Jeter, Giambi Are Ailing on Yankees

New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter is expected to sit out at least five games because of a strained neck muscle.

Jeter was hurt while taking batting practice Sunday. After a few rounds of batting practice, he felt pain on one swing.

“The good thing is, it’s just a couple of days,” Jeter said Monday when asked how long he will be sidelined.

“It’s like a charley horse in the neck.”

First baseman Jason Giambi left Monday’s 7-3 loss to a Minnesota Twins split-squad after his left leg stiffened.

Giambi sat out two intrasquad games and two exhibition games last week because of left hamstring tightness.

“He didn’t reinjure it,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “He couldn’t get it loose. My guess is Giambi would play if it was the regular season. It’s not a big concern.”

Giambi will undergo treatment today and is expected to be out of action until at least Thursday.

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Cleveland outfielder Alex Escobar, the key player in the trade that sent All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar to the New York Mets, injured his left knee in an exhibition at Winter Haven, Fla.

Escobar was to undergo an MRI examination on the knee Monday night at Winter Haven Hospital.

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Minnesota third baseman Corey Koskie has a sprained right wrist, and the team doesn’t know how long the injury will keep him out of the lineup.

Koskie had an MRI test Monday, but results were unavailable.

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Seattle utility player Mark McLemore was involved in a scuffle at a store near the team’s training facility in Peoria, Ariz., police and club officials confirmed.

McLemore told police he went into the store in Glendale to ask about an electrical cord adapter, but couldn’t get help from store employee Chris Mills and accused Mills of walking toward him in a threatening manner.

“Mr. McLemore said the store employee tried to remove this part that he was asking a question about out of his hand.

“He said he felt threatened by this, especially when McLemore said this employee tried to walk through him .... meaning basically walk right over him,” police spokesman Matt Brown said.

No one was injured, and the incident appeared to be “something that would just fade away,” Mariner General Manager Pat Gillick told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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The Red Sox hired former Texas Ranger general manager Doug Melvin as a consultant, the third major appointment by Boston’s new owners in just the last five days.

More are expected, although club President Larry Lucchino wouldn’t comment on Manager Joe Kerrigan’s status.

Melvin, fired by the Rangers after last season, expects to spend the next two to three months studying the Red Sox player development system and making recommendations for improvement.