They may have pulled all the Dodgers out of the stands in Wrigley Field
by now. But we haven't heard the last of the ramifications from one of
baseball's ugliest incidents in years.
Baseball officials are considering numerous responses to this mess. But
one of them is expected to be an attempt to lobby city officials in all
major-league locales to get tough on fans who get out of line.
"I'd rather not get into this in great detail right now," says
commissioner Bud Selig. "But I think it's fair to say that baseball can
continue, in any place our game is played, to talk to local authorities about
the need for more disciplinary action."
In fact, this effort already has begun. Baseball's executive director of
security management, Kevin Hallinan, was in Philadelphia last weekend to
oversee the John Rocker watch. And while nothing unsightly took place,
shortly after Hallinan left, the Phillies and the city of Philadelphia beefed
up penalties for unruly fans.
Fans running onto the field can now be charged with a misdemeanor and
sentenced to up to a year in prison. There are lesser penalties and fines for
other offenses, including the use of obscene language.
And there were indications baseball is talking to officials in other
cities about similar measures.
In the meantime, the Yankees ended beer sales in their bleachers. And you
can expect more of that in other ballparks, too.
"I'm very concerned," Selig says. "We've spent a lot of time on ballpark
security, because it's the essence of our sport. It's a family game. And we
can't have these kinds of things continue."
But Selig made it clear he doesn't put all the blame for the Wrigley
fiasco on the folks in the seats.
"We can't have players and coaches going into the stands," the commish said.
"Then you're just asking for trouble."
Hefty punishments are expected for Dodgers personnel -- particularly bullpen
coach Rick Dempsey, whose 15-game suspension last July for his role in a
Dodgers-Mariners brawl was the most assessed to any active coach and may
cause him to be disciplined as a second-time offender.
Amid increasing complaints that the favored new realignment plan will
eliminate the wild card in the National League, it's believed baseball is
again considering the effect of breaking the NL into two divisions of eight
teams each instead of four divisions of four teams each.
It's still unlikely that alignment would be adopted. But if it were, baseball
would have to decide whether the two NL wild-card teams would be the
second-place finisher in each league or the two non-division winners with the
next-best records.
Selig declined comment on realignment, other than to confirm that "we're
testing other possibilities."
Owners are scheduled to vote on realignment at their quarterly meeting
in mid-June, but that could change.
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List of the week
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It must be harder to save games than it used to, because the Rolaids people
report that through Thursday, seven different bullpens had more blown saves
than saves.
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|
Team
|
Saves
|
Blown
|
|
D-Rays
|
4
|
8
|
|
Twins
|
6
|
7
|
|
Orioles
|
6
|
10
|
|
Padres
|
6
|
8
|
|
Cubs
|
7
|
9
|
|
Rangers
|
7
|
8
|
|
Royals
|
8
|
9
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If you believe the baseball grapevine, the two managers in the most danger
of losing their jobs are Houston's Larry Dierker (although it might be more
appropriate to fire the people who designed Enron Field) and Tampa Bay's
Larry Rothschild (if always-unpredictable owner Vince Naimoli decides to look
for another scapegoat for the Devil Rays' disastrous start).
But how much of that Devil Rays mess is really Rothschild's fault? They
planned on having their veteran starters -- Wilson Alvarez, Juan Guzman and
Steve Trachsel -- take the heat off their promising young arms, Ryan Rupe and
Dan Wheeler. And now, of those five, only Trachsel is even on the active
big-league roster. Proven closer Roberto Hernandez has one save since April 6
and is now on the block. And then there's the offense.
"That club was put together to hit home runs, and they're not hitting
home runs," says one AL scout. "And if they don't hit home runs, they can't
score. That team is painful to watch right now."
Baseball people all over the map were also confused by the Devil Rays'
trade with the Cubs last week, which sent outfielder David Martinez to
Chicago for reliever Mark Guthrie.
"One of the strangest moves I've seen in a long time," says one NL
front-office man.
"There must be something else to that (i.e., cash considerations)," says
one scout. "Dave Martinez is a championship player. He may not start for a
championship team, but he'd be a great fourth outfielder on a team like
Cleveland or the Yankees. I can't understand that one."
Speaking of the Indians, it's hard to believe they won't make a trade for a
starting pitcher in the next few weeks, after losing Jaret Wright and
Charles Nagy on the same day this past week. None of their best minor-league arms
-- C.C. Sabathia, Danys Baez or Tim Drew -- is ready. And with Manny Ramirez's
free agency looming in the distance, they may have to take a now-or-never
approach. The best starter available right now is San Diego's Sterling
Hitchcock. But the Indians turned down an offer of Hitchcock for Russ Branyan
and Richie Sexson in spring training. The question is whether Hitchcock's 1-5
start has lowered his price tag.
There continues to be much speculation about whether Tigers general manager
Randy Smith is in trouble. Smith did get a two-year extension in spring
training, which means his contract now goes through 2003. But owner Mike
Illitch is impossible to read. For what it's worth, Smith did get the most
eloquently worded vote of confidence in recent memory from team president
John McHale.
"It's certainly not my view that this almost tragicomic failure of
performance is his responsibility," McHale said.
The only other team Rickey Henderson considered before signing with Seattle
was the Expos. But they didn't offer as much money in the 2001 option year as
Seattle ($3 million). And Rickey actually conducted interviews with the two
managers -- Lou Piniella and Felipe Alou. Then he chose Piniella because he'd
played for him before.
Rickey was able to successfully campaign for Willie Mays' old No. 24 as a
Met, but the Mariners balked at giving him Junior Griffey's No. 24 in
Seattle. So Henderson is wearing 35.
"Griffey did a lot here," Rickey said. "If they want to hang his number
up and smile, that's fine."
More potential candidates for that Olympic team: Willie McGee, Tom
Pagnozzi, Jimmy Key, Pat Kelly and Orestes Destrade (who hasn't played since
1994).
The details on Jim Edmonds' contract extension in St. Louis: $6 million in
2001; $7 million in 2002; $8 million in 2003; $9 million in 2004; $10 million
in 2005, $12 million in 2006. He has a $10-million option in 2007, with a $3
million buyout. And the $2-million signing bonus makes the total value,
before deferrals, $57 million.
The reeling Phillies are expected to call up Pat Burrell sometime this
week, once they've hit the road for a Houston-L.A.-San Francisco trip.
Selig responded to our recent column on maintaining separation between the
two leagues by saying: "I love the tradition of the leagues, and I think we
should maintain a certain distinction as much as possible. I don't think
we've made them indistinguishable with what we've done so far. ... And I
don't intend to blur the lines more than we need to."
And Mark McGwire says the young hitter who has most opened his eyes lately
is (surprise) Rick Ankiel.
"He's real exciting, the way he swings the bat," Big Mac says of the rookie
left-hander. "There was a picture lying around of Babe Ruth in his final
years, and I said, 'God, he looks just like Rick Ankiel.' Babe was a
left-handed pitcher, too, right? And he ended up as a pretty good hitter. I
think Ankiel would be a successful hitter, too, if he'd continued to hit.
Obviously, he doesn't get to work at it now as much as a hitter would. But if
he did, he'd be a very successful hitter."
And just remember, McGwire arrived at USC as a pitcher, not a hitter. So
he ought to know.
Useless Pedro-mation dept.
The amazing Pedro has allowed six runs all season.
He now has given up one earned run or none in 17 of his last 21 starts.
He has ripped off seven starts of 15 strikeouts or more since May 7, 1999
(31 starts in all).
He has made nine starts since last June in which he has rolled up at least
10 more strikeouts than hits.
And his six-strikeout game Wednesday in Toronto was his fewest in a start
since he left after five innings last Aug. 8, in his second start after
coming off the disabled list. Of course, he still gave up no runs.
Useless Unit dept.
The astounding Randy Johnson is on a pace (over 35 starts) to strike out 389
hitters -- which would be a post-1900 record.
If he keeps up his 289-inning pace, that would be more than any pitcher
since Bert Blyleven threw 293 in 1985 and the most in the National League
since Steve Carlton worked 295 2/3 in 1982.
The Unit has five complete games already. Only nine pitchers besides
himself had that many all last season.
Johnson already has seven starts of 11 strikeouts or more. All the other NL
starters combined have three (by the unlikely trio of Chan Ho Park, Pedro
Astacio and Chris Brock).
Johnson got to 100 strikeouts in only nine starts. On the way to their
respective league strikeout records, Sandy Koufax had just 86 strikeouts
after nine starts on the way to 382 in 1965, and Nolan Ryan had only 82 after
nine starts on the way to 383 in 1973.
That "crowd" of 11,898 that saw the Unit in Montreal on Tuesday was the
smallest he's pitched in front of since April 28, 1998 (11,630 in Kansas
City). That's 77 starts ago.
The East Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports there was an amazing irony to
Johnson losing his first game since Aug. 31 on a home run by Rondell White.
The Expos traded Johnson in 1989 to get Mark Langston from the Mariners. When
Langston bailed as a free agent, the Expos used the compensation pick to
select (yep) Rondell White.
Useless information dept.
Rickey Henderson now has changed teams nine times in a career that still
figures to lead him into the Hall of Fame. But he hasn't set a record (yet)
for team-switching by a Hall of Famer. The last legal spitballer, Burleigh
Grimes, also changed teams nine times. He was traded once for Casey Stengel
and another time for Hack Wilson. Of the 12 players Henderson has been traded
for over the years, only Stan Javier, Luis Polonia and Steve Karsay are still
in the big leagues.
That Mark McGwire 70-homer mark might not be the only home-run record in
danger. Jose Lima's 17 gopherballs by May 15 put him eight days ahead of Bert
Blyleven's historic 50-homer pace in 1986.
If Mike Mussina's 1-5 record looked like a misprint, it's because Mussina
hasn't even been two games under .500 at any point in any season since the
first month of his first season in the big leagues (1991).
In Mark McGwire's last two three-homer games, he hit the third homer of the
night off Phillies reliever Wayne Gomes. The Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's
David Vincent, reports that Gomes is only the third pitcher to give up any
hitter's third homer twice. The others: Steve Carlton, who allowed all six
homers in Johnny Bench's two three-homer games (July 26, 1970 and May 9,
1973), and Curt Simmons, who served up six homers in two games to Hank Sauer
(Aug. 28, 1950 and June 11, 1952).
While we're on the subject, here (courtesy of Vincent) are the seven other
men in history to have a pair of three-homer games in the same road park: Joe
Carter (Fenway), Carlos Delgado (Ballpark at Arlington), Cecil Fielder
(SkyDome), Lou Gehrig (Shibe Park), Dave Kingman (Dodger Stadium), Larry
Parrish (Fulton County Stadium) and Boog Powell (Washington's old Griffith
Stadium).
The Phillies were creating all sorts of home-run havoc last week. They
also allowed Chipper Jones to become the fourth man ever to switch-hit homers
from both sides of the plate twice in one year against the same team. The
others, according to Vincent: Ken Caminiti (back-to-back days vs. the Cubs in
'95), Chili Davis (vs. the Rangers in '94), Eddie Murray (back-to-back days
vs. the White Sox in '87).
How out of control is that Cardinals' offense? Andy Benes' home run Tuesday
meant that Cardinals' pitchers now have as many home runs (three) as the
Rockies' No. 3 hitters, the Diamondbacks' third basemen and the Giants' third
basemen. Then again, the Giants' and Phillies' first basemen have hit three
home runs combined.
Oh. And Benes also was the 17th Cardinal to homer already this year. Most
hitters to homer for any team in any year: 24, by the '63 Indians. The
Cardinals' team record is 20 (set in 1998).
Do the Astros' hitters have a bullseye on their back? Through May 18,
they'd been hit 32 times already -- 11 times by the Dodgers alone. Richard
Hidalgo was stalking Ron Hunt with 10 HBPs. And the Astros had been hit at
least once in 12 series in a row going into the weekend. Ouch.
The Tigers continue to do things that ought to be impossible. For the
second time this year, they hit five home runs in a game Tuesday -- and lost.
They also lost their only four-homer game. And they haven't had any
three-homer games. So they're 0-3 when they hit more than two homers in a
game. At the time, all the other teams were 135-43 when they did that.
The Tigers also lost Juan Gonzalez's first two-homer game this year. Last
year, for what it's worth, the Rangers went 5-0 in Gonzalez's multi-homer
games.
And the Tigers also went four weeks without coming to bat in any inning
with a lead of more than one run.
But of course, in the middle of all this futility, the Tigers swept the
Yankees last weekend. What else is new? Since the Yankees came to Tiger
Stadium on April 16, 1999, they're 121-69 against everyone else -- but only
4-8 against the Tigers. Detroit, on the other hand, is 71-106 against
everybody else.
Bizarre schedule of the week: The Diamondbacks just played back-to-back
series in San Diego and Montreal. Distance between those two series: 2,462
miles.
And also thanks to this goofy scheduling, Steve Trachsel will make his
seventh straight start on the road on Sunday.
Who's the most unbeatable pitcher in baseball? Pedro? Randy? No, it's Brian
Anderson. Since Aug. 23, 1998, the Diamondbacks left-hander is 15-3 (.833
winning percentage). Pedro is 33-8 (.805). The Big Unit is 30-10 (.750).
Don't look now, but Bernie Williams could soon sneak into second place on the
all-time list of grand slams by switch hitters. He hit his eighth last week.
Only Eddie Murray (19), Mickey Mantle (nine) and Ted Simmons (nine) hit more.
Other active switch-hitters with eight: Bobby Bonilla and Devon White. Seven
of Williams' slams have come left-handed, incidentally.
Those creative Devil Rays committed five errors in one game May 12 in
Toronto -- and won. Believe it or not, the Elias Sports Bureau reports that
they're the 19th team since 1990 to put five or more E's on the board in one
game and still win. It's not a great idea, though. Teams doing it are 19-87
(.179).
But the Devil Rays do lots of strange things. On the one hand, they were
hitting .297 against left-handed pitchers through Thursday. On the other,
they'd managed to lose 10 straight games started by a left-hander. How does that
happen?
Don't try anything crazy with Junior Griffey at the plate and runners in
scoring position, right? Tell it to the Reds. In the sixth inning Tuesday,
Griffey came up with Michael Tucker on third and Barry Larkin on first.
Tucker then stole home, so Griffey no longer had a runner in scoring
position. Uh, check that. Scott Sauerbeck balked Larkin to second, so Griffey did
have a runner in scoring position. And after all that, what happened? Junior
walked.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings will appear each Saturday. | |
ALSO SEE
Jayson Stark archive
Stark: Week in Review
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