Indians’ Finley Will Undergo Knee Surgery

Chuck Finley, one of the few Cleveland Indian pitchers to stay off the disabled list last season, will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this week and will be sidelined for two months.

Finley, 38, has torn cartilage in his knee and will have surgery on Tuesday to remove it. Angels’ team physician Lewis Yocum will perform the procedure.

Finley, who pitched a team-high 218 innings in 2000, felt discomfort in his knee during a workout last month. He underwent therapy, but after an exam Friday, Yocum advised the left-hander to have surgery.

An Indian spokesman said Finley is expected to report to spring training in Winter Haven, Fla., on schedule next month. But he won’t be able to throw competitively until mid-March.

“It’s nothing serious,” Indian head trainer Paul Spicuzza said Saturday. “But we’re taking care of it now. That way he’ll be in total rehab mode during spring training.”

Spicuzza said Finley had no major problems with the knee last season.

“He said some days he would feel something but it didn’t prevent him from pitching,” Spicuzza said. “He says he could pitch in a game now.”

Finley played 14 years with the Angels before signing a three-year, $27-million free-agent contract with the Indians before last season. He went 16-11 with a 4.17 earned-run average in 34 starts in his first season at Cleveland.

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Seventy homers is one thing, but $70 bills are quite another for Mark McGwire.

The Cardinals’ home run king has filed suit in St. Louis, asking a judge to stop distribution of phony $70 bills that feature his picture.

The suit also seeks more than $25,000 in damages from the man accused of making the bills, Christopher Morris of Hardy, Ark. Morris did not return calls.

McGwire filed suit Thursday after Morris allegedly missed a Christmas deadline to stop distributing the phony bills. McGwire had agreed not to sue Morris in exchange for an “appropriate” donation by Morris to Cardinals Care, the charitable organization of the Cardinals.

The bills are meant to recognize McGwire’s record of 70 home runs in 1998. McGwire’s attorney, Michael Kahn, said the bills exploit McGwire’s image and violate currency laws.