Albuquerque’s Mientkiewicz heals quickly

When Doug Mientkiewicz dislocated his right shoulder in his seventh game of the season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, doctors told him he was probably done for the year.

But the 35-year-old first baseman, who has overcome two major wrist surgeries in his career, was able to return to action recently as a designated hitter for the Albuquerque Isotopes and on Monday at Cashman Field wrapped up a 10-game rehabilitation assignment in which he hit .306 (15-for-49) with one home run and 10 RBIs.

"I'm a pretty fast healer -- I've had a whole lot of practice at it. With the training staff in L.A., we just kept pushing the envelope every day, and it kept responding," he said before going 0-for-4 with the game-winning sacrifice fly in Albuquerque's 4-3 win over Las Vegas. "We spent seven to eight hours at the field every single day, and it paid off. I'm here now, I feel good, and I haven't taken one swing where I felt it.

"Now the last step for me is to throw."

Mientkiewicz, who bats left-handed and throws right-handed, said he'll return to Los Angeles today to work on his throwing, which he hopes to have at full strength by Oct. 1.

"That being said, I'm still way ahead of schedule. I'll be able to pinch hit in September," he said. "If push comes to shove, as bad as my arm felt in the past, I can double switch for an inning and get a throw where it needs to be."

A .271 hitter for seven teams in his 12-year career, Mientkiewicz is the only player in baseball history to win a World Series title (2004), a Gold Glove (2001) and an Olympic gold medal (2000).

After catching the final out of the Boston Red Sox's first world championship in 86 years, Mientkiewicz was vilified for refusing to give the ball back to the team -- something he said wasn't true. Mientkiewicz said he and his wife, Jodi, received death threats.

"Anytime someone calls your cellphone in a city on the road during the season, and your wife is on the road with you, and he describes what your wife is wearing to a T, down to the make of her shoes, and says 'she's not coming home tonight until you give the ball back,' it's a little bit overblown," Mientkiewicz said. "My life was turned upside down for a good 21/2 years. It was not fun by any means. I didn't wear my World Series ring for nine months because it made me sick to my stomach."

Mientkiewicz said he was unfairly "blindsided by the media in Boston" and by Red Sox owner Larry Lucchino, who portrayed him as a villain for refusing to return the ball to the team, when in fact "he never asked for it for 18 months."

Despite being sued by the Red Sox at one point over ownership of the ball, Mientkiewicz loaned it to the team for its New England tour with the World Series trophy and in 2006 donated it to the baseball Hall of Fame.

"That's the hard part for me. I still get lambasted going back to Boston, and people still make jokes all the time and think I'm a jerk," Mientkiewicz said. "But they know nothing about the situation.

"My side will get told someday, but not when I'm playing. It will all come out in a book, I promise."

• NOTE -- 51s outfielder Travis Snider didn't start for Las Vegas and is expected to join the Blue Jays today. Toronto's top prospect, Snider was hitting .337 with 14 homers and 40 RBIs in 48 games and 17-game hit streak.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.