Cabrera Isn’t Mad at Sheets

Brewer pitcher Ben Sheets had never faced Dodger utility player Jolbert Cabrera before Sunday, so there was no history between the two. That’s what made the two Sheets pitches that hit Cabrera in the same spot -- the left buttocks -- in the first and eighth innings all the more peculiar.

The pitches raised some eyebrows in the Dodger dugout, and starter Kevin Brown seemed to take notice. Brown had impeccable control all day, but he drilled Milwaukee third baseman Wes Helms in the left triceps in the bottom of the eighth, a pitch that some perceived as retaliation.

But Cabrera, who was shot in the buttocks during a car-jacking in his native Colombia in the winter before the 2001 season, held no hard feelings toward Sheets.

“He was trying to come in on me; he wasn’t trying to hit me,” said Cabrera, who scored two runs in the Dodgers’ 5-1 victory. “I don’t even know him.”

But was he beginning to get suspicious after being hit for the second time?

“No, I was getting on base, it was no biggie,” Cabrera said. “He hit me in the same spot, but it didn’t hurt. I took a bullet there. That really hurts.”

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With a day off today, Manager Jim Tracy gave Brian Jordan the day off Sunday in order to give the center fielder and his surgically repaired knee two days’ rest before beginning a three-game series in Coors Field on Tuesday.

Tracy informed Jordan on Saturday night of his decision, but it still didn’t sit very well with Jordan on Sunday. It was a sunny, relatively warm day in Milwaukee, and Jordan is five for nine against Sheets.

“I want to play, but that’s totally Trace’s decision,” Jordan said. “The weather is starting to heat up. It’s not a good day to miss, especially against [Sheets]. But what can I say? I’m tired of trying to figure it out. I just do what they tell me to do.”

Jordan had surgery to repair the patella tendon in his right knee after last season, and the Dodgers don’t want to over-extend him.

“He’s responded as well to this surgery as anyone I’ve seen,” Tracy said. “I saw [former Dodger reliever] Matt Herges and Mark McGwire [have trouble with it]. It’s in [Jordan’s] best interest to give him a couple days to get off of it and continue to build strength until he’s 100%.”

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While his Camarillo High teammates were in California preparing for Tuesday’s playoff game against Riverside Arlington, Camarillo outfielder Delmon Young, the younger brother of Detroit outfielder Dmitri Young, was putting on quite a batting-practice show in Miller Park on Sunday.

Young, Baseball America’s high school player of the year in 2002, was flown in by the Brewers for a workout in anticipation of next week’s draft.

Young is expected to be among the top three picks and to command a signing bonus in the $4-million range.

Milwaukee has the second pick after Tampa Bay, but after watching Young blast home runs to all fields, including one off the Miller Lite sign below the scoreboard in center field and another to the upper deck, they have to be wondering if Young will still be available at No. 2.

“A 17-year-old high school kid, up there with a wood bat, hitting balls off the scoreboard. It was pretty impressive,” Brewer Manager Ned Yost said.