Alou will miss the start of season after hernia surgery

Moises Alou will have surgery for a hernia and miss the start of the season, the most serious in a string of recent setbacks for the depleted New York Mets.

After reporting discomfort in his right groin, the oft-injured Alou left spring training camp Wednesday and was sent back to New York for tests. He is scheduled to undergo surgery today.

The 41-year-old left fielder is expected to resume baseball activities in four to six weeks, making it likely he’ll be sidelined for at least most of April.

Alou batted .341 with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs in 328 at-bats last season, when he was limited to 87 games because of a quadriceps injury. Now, six of New York’s eight regulars are sidelined, plus one member of the rotation -- and it’s still early in spring training.

In good news for the Mets, Johan Santana struck out four in three innings against the Dodgers.

The Boston Red Sox are reluctant to give Bartolo Colon rave reviews, but it’s getting tougher.

The 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner with the Angels pitched his second impressive bullpen session for Boston on Wednesday and is on schedule to make his first start on March 15 since signing a minor league contract Feb. 25.

“The expectation was there,” Boston pitching coach John Farrell said after watching Colon throw 41 pitches, “but I think initially and, again, this is very premature, he’s on the positive side of those expectations.”

Colon is coming back from shoulder and elbow injuries that limited him to seven wins over the last two seasons in Anaheim.

He was the second-winningest pitcher in baseball from 1998-2005.

New York Yankees broadcaster and former player Bobby Murcer said he received “great news” after a brain biopsy revealed scar tissue from past radiation treatments instead of a new tumor.

Murcer, 61, said in a statement released by the team that he was checking out of a Houston hospital and flying back to his home in Oklahoma following the positive report.