Throat Cancer

Lenny Dykstra without an achy back? Unlikely, but possible. The Dude without a huge chaw of tobacco in his cheek? As unthinkable as the Liberty Bell without its crack. If Phillies righthander Curt Schilling is to be believed, however, Dykstra will take the field sans his trademark wad of Red Man when he comes off the 15-day disabled list - he's eligible Tuesday in Chicago. Baseball's most familiar tobacco-chewer apparently has been scared straight by the throat cancer that has sidelined Los Angeles Dodgers centerfielder Brett Butler, who had not used smokeless tobacco in more than a decade.

If you don't believe Brett Butler's throat cancer threw the fear of God into ballplayers, consider this one astonishing fact: Lenny Dykstra has quit using tobacco. The Phillies centerfielder, the jaw-bulging epitome of the spitting, tobacco-chomping ballplayer, gave it up during the Phillies' recent West Coast trip after learning that Butler, another tobacco-user, was suffering from throat cancer. "Lenny hasn't had a chew since we were in Los Angeles," said Curt Schilling during a pregame news conference with Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.

Fred Claire, the Dodgers' general manager, scoffed at rumors that he is trying to make a trade since centerfielder and leadoff hitter Brett Butler was discovered to have throat cancer. He emphatically denied that he's interested in Lenny Dykstra - or anybody else, for that matter. "If anybody in this world thinks I'm going to go out and get an outfielder, they're wrong," he said. "I have not made one call, nor do I have any interest in making a call. "We have no single area with greater young talent than the outfield.

Desperate for some offense, Phillies manager Jim Fregosi said last night he would play Pete Incaviglia in left field "for a few days to see if he can give us some pop. " And, last night, Inky did. Batting cleanup in a revamped lineup, he broke up Osvaldo Fernandez's no-hit bid with a two-out solo home run in the fourth, and he added a two-run single in the fifth. Incaviglia entered the game with five homers - and 22 strikeouts - in just 62 at-bats. "I know he'll strike out some, but we need someone who can drive in runs because we're not getting any offense," Fregosi said.

David Cone, the New York Yankees pitcher hospitalized with an aneurysm in his right shoulder, is likely to be sidelined for at least a month and possibly for the season. Cone, one of baseball's most consistent and durable pitchers, remained in Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center yesterday for more tests on the small aneurysm found a day earlier. The Yankees have not confirmed if the righthander, 33, will have surgery despite reports saying he will be operated on immediately.

Los Angeles Dodgers centerfielder Brett Butler, who last year lost his mother to brain cancer, revealed yesterday that he has throat cancer and probably will not play again. While undergoing a tonsillectomy last week in Atlanta, his hometown, a tumor the size of a plum was found in Butler's throat. A CAT scan yesterday revealed squamous cell carcinoma, and doctors will perform surgery May 21 to remove cancerous lymph nodes from the right side of Butler's neck. Butler, 38, was given a 70 percent chance of recovery and will undergo six weeks of radiation treatment.

Dodgers centerfielder Brett Butler has throat cancer and will miss the rest of the season, the club said yesterday. Butler, 38, had a tonsillectomy last week, and doctors found a tumor the size of a plum. A CAT scan yesterday determined that he had throat cancer. He will have surgery on May 21 to remove lymph nodes, and also will have radiation therapy. The survival rate for his type of cancer is 70 percent, doctors said. "My goal was always to play major-league baseball," Butler said in a statement.

You hear them long before you see them, the six pilgrims of Brian Friel's Wonderful Tennessee. "Happy days are here again," they sing, making up in gusto what they lack in cohesiveness. They're accompanied by the wheezing swells of an accordion, that much-maligned agent of sentimental yearning, that lubricator of memory and desire. The scene is a finger of Irish land jutting into the sea near Ballybeg, County Donegal. A seawall stretches the length of the stage. Behind it, an irregular crag with steep steps carved in its side pierces the sky; behind the crag, the sea reaches to infinity.

We were reminded just how perversely trade, health and culture can interact upon reading the news from Shanghai this week that Chinese men and women who regularly drink green tea have far less throat cancer. Up to 60 percent less, in fact. (Talk about low-tech medicine.) The fuller truth, of course, is that the Chinese are not faring as well in terms of certain other cancers. While they drink a lot of green tea, they also smoke like fiends, a habit that is pushed on them by their government, which runs state cigarette enterprises, and increasingly by ours, which has been looking to Asia as a monster tobacco export market.

Sean Connery, one of the hunkiest of the over-50 set, confirmed months of London press reports when he revealed on a British TV show Monday that he's being treated for throat cancer. The movie star said he's just completed six weeks of radiation therapy, "and I am fine. " His battle caused him to miss the U.S. premiere of his latest movie, Rising Sun, last summer. Connery, 63, said the treatments weren't as bad as he expected. "I was very fortunate," he said. "I didn't get any of the sleeplessness or depressions.