Abscess

CHICAGO -- No longer able to avoid what doctors at two hospitals believe inevitable, Orioles right fielder Eric Davis will undergo surgery Friday at Johns Hopkins Hospital to remove a mass from his abdomen. The procedure, which Davis agreed to yesterday afternoon, means that he will likely miss eight weeks.The decision came nearly two weeks after Davis was checked into University of Maryland Medical Center with abdominal pain. A battery of tests determined he was suffering from an abdominal abscess caused by a slight perforation of the bowel.

As Triple Crown threat Big Brown recovers from a slightly cracked hoof, history shows injuries right before a major race are not necessarily a sign of a coming disaster. In 1989, Pimlico historian Joe Kelly remembered, Sunday Silence unloaded at the Pimlico stakes barn the week before the Preakness and came up limping with an abscess in a hoof.

Orioles slugger Sammy Sosa has a "serious and significant" staph infection on the bottom of his left foot, but the antibiotics he is taking are working and team doctors said they believe the problem is under control. Still, Sosa, who was placed on the disabled list Tuesday and hasn't played since May 5, could be out as long as a month, according to team physician William Goldiner. "We are very sure we've got him on the right antibiotics, and we are very sure he is improving," Goldiner said.

Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera, who saddled Affirmed, the most recent Triple Crown winner, died early yesterday after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 66.A native of Cuba who had a 40-year training career in Cuba, Mexico and the United States, Barrera died at Rio Hondo Hospital in Downey, Calif., at about 1:30 a.m.Barrera entered the hospital Wednesday night. Barrera's son, Larry, said his father had been ill for about two days.Affirmed, the 1978 and 1979 Horse of the Year, was the winner of a series of famed stretch duels with Alydar in the 1978 Triple Crown.

A.P. Indy, scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby nine hours before post time because of a bruised left front foot, may JTC run in the Preakness on May 16. "We are not ruling it out at the present time," Neil Drysdale, the horse's trainer, said yesterday. Drysdale seemed to be in an optimistic mood yesterday when he talked about A.P. Indy from Churchill Downs. "The horse is responding really well," he said. "We put bar shoes on both of his front feet and he walked around the shed row yesterday with tack and a rider on. We are going to take him out and trot him [today.

The rains held them at bay for a while, keeping the wild grasses green a little longer than usual. But foxtails are fast becoming a problem as the temperatures climb and the grasses dry out.Much as I hate foxtails, I have to admit they are brilliantly adapted. Their long, slender stems hold sticky seed carriers high, ready to catch a ride on a pant leg or a pet. The carrier itself is designed like a spike, with tiny hairs placed to keep the nettle burrowing forward through whatever material is in the way.There's no problem when the spike falls to the ground, of course.

A.P. Indy, scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby nine hours before post time because of a bruised left front foot, may run in the Preakness on May 16."We are not ruling it out at the present time," Neil Drysdale, the horse's trainer, said yesterday.Drysdale seemed to be in an optimistic mood yesterday when he talked about A.P. Indy from Churchill Downs."The horse is responding really well," he said. "We put bar shoes on both of his front feet and he walked around the shed row yesterday with tack and a rider on. We are going to take him out and trot him [today.

Manager Lee Mazzilli kept Sammy Sosa on the bench for a second consecutive game yesterday, but the slumping outfielder will be back in the Orioles' lineup for today's series opener against the New York Yankees. "It was just a couple of days," said Mazzilli, who met with Sosa for nearly 35 minutes before Saturday's game to discuss the outfielder's struggles. "He's going to be back and we expect him to go play and do what he does best." It marked the first time Sosa, 36, has sat on consecutive days since he returned from the disabled list on May 24 after being out for about three weeks with an abscess and staph infection on the bottom of his left foot.

The staph infection that knocked Sammy Sosa out of the Orioles' lineup might clear up with a few days of rest and antibiotics. But across the nation, doctors are alarmed by the rapid rise of these skin infections - many of them drug-resistant - among otherwise healthy people, including athletes. Orioles team physicians declined to say yesterday whether the bacteria causing the abscess on Sosa's left foot are antibiotic-resistant, a situation that would make the condition harder to treat, keep him out of action longer and pose a greater threat of spreading to other tissues.

MOSCOW -- Islamic rebels fighting in southern Russia claimed yesterday to have nearly completed the first stage of their campaign to split a new swath of territory from Moscow's control and announced that they were almost ready to launch a second phase. The assertions of the rebels, who crossed into the republic of Dagestan from the separatist republic of Chechnya just over a week ago, stood in stark contrast to those of the Russian military, which claimed to be only days away from regaining authority over Dagestan.