Sept. 21

There have been many a bizarre twist to this Mets season, from Mike Piazza having to explain his sexuality to Mark Corey's seizure to the last place dawdlings of a $105 million team to Keith Hernandez's rhapsody on a rant to, finally, this.

That so much was made out of a picture of Grant Roberts smoking marijuana from a bong four years ago in the off-season, a picture that was apparently part of a failed extortion attempt, is a muddy end to a 162-game march across the Russian Front. Never mind that the alleged extortion has never been substantiated.

All that is bad enough. The broader story and issue of drug use by 20-25 percent of Mets players was evidently encouraged, or at least not discouraged, by Bobby Valentine, whose behavior at the team press conference Friday was, in turn, another shade of bizarre. Valentine essentially admitted that he had contributed as source to the story and also admitted that he may have misled reporters about exactly what he said to Phillips and Roberts.

Fred Wilpon, who is footing the bill for this disappointing team, while taking on a mountain of debt service by buying out Nelson Doubleday, has tried to deflect the blame for the disappointments from either Steve Phillips or Valentine. He, more than anyone, knows that theirs is not a warm, fuzzy or sometimes even respectful relationship, and has publicly accepted his share of the responsibility for the misery.

But when the manager essentially charged that he told the general manager about concerns about off-field behavior and that his concerns were ignored, then the line has been crossed. Wilpon cannot continue allowing fractured leadership. If he believes that Valentine is right and blames Phillips, then he has to give Valentine his way and fire Phillips. If he finds no proof of Phillips' lackadaisical command, and much of the article's claims about the minor league life wreak of the hollow whines of those who couldn't play, then Valentine has to be allowed to move on to another managerial job, which he will find.

If you are a player, you know Roberts was left out to dry by his manager. There are many who see this is a way to deflect responsibility for the team's malaise away from Valentine onto "drug problems," and wonder if he suspected widespread drug use that he didn't urgently take it upstairs, and if he didn't know about it what he knows about his players, in toto. That a rookie pitcher smoked marijuana at an off-season party four years ago doesn't distance Phillips or Valentine from what has happened. It isn't the reason this team didn't win one game at home in the entire month of August. Roberts has been embarrassed, disgraced and damaged, all for others' agenda, and Wilpon has to decide how this could happen before all his players come to believe that if the team does not succeed, anyone can be offered as human sacrifice. Firing someone isn't something the Wilpon family likes to do, but this can't go on. It won't matter if Jeromy Burnitz hits 35 homers and Mo Vaughn comes back next season, because as long as the players are the in the middle of the Upstairs, Downstairs border war, they are not going to win again.

Not after this. Drugs, Extortion, Accessories to Extortion. This is a deeper embarrassment than any winless August.

New plateau

When the season ends next Sunday, eleven teams likely will have won 90 games, which tells you that that plateau ain't what it used to be and may say more about the dozen teams that are more than 12-games under .500. The Expos crept two games over .500 by beating the Mets in Shea Friday night and the White Sox have fought their way back to .500, but in the final days, if both teams do fall below .500, then there will be 12-winning teams, 18-losing teams, 11 90-game winners, as many as nine 90-game losers, as many as four 100-game losers and a dozen teams at least a dozen games under .500.

That's what they mean by competitive imbalance.

A-Plus in Oakland

The Alex Rodriguez Last Place MVP argument has become tedious. But watching 70 percent of the Oakland games the last six weeks, thanks to the MLB package, I have come to the conclusion that Miguel Tejada is a far, far better shortstop than I ever realized. Oh, the arm is unquestionably the best of any star at his position; I'd heard the stories about minor league first basemen wearing two batting gloves under their fielding gloves. But his range (please, range factor me no range factors, for, as much as I love Sabermetrics, one cannot judge defense without one's eyes) is in a class of its own among American League shortstops, and while he has made 19 errors, as the season has progressed, he has become a consistent rock with games on the line. Tuesday night, in a scoreless game, after he waved at three Jarod Washburn pitches in the dirt, he went to the field and made a remarkable play on a short hop in the hole going into leftfield and threw out the runner preventing the go-ahead run.

Tejada accepted the responsibility of stepping into Jason Giambi's three hole in the batting order. He has had one walkoff moment after another. He is the one player around whom Art Howe can write his lineup every day, as he hasn't missed a game since May 31, 2000. He is a great player on the rise. Whether or not the A's can sign him when he is eligible for free agency after 2003, which they thought possible, but now worry amid rumors that Scott Boras is getting the inside track on representing him, will be far more important than retaining Giambi because age, position and defense. If they could ever keep Tejada and Eric Chavez together?

Chavez actually has a higher OPS than Tejada, and while you probably realize that they are the only left side of the infield to both hit 30 homers in a season (which they've now done twice), you probably don't know that Chavez's .505 career slugging percentage entering Saturday's games is third all time at the position after Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews. There is no AL third baseman who can even sniff his range and athleticism. Oh yes. He is 24.

The primary reason the A's will have won nearly 300 games in three years is The Three, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito; Oakland is the first team since the turn of the century to have three different 20-game winners in three successive seasons, all of whom were under 25. But they do have two legitimate stars on the left side of the infield, both younger than any Boston regular. And one could argue that Billy Koch could get votes in the top ten for MVP for what he's done. Koch is the first reliever with 40 saves and 10 wins in the same season. This week, when the A's won three out of four from Anaheim, Koch pitched five days in a row, and while he does get hit occasionally, his versatility compared to other closers was defined in a tie game in the ninth. The Angels couldn't use Troy Percival for more than an inning and couldn't waste him in a tie, while Koch could go three innings and was in there to get the win.

Road to the World Series
Everyone this side of the Siberian Straits knows that the road to the World Series runs through Yankee Stadium, rightly so. But what's interesting is that the A's and Angels both believe they can beat New York. Granted, good pitching can make the A's seem like about a five-man offense, but Hudson, Mulder and Zito have all won playoff games in The Stadium, and right now Hudson and Mulder are throwing better than at any point all season. Hudson is hitting 96 mph, Mulder 94 with what amounts to seven pitches. The Angels never consider losing, and have the best regular season record in The Stadium of any AL team over the last four years. Not only that, but Washburn and Ramon Ortiz (nine straight wins) are pitching out of their minds.

As for the Twins, any games on their turf are dangerous, and Rick Reed, Joe Mays and Brad Radke have pitched the way they thought they'd pitch at precisely the right time. Oh, their .315 on-base percentage against lefthanders is troublesome if they face Oakland or even the Andy Pettitte/David Wells duo, but if they get into bullpen games, Ron Gardenhire's troika of Johan Santana, J.C. Romero and Everyday Eddie Guardardo is unparalleled. But once again, the Yankees had no one to challenge them come Labor Day, and come October, until and if their starters prove to be as inconsistent as they've been most of the season, their defense cracks and strikeouts hurt (no team with that many strikeouts has ever won a World Series, and the last team to lead the league and win the series was the '84 Tigers). They are the team to beat. What makes it more interesting this time around is that the kids from the best division in baseball don't buy it.

Money matters

Murray Chass of the New York Times last weekend noted that Carl Pohlad was bitterly disappointed that contraction is off the table and that he cannot collect a buyout from Major League Baseball to fold the Twins. In a related story, the new issue of Forbes Magazine lists Pohlad as the 88th wealthiest person in the United States at an approximate worth of $2 billion. According to Forbes, Pohlad reaped $1 billion selling assets to Wells-Fargo this year and the owner of the money-losing Minnesota Twins, wants taxpayers to pay for a new stadium. And there's constant talk that even after their tremendous season that the club will have to let some arbitration eligible (Doug Mientkiewicz, Jacque Jones) or contracted (Eric Milton, Everyday Eddie Guardardo) go to keep the payroll down, per order of Mr. Pohlad.

	Forbes Baseball List
	Rupert Murdoch (Dodgers)	$5.0 billion, 28th
	Carl Pohlad (Twins)	$2 billion, 88th
	Drayton McLane (Astros)	$1.1 billion, 188th
	John Moores (Padres)	$740 million, 329th
	Tom Hicks (Rangers)	$725 million, 332nd
	Carl Lindner (Reds)	$675 million, 350th
	Tom Werner (Red Sox)	$600 million, 368th
	Mike Ilitch (Tigers)	$575 million, 381st

Fans in Cincinnati might take note of Lindner, who refused to allow any additional payroll even though the Reds were in contention at the trading deadline. As for Ilitch, remember, at one point during the season there was speculation raised by Bud Selig about the Tigers' ability to meet payroll. Moores, Hicks, Pohlad and McLane were four of the hardest of the hard liners in labor negotiations, all in favor of a work stoppage.

The Firing season

• While longterm doesn't seem to apply to most of the interim managers like Luis Pujols and Bruce Kimm, it seems increasingly possible that Joel Skinner will retain the Indians job, with Buffalo manager Eric Wedge and Anaheim's esteemed pitching coach Bud Black the other contenders. Skinner has made a considerable impression walking the thin line between getting veterans like Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel and Ellis Burks to buy into the rebounding while breaking in young players with a thicket of 38 players dressed in these final days. This week in Boston, after Brandon Phillips made a sensational rolling stop and blind throw to shortstop John McDonald, Phillips put some mustard on another play and Skinner handled it firmly, but quietly. As for Phillips, his talent is immense, and one Indian minor league instruction maintains that he's one of those players who has fun playing the game, and it is that sort of player who usually excels on the big stages.

• Some in Detroit think Dave Dombrowski could look to Toledo's Bruce Fields as the Tigers' next manager. Fields is a Detroit guy.

• There are reports in Baltimore that Syd Thrift may move up and turn over the GM duties to Ed Kenney, Jr., one of baseball's really good people. Kenney, who had succeeded his father as farm director in Boston, had left during the Dan Duquette days to move up with the Orioles.

• If Vince Naimoli is throwing out no comments on the status of Hal McRae, then it doesn't look good for the Rays manager. Chuck LaMarr is secure. "Chuck has a clause in his contract that stipulates that he gets a bonus every year they win 70 games," says one NL GM. "Now, most of us get fired if our club wins 70 games. Chuck hasn't gotten that bonus yet." Me thinks it was meant as a good-natured dig.

• Peter McGowan remains optimistic that he can re-sign all of his three big free agents, Brian Sabean, Dusty Baker, Jeff Kent. The Kent problem is market. There are a couple of teams like the Phillies that are interested in Kent as a first baseman, but why should he play first right now? He's three more good seasons from knocking on the Cooperstown doors, 35 or not. Kent is 50 homers from Rogers Hornsby's second base home run record, three more good seasons from being fourth in RBI, he is second in slugging, third in OPS for the position. Colorado could get into the bidding should the Rockies be able to dump one or two other contracts, so could the Dodgers if they could move contracts, maybe even a team like the White Sox if there were a change of faith. But where does that lead? "Not many teams have money to spend this winter," says one NL GM. "To freeze will be the operative verb this off-season."

The long winter ahead

The Cardinals have initiated negotiations with agents Seth and Sam Levinson to try to sign Scott Rolen, but Rolen didn't want to get involved until they clinched, which they did Friday night. Something could happen quickly. Red Sox GM Mike Port approached the Levinsons about beginning negotiations on Clifford Floyd, but Floyd wants to wait until the season is over.

In Pittsburgh, fans rail that Jason Kendall got all the money that required dumping Tony Womack, and Womack, who has three errors since July 16 and increased his bunt hits from two to 14, has five homers and 56 RBI for the season, Kendall three and 43. True, but whatever happened to Kendall after the injury, no one can ever accuse him of not trying. And Pirate fans should marvel at Mikie Williams. There are only two closers with more saves, but there are 53 with more blown save opportunities.

Scouts advancing the post-season for other playoff teams will discover that their teams have to buy the scouts tickets so the money can be put into the players' pool. Just so you know who's boss.

When Matt Lawton finally had surgery on his shoulder, it was discovered that he had a torn cuff, frayed labrum and a cyst on his clavicle, so severe that if he had tried to rehab, he could not have made it back. As it is, Lawton may not make it back 100 percent in time for the start of the season, but if anyone doubted his performance, the doctors say they have no idea how he played this season, at all.

The Dodgers' just wore down this week, going from pitchers' hell in Colorado into the Giants series, only to have Omar Daal get but five outs(last three starts: 10 IP, 21 H, 14 R) the night before Kevin Beirne was to start. "We really got to the point where the bullpen was exhausted," says Jim Tracy, who used Eric Gagne for 69 pitches in two games, then had to warm him up the third night. The Ishii injury was a crushing blow, especially with Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort unable to return. They have had to pay Brown $30 million the last two years, for 179 innings, a 13-8, 3.41 record. "Part of our reasoning in shutting him down now is that we've got him under contract for three more years and we have to protect that investment," said one Dodger official, and while they cannot collect insurance for his back, they are totally uninsured the final year. There are few greater warriors and pitchers than Kevin Brown and they gave him the contract, but it makes one wonder why anyone would give a pitcher past the age of 32 anything longer than three years. Eric Karros has a vesting option for 2004 for 500 plate appearances in 2003. With all due respect to someone who tries, Karros is not likely to get 500 plate appearances. But there are those who think he could move up as Vin Scully's eventual replacement, not that any human being could replace that baseball poet?

This is the way one baseball man rates three of the game's prized third basemen: 1. Mark Teixeira, 2. Sean Burroughs, 3. Hank Blalock. "The way Teixeira stays inside the ball and drives it from both sides of the plate makes him one of the best young hitters in the game," says the scout. "He's got a superstar ceiling, and a superstar approach."

The Cubs have not signed their no. 1 pick, Rutgers RHP Bobby Brownlie, but Brownlie did not return to school. He is sitting out a semester, then plans to enroll for the spring, if he isn't signed. This is not an academic retreat, it's a Scott Boras ploy for a few more bucks, which keeps Brownlie from pitching in the Arizona Fall League.

The Indians now are trying to get Stanford RHP Jeremy Guthrie done. Guthrie is 23 and has already done a retreat, so what Boras does here is anyone's guess.

What scouts and opposing managers love about Josh Phelps is the way the Toronto rookie hits balls to right-center that carry and carry and carry.

Agent Jeff Moorad will send teams interested in Robert Person videotape of his operation, video of his workout rehab in Tempe with Mark Verstagen then invitations to throwing sessions in Arizona. Person is convinced that his arm was the reason he couldn't keep the ball down this past season.

Cubs Jim Hendry has no problem with some of the criticisms Kerry Wood has leveled at teammates. "Kerry wants to win, he hates to lose and he's got the guts to express himself," says Hendry. "I'm right with him." As for Sammy Sosa, Hendry says, "Don't worry, Sammy's not going anywhere."

Domborowski has a difficult chore in front of him. Carlos Pena and Eric Munson have been encouraging, but they are both first basemen, and there's the matter of the Dimitri Young contract. In fact, Dombrowski has to figure out what to do with all his guaranteed contracts that he'd like to move: Bobby Higginson ($11.8 million, $8.8 million, $8.8 million), Dean Palmer, Damion Easley, Steve Sparks, Matt Anderson, Shane Halter, Craig Paquette. Robert Fick is likely tradeable. But there is some promise, for RHP Jeremy Bonderson, acquired in the three-way deal from Oakland. Bonderson has convinced scouts from several organizations that down the road he's going to be a No. 1 starter. The Tigers are also going to move in the fences in left field. Jacques Jones this week became the first lefthanded batter this season to hit an opposite field homer there all season.

Gold gloves

When it comes to Gold Gloves, there appear to be a few major arguments:
AL first base: Doug Mientkiewicz likely will win out over Scott Spiezio, Pena and John Olerud.
NL first base: A number of managers and coaches would take Florida's Derrek Lee over J.T. Snow.
NL catcher: Brad Ausmus slightly over Mike Matheny
AL shortstop: Omar Vizquel probably wins by a nose over Mike Bordick, Tejada and Alex Rodriguez.
AL third base: Eric Chavez's athleticism and range over Cory Koskie.

Bret Boone (2b), Torii Hunter, Mike Cameron, Ichiro Suzuki and Dan Wilson round out the AL club. Fernando Vina (2B), Scott Rolen (3B), Edgar Renteria (SS), Andruw Jones, Mark Kotsay and Jim Edmunds round out the NL club.

And you wonder why the Cardinals and Mariners win so many games?

News and Notes

• Life in Boston the last month got so disillusioned that Nomar Garciaparra got turned against in some areas of the media. Hey, Red Sox Nation may incant their "seven allstars" mantra, but they were seven allstars based on a 40-17 start. It's not a 57 game season, and the fact is that they are not as good as the Yankees, A's or Angels, and don't belong in the playoffs. Period.

• If you're wondering what Willy Mo Pena is doing in the big leagues after a disappointing AA season in which he had a 36-to-156 walk-to-strikeout ratio, his original Yankee deal stipulates that he must be in the big leagues next season. "We're going to send him to Arizona, then winter ball, and try to get him as many at-bats out of season as we can," says Jim Bowden. "He could be Sammy Sosa, and we can't risk losing him."

• Jim Tracy on Bonds: "I've never seen another player who changes the way everyone does his business the way Barry does. Aurilia and Kent have to get pitches, because our pitchers are so worried about Bonds. Whoever hits behind Barry always comes up with runners on base. He completely controls a game like no one I've ever seen. Tracy's rules: Walk him with one or two outs (once with two out and the bases empty in the ninth), but not with none out.

• There has been a lot of speculation that the Yankees will go hard after Tokyo Giants slugger Hidecki Matsui. But some in Japan feel he will wait a year before coming. The Matsui several teams are watching is Kazuo, the speedy shortstop of the Seibu Lions. "I think the shortstop Matsui will be the better player here," says one AL official who knows Japan. "His game is line drives and his legs. Hidecki might have trouble with our parks. And it don't be easy to get the Giants to let him go, either".

• There is no greater baseball tool than Lee Sinins' Baseball Sabermetric Encyclopedia. Get thee to Baseball Immortals and order the disc, haste post haste.

• If you thought the Twins .315 on base percentage against lefties was bad, consider the worth of having lefthanded starters. The Mets, Royals, Tigers, Orioles and Devil Rays all have on base percentages below .300 against them.

• John Lackey is going to be a big winner for Anaheim. "He's one of the only pitchers who throws a four seam cutter," says one scout. "But unlike Mariano Rivera, he throws it to both sides of the plate (lefties do hit 100 points lower against Lackey). When you throw that four seam cutter, the hitter has nothing to read. He's going to be really good."

• Kenny Mayne probably noticed that these Brewers lost more games than his Seattle Pilots.