Noooooo!

Sheffield? Not Gary Sheffield! Not the guy whose drug provider has pled guilty to providing illegal drugs! Impossible.

Yankees slugger Gary Sheffield injected testosterone and human growth hormone in January 2002, according to the latest revelations in ''Game of Shadows," a book written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters.

Excerpts from the book appeared earlier this month in Sports Illustrated, giving graphic detail of Barry Bonds's alleged use of a vast array of performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone. The book by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams is scheduled for release today.

Sheffield, who in 2003 reportedly admitted to a federal grand jury to unknowingly having used a steroid cream, also sought to maintain a relationship with Bonds's trainer Greg Anderson after Bonds and Sheffield had a falling out in 2002, according to the book's authors. Anderson was among four convicted in the BALCO steroid distribution scandal.

Yesterday in Tampa, Sheffield denied using the drugs mentioned in the book.

''What can I do? I'm not going to defend myself my whole life," he said. ''It doesn't matter to me. I don't have anything to say. No need to. It is what it is."