AMERICAN LEAGUE: INSIDE THE A.L.: SIERRA IS REUNITED WITH `LIAR' VIA TRADE.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

When Ruben Sierra's first stint with the New York Yankees ended badly, Sierra practically torched the Brooklyn Bridge on the way out of town, calling manager Joe Torre ``a liar.''

Apparently, the statute of limitations on bad-mouthing a potential boss runs out after six years.

On Friday, the Yankees reacquired Sierra for a minor leaguer in a move Torre admitted he ``had nothing to do with.'' But while Torre said he and Sierra supposedly smoothed things over in a spring-training meeting three years ago, it's still entertaining to examine this excerpt from Torre's 1997 book:

``As much as I tried to talk to him about the team concept of baseball, he just never did get it. Ruben has no clue what baseball is about. That was evident when he was ripping the Yankees and he said `all they care about is winning.' That told you all you need to know about Ruben Sierra.''

For his part, Sierra told reporters he's a different player now.

``This is a new Ruben,'' he said. ``I'm very happy to be here. I'm older. I'm just more mature. I understand what things mean. I learned from that. I'm happy to be with the Yankees.''

--Heat on A's: The Seattle Mariners won the first nine games of their current road trip, an accomplishment even more impressive given designated hitter Edgar Martinez was unavailable for three of the victories because the games were in a National League park.

The streak pushed their lead to seven games over Oakland and 10 1/2 over the Angels.

The first sign of worry over the Mariners running and hiding came from the Bay Area, where A's owner Steve Schott, in the wake of hitting coach Thad Bosley's firing, wondered whether his team could be more like, say, the 2002 Angels.

``We're not doing little things we need to do to score runs,'' Schott told the San Francisco Chronicle. ``Even if you've got a great pitching staff, you've still got to do the little things to get the runs across. You've got to play `little ball.'

--Thanks a lot: Boston general manager Theo Epstein thought he was being a stand-up guy when he insisted on delivering the news firsthand to third baseman Shea Hillenbrand that he'd been traded to Arizona. So Epstein hopped on a plane to Toronto, where the Red Sox were playing, to give it to Hillenbrand straight.

Trouble is, the trade for Byung-Hyun Kim was the worst-kept secret in baseball, and word had leaked out long before Epstein arrived in Toronto. ``I could care less what Theo did,'' Hillenbrand said. ``I would have been more appreciative if he had given me a phone call when he found out because I could have flown out that night.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com