Muser

Manager Musings: I've been involved with professional baseball in one way or another for 38 years, and the standard for evaluating managers has been 40 games -- one-fourth of the way through the season. There are too many ebbs and flows. The Indians are a perfect example; they won 11 of 12 to start the season but lost 12 of 14 to close out April. If they had started the season 2-12, people would have called for manager Charlie Manuel's head.

This season, it's evident that the 40-game standard is changing, with Kansas City's Tony Muser the latest casualty. Counting Joe Kerrigan's preseason firing in Boston, five managers were canned before the 25-game mark (Detroit's Phil Garner was gone well before that, at 0-6). This is symbolic of our times. GMs and managers feel more pressure from owners to win now. And baseball is a business where you can't fire the non-management employees for underperforming.

The added pressure can be seen in how managers handle their pitching staffs early in the season. Legendary Orioles manager Early Weaver was a master at using April and May for getting his starters ready for June, July and the late-season pennant race. Today, managers of struggling teams often don't think about whether they'll have a bullpen left in August because they're afraid of losing their jobs now.

Angel Turnaround: In their first 20 games, the Anaheim Angels were as inept offensively as any team in baseball: last in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs, and nearly last in runs scored. In their first 20 games, they scored 73 runs (3.65 per game). In their last five games of April, the Angels scored 54 runs (10.8 per game). To some degree, this was predicable, because hitters eventually break out of slumps.

But what especially helped the Angels was a dose of Toronto Blue Jays pitching; the Jays have the 30th-ranked staff in the majors. So when Toronto visited Anaheim last weekend, the Angels' bats suddenly got better. The offensive surge continued with Anaheim's 21-2 rout of C.C. Sabathia and the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. In their first 20 games, the Angels played the Oakland Athletics seven times and the Seattle Mariners six times -- two of the AL's top staffs.

	Ishii

LA's Lefty Power: Kazuhisa Ishii (5-0, 3.03 ERA), Odalis Perez (3-1, 1.64) and Omar Daal (3-0, 1.25) were superb in April. Overall, the Dodgers' left-handed starters were 11-1. It's tough to tell at this stage if they can sustain that success. Ishii is young, and some have said that when he goes around the league a second time, hitters will catch up. But they said that about Hideo Nomo in '95, and hitters couldn't catch up with him the second or third time around. Still, with Ishii, it's a wait-and-see.

On the Horizon
Yankees-Mariners (three-game series in New York begins Friday)
For the Yankees, this series will conclude a 12-game stretch against the A's and M's (New York is 5-3 so far). It's no secret that Seattle and Oakland had the two best records in baseball last year, but neither could beat New York in the postseason. So both teams have their sights on the Yankees.

The three-game series in Seattle last weekend was well-played, and the M's got just one hit against Ted Lilly in the only game they won. So how much does this series really mean? Well, in 1988 the Mets beat the Dodgers 11 of 12 times in the regular season, but the Dodgers beat them in the playoffs. Thus, it's too early to tell.

Expos-Diamondbacks (three-game series in Arizona begins Friday)
Both teams have been surprising offensively thus far. In their recent history, the Expos have been among the last teams in the NL in several key offensive categories. But this year, with basically the same players, they lead the league in average, runs scored, OBP, OPS and runs scored. Without some key injured players, Arizona leads the NL in slugging and is second in OPS and runs scored (the Expos are second in slugging).

The bad news for the Expos is that they'll face both Curt Schilling (5-1, 3.07 ERA) and Randy Johnson (6-0, 1.37). Johnson missed his scheduled start Wednesday vs. the Mets due to a lower back strain. If he had pitched Wednesday, he wouldn't have pitched in the Expos series. On the plus side for Montreal, ace Javier Vazquez (1-1, 2.86 ERA) is slated to start Sunday (vs. Rick Helling).

If I Were the Skipper ...
The Situation: San Francisco manager Dusty Baker made Tsuyoshi Shinjo his leadoff hitter to start the season. But Shinjo, who has good speed, has struggled at the plate (.213 average, .262 OBP). Should Baker leave him at leadoff and let him work out of his slump or make a change?

	Shinjo

The problem is that the Giants haven't had a good leadoff hitter since Brett Butler in 1990. In Baker's decade-long tenure, the Giants haven't had a prototypical leadoff guy. Shinjo would fit the bill if he walked more and got on base, because he can run and he slaps the ball around. He's like Ichiro in that regard, but he's nowhere near the hitter Ichiro is. And Shinjo's on-base percentage is too low.

The bottom line is that Baker has no leadoff hitter. For the Giants, on-base percentage is more important than speed at leadoff. They want men on base for Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent to drive in -- and they don't really want first base open, since Bonds will almost always be walked intentionally if it is.

So whoever can manufacture the highest OBP should lead off for San Francisco. Maybe the Giants should borrow a page from their brethren across the Bay in Oakland. Jeremy Giambi doesn't have a stolen base yet, but he's getting on base (.437 OBP, .309 average). So the everyday player with the highest OBP (other than Bonds and Kent, of course) should lead off -- and that's third baseman David Bell (.352 OBP).

What Happened: Since the start of last Friday's series against the Reds, Baker has batted Bell in the leadoff spot (except for Monday, when it was center fielder Marvin Benard).

Ballpark Focus: Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium has always been friendly to L.A. pitchers. One reason might be the mound.

Major-league rules say the mound is supposed to be 10 inches, and the hill at Dodger Stadium probably is that high. But a prevailing perception has been that perhaps the home-plate and batter's-box area at Dodger Stadium has been lowered a couple of inches (to, in effect, "raise" the mound via a gradual slope down).

I do know that the career ERAs of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Don Sutton were at least one run lower at Dodger Stadium. Chan Ho Park, in his career, had an ERA nearly two runs lower at Dodger Stadium.

It also helps that there's plenty of foul territory behind the plate and along the base lines (probably the most next to Oakland). So out-of-play foul balls in other parks become outs in L.A.

Also, in April, May and June, moisture comes in from the ocean at night -- called a "marine layer" -- which makes the air heavy and keeps balls from traveling. The ball travels better, though, during the last three months of the season as the air gets warmer and drier.

Dave Campbell, who played eight seasons in the major leagues, works as an analyst for Baseball Tonight and ESPN Radio.