NEW YORK — Baseball's drug-testing program was threatened when federal prosecutors seized player records and samples four years ago, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr said in letters to Congress released yesterday.

The seizure of the 2003 test results as part of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative drug investigation contributed to a delay in the start of testing in 2004, Selig and Fehr told Reps. Henry Waxman and Tom Davis, leaders of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The delay lasted until July. Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball's executive vice president for labor relation, had told drug investigator George Mitchell that the stoppage was for a "short period," a description that could become a matter of contention with the committee.

"Major League players faced the realistic prospect of criminal prosecution based on evidence from a drug test that they were promised would be anonymous," Selig wrote in his June 27 letter, which was hand-delivered to the committee. "The seizure undermined representations made to players that drug testing records generally would be confidential. ... It is no exaggeration to say that the seizure threatened the continued viability of the entire drug-testing program."

The legality of the government seizures remain in dispute. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco largely upheld the government's actions in January, reaffirming a decision it made in December 2006. But the entire 9th Circuit has been asked to rehear the case, which could wind up at the Supreme Court.

Baseball's 2003 testing was a survey without penalties. Because more than 5 percent of the samples were positive, testing with discipline was triggered to start the following year.

Testing in 2004 didn't start until July 8 — and not until Sept. 21 for the more than 100 players whose records were seized. The union insisted it didn't have time to tell players individually they had been targeted.

"Delaying the testing had the positive effect of keeping players at risk longer," Selig wrote. "The predictability created by the ever-shortening testing window was, therefore, inevitable."

ELSEWHERE

Dodgers: Infielder Nomar Garciaparra and outfielder Andruw Jones will come off the disabled list today and join the Dodgers in San Francisco. Garciaparra has been on the disabled list since April 26 with a strained left calf. Jones has been on the DL since May 25 with a right knee injury.

Mets: New York placed second baseman Luis Castillo on the 15-day-disabled list yesterday due to a strained hip flexor. Interim manager Jerry Manuel said Castillo was to undergo an MRI exam yesterday, adding "What part of the body, I don't know."

Red Sox: Reliever Mike Timlin returned from the disabled list yesterday, joining the Boston bullpen for the start of a four-game series against the New York Yankees. The 42-year-old righty went on the 15-day DL on June 21 because of tendinitis in his left knee.

White Sox: Slugger Paul Konerko hopes to come off the disabled list early next week after a rehabilitation assignment with Chicago's Triple-A Charlotte this weekend. Konerko strained his left oblique during batting practice on June 15 and landed on the disabled list for the first time in his career two days later.