Report Says Davis Tested for Cancer

Surgery performed Friday on Baltimore Oriole outfielder Eric Davis reportedly was more significant than anticipated.

The Orioles said Davis, who hasn’t played since May 25, underwent successful abdominal surgery in which a segment of his right colon was removed and that he is expected to be sidelined for eight weeks.

The Baltimore Sun, however, reported Saturday that the scope of the surgery was greater than anticipated and that more than an abscess was removed. Further tests will be conducted to determine if the mass removed from Davis is cancerous.

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The New York Yankees sent Kenny Rogers to the bullpen Saturday, and Ramiro Mendoza will replace him in the rotation Tuesday against the New York Mets.

Rogers is 4-3 with a 5.86 earned-run average in 13 starts. The left-hander gave up five runs in 4 2/3 innings in his most recent game against the Chicago White Sox, and in the last four starts he has given up 27 hits and 21 earned runs in 19 1/3 innings for an ERA of 9.78.

Owner George Steinbrenner badly wants to win the much-anticipated series against the Mets at Yankee Stadium, which may have contributed to the move.

Mendoza, a right-hander, is 3-2 with a 5.51 ERA. He has started eight games.

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Seattle Mariner hitting coach Lee Elia returned to work after learning he has early stage prostate cancer.

Elia, 59, will undergo a procedure using radioactive seed implants, in late August or early September. He said the treatment has a 97% success rate and that he expects to be cancer free within three months.

Elia left work May 25, while the team was in Kansas City, after the cancer was discovered through a blood test and biopsy. He said his father died of the same disease in the 1980s.

“Thank God for the PSA [Prostate Specific Antigen] test,” he said Friday. “If anything good comes out of this, it is the fact there are several ways of solving this problem, and any man who starts pushing 50 should have a PSA test.”