield said. “I can’t put no timetable on it, it’s just a day-by-day thing.

“I can play with pain but it’s on the knuckle. I’ve played with worse.”

Sheffield’s injury is the latest in a long line of Dodger finger injuries this season, following Shawn Green, Dave Hansen and Mark Grudzielanek.

“It’s just the season of the fingers,” Sheffield said.

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An MRI of Grudzielanek’s injured right thumb revealed a partial tear to the ligament and he will be out at least until Tuesday. . . . As expected, Adrian Beltre, recovering from two abdominal surgeries, will begin a rehab assignment at Vero Beach on Monday. Manager Jim Tracy said he is looking to get Beltre about 60 at-bats while at Dodgertown. . . . The swelling in Andy Ashby’s right (throwing) elbow subsided enough that he played catch Friday and may do so again today. Eligible to come off the disabled list Tuesday, Ashby might begin throwing off a mound Sunday.

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Sporting a heavily bandaged nose and blackened left eye, Dodger bench coach Jim Riggleman, hit in the face by coach Glenn Hoffman’s fungo bat on a follow-through Thursday, returned to the Dodgers Friday.

“It was my fault,” said Riggleman, who underwent surgery for a fractured nose at Centinela Hospital. “I was standing there talking to Glenn, so it wasn’t like I didn’t know he was there, and I reached down to pick up a ball.”