 |
| Wednesday, May 1 Good news for Reds, Pirates: April matters By Jayson Stark ESPN.com |
||||||||||||||
|
They know exactly what they're supposed to say at times like this.
"It's April," said Jim Bowden, GM of a Reds team that emerged from the month of April with the best record in the National League (16-9).
"It's one month," said Dave Littlefield, GM of a Pirates team that just became the first club in history to rebound from a 100-loss disaster to win 14 games in April. "It's one month down, five to go."
But after one of the most surprising Aprils in years in the National League -- especially in the upside-down NL Central -- it's time to remind the world once again that April isn't necessarily the misleading, quasi-meaningless month it's often made out to be.
We'll acknowledge that April always brings us many goofy sights. We saw Preston Wilson play a baseball game with a ski cap on top of his baseball cap. We saw Omar Vizquel hit as many April homers as Gary Sheffield. We saw Josh Fogg win as many games as Javier Vazquez, Ryan Dempster, Robert Person, Darryl Kile, Wade Miller, Kevin Brown, Chris Carpenter, Joe Mays and Chan Ho Park combined.
If any of that is still the case in July, it's time to televise the World Series on Comedy Central. But April still matters. It always matters.
It isn't going to make the Cubs, Phillies, Astros or Cardinals happy to hear this. But we've looked back at every April since 1982, the year after the 1981 strike. And after you digest all these facts of April life, see if you still think you can toss those standings in the nearest compactor:
So April matters. The facts don't lie. And before 12 teams try to latch onto the 2001 A's for inspiration, remember that those A's are the only team in modern history to get 10 games under .500 at any point and then thunder back to win 100 games.
"There are some definite trends," said Bowden. "But there are also exceptions -- on both sides. Atlanta has had some bad Aprils and come back to make the playoffs. And look at us last April. We were four or five games over (14-10 to be exact). We were in first place. Then everyone got hurt."
The historians, obviously, can't forecast which teams will stay healthy and which teams will spend more time around the E.R. than Noah Wylie. But we do know that the difference between this Reds team entering May and the team that was about to go 6-22 last May is that they're expecting players to start coming back, not going down.
Junior Griffey (knee) ought to return in mid-May. Pitchers Lance Davis (shoulder), Brian Bohanon (elbow) and Jose Silva (elbow) all could be back before Memorial Day. So Bowden can honestly say, "I don't think there's any question we have a lot of positive things ahead."
The Little Red Machine
"But I guess," he said, "there's more to the story."
But that doesn't mean the Reds ought to put those playoff tickets on sale quite yet, either, because as well as their rotation has pitched so far (9-8, 3.75), it still has more questions than Regis Philbin.
"Their staff is full of fifth starters," says one NL scout. "Or maybe one or two 'fours.' ... They're doing it with mirrors so far."
The entire Reds' rotation makes less money (just under $3.6 million) than Steve Parris. So Bowden is the first to say: "Our key in May is the same as our key in April -- starting pitching. So far, they've done well. We'll see."
Rare sight: Pirates win in April
"You look at our numbers, and they don't add up," said Littlefield. "But we've done one thing: We've won the close games (8-1 in one-run games, 9-1 in games decided by two runs or fewer).
"But that's one thing (manager) Lloyd (McClendon) and I have talked about. We lost 100 games last year. So we're trying to win every game that's winnable. "We know there are days it won't work, days we go into the fourth inning, down 7-1. But our approach, when we're up 3-2 in the sixth, is to go for it. If we have to match up with six different pitchers, what the hell. Let's try and get it done, even if we have to bring in everyone but the kitchen sink."
So the Pirates have played a bunch of nutty games like the one McClendon managed last Thursday -- in which he used seven pitchers to get the last 10 outs of a win against the Dodgers. Next up, undoubtedly, might have been that kitchen sink.
But like the Reds, the Pirates' bullpen has been so good so far (10 for 10 in saves, 2.70 ERA) that they've won every game they've led at any point after the sixth inning. And that made the strong start, despite funky offensive numbers and a rotation that started the season with fewer career wins (58) than Jose Lima.
Not all of this has been by design, of course. But Littlefield did his best this offseason to improve his defense -- particularly with the signing of Pokey Reese -- and upgrade his pitching depth, particulary with the trade with the White Sox that brought in Fogg, Kip Wells and Sean Lowe for Todd Ritchie. And the re-signing of closer Mike Williams, a few months after Littlefield dealt him to Houston at the trade deadline, stabilized the bullpen pecking order.
So good things have happened, even though it's hard to find anyone outside the Pirates' clubhouse who thinks they have enough starting pitching or enough offensive thunder to be a playoff team.
"At a certain point, you have to step back and use your baseball experience and realize we probably won't play at this level all year," Littlefield admitted. "But you also have to look at our history. We haven't even gotten to .500 in nine years. And that's not good -- .500. One up, one down, two up, two down. That's a lousy year. But for where we're at, you've got to walk before you run.
"So believe me, we're glad we won 14 games. We also acknowledge we've got a long way to go. But it's a positive month. And at this point, we'll take that."
Especially when there's so much history to tell us that a negative month, when that month is April, is very often a sentence from which there is no parole. Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com. |
| |||||||||||||
