Rarely in baseball history has one rain storm caused so much chaos.
Because of that rain storm, the Cleveland Indians have had their arms
seriously twisted by the powers that be to play a day-night, two-opponent
doubleheader Sept. 25.
Because of that rain storm, the playoff plans of as many as six teams
could be up in the air.
Because of that rain storm, even the Florida Marlins could wind up taking
an unforeseen 900-mile road trip to finish their season.
These are just some of the messes created by last Sunday's rainout of an
Indians-White Sox game in Cleveland.
The original plan was to make up that game if needed the day after the
season. That's the normal procedure for late-season rainouts for teams with
no common off days. And that's what the Indians told one and all they
strongly preferred.
But here's why the commissioner's office and the players' union decided that
was a bad, bad plan:
"If we could be guaranteed that that game would be the final game to
conclude the playoff picture, that would be one thing," said Gene Orza, the
union's associate general counsel. "But there's the possibility that that
game itself could represent the possible creation of a tie for playoff
eligibility. If that happens, then the entire playoff schedule gets screwed
up. And that is a cost that is really big."
How could the entire playoff schedule get screwed up by just this one
game? Here's how:
Suppose the Indians are a half-game ahead or behind for the final wild-card
spot going into that game. If the game were to be played the Monday after the
season, it could force the Indians to play Monday in Cleveland, then head for
someplace as distant as Oakland or Seattle to play a wild-card tie-breaker
game the next day, then U-turn and head all the way back to New York to start
the American League division series the next day.
Then suppose after that game was played, there was a three-way tie for the
wild-card spot. If the Indians were to wait until the day after the season to
play this makeup game, a three-way tie would result in a round robin that
would take two more days to play off. That could mean a possibility of the
Indians playing games in Cleveland on Monday, Oakland or Seattle on Tuesday,
Boston on Wednesday and New York on Thursday.
But there are still more complications. The White Sox and Yankees are in a
tight battle for the best record in the American League. And the winner of
that distinction gets home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. If
that race were still up in the air and the White Sox had to play the Indians
on Monday and the wild-card picture was muddled beyond that, it's possible no
team in the American League would know its playoff opponent until all ties
were broken.
And even if the White Sox are totally unaffected by the results of that
game, their life still would be complicated by it. They would be scheduled to
start their own playoff series the next day. "So do they risk injuries by
playing all their starters in that game?" Orza wondered. "Or do they play
less than their best team and run the risk of a team like Oakland saying
that's not fair?"
So where, finally, do the Marlins come in? They had a game rained out
against the Yankees in New York in July. Should the Yankees finish the
regular schedule with their best-record race with the White Sox unresolved,
MLB has kicked around the possibility of forcing the Yankees to make up that
game with Florida the day after the season, too. (But that appears unlikely.)
So to sum this up, you have the potential for ties for the AL West, AL wild
card and AL best record -- every one of which could be affected by this one
game. Got all that?
But Indians GM John Hart says: "A lot has to happen for all those
scenarios to be affected. I think it's unlikely. We understand it could
happen. But obviously, from our standpoint, it's not in our best interests to
end up playing two split doubleheaders (in Boston) and then, three days
later, come back to play another one."
Orza says he understands the Indians' reasons for objecting to that Sept.
25 doubleheader -- but probably not enough to acquiesce to them.
"I have some sympathy for Cleveland," Orza said. "They're already playing
so many other split doubleheaders, it makes sense that they wouldn't want to
play another one.
"But one problem we have with this is that no team has asked us to approve
more split doubleheaders than Cleveland. I've probably given Cleveland
permission to play more split doubleheaders than all the other teams combined
in the history of baseball. ... In fact, a case could be made that I've
made more money for the Cleveland Indians than Roberto Alomar. So for that
team to start saying now that it doesn't want a split doubleheader, it does
have a certain irony about it."
Normally, though, the union and MLB yield to the wishes of the teams in
cases such as this. The reason that won't happen this time is this:
Both AL playoff series are scheduled to start Tuesday, Oct. 3. Three
networks -- ESPN, FOX and NBC -- have juggled schedules and paid big bucks to
televise those series. So it gets difficult to tell them they'll have to hold
off a day or two just because it would inconvenience the Indians.
"They're entitled to say that," Orza said. "But they have to remember
that the inconvenience is caused by playing those split doubleheaders against
Boston. And the reason for those split doubleheaders in Boston is because of
Cleveland (and the Indians' role in pioneering the now-popular concept of the
split doubleheader). So you could certainly respond by saying that Cleveland
has no right to ever object to any split doubleheader."
The upshot of all this is that that unique doubleheader on Sept. 25 is going
to happen. And while that might not be good for the Indians' worn-out
pitching staff, it is better for the rest of the sport.
And this is one battle the rest of the sport is going to win.
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List of the week
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Last Saturday, the Astros joined 12 other tremendous trios who all had
multi-homer games on the same day for the same team. The other threesomes,
courtesy of SABR's David Vincent:
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Date
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Team
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Players
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8/16/47
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Pirates
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R. Kiner (3)
H. Greenberg
Billy Cox
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6/8/50
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Red Sox
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B. Doerr (3)
Ted Williams
Walt Dropo
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4/16/55
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Cubs
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R. Jackson
Ernie Banks
Dee Fondy
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7/8/56
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Giants
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Willie Mays
Daryl Spenser
Wes Westrum
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8/18/56
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Reds
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F. Robinson
T. Kluszewski
B.Thurman (3)
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5/30/61
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Yankees
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Bill Skowron
Roger Maris
Mickey Mantle
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9/14/87
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Blue Jays
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Ernie Whitt (3)
R. Mulliniks
George Bell
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7/14/90
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Angels
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Dave Winfield
D. Bichette
Brian Downing
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5/28/95
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Tigers
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Chad Curtis
Cecil Fielder
Kirk Gibson
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7/31/96
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Mariners
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Jay Buhner
A. Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Jr.
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9/8/98
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Phillies
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Rico Brogna
Kevin Sefcik
B. Estalella
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8/14/99
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Rockies
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Todd Helton
D. Bichette
E. Clemente
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Meanwhile, the chances of the Marlins being forced to return to New York
for that makeup game with the Yankees the day after the season appears remote
right now. If the Yankees and White Sox finish the season tied for the best
record, Chicago would win the head-to-head tiebreaker, because it won eight
of 12 against the Yankees this season. The issue is what happens if the teams
haven't played the same number of games and the Yankees are a half-game ahead.
"I think there are ways to agree on a formula that accounts for all that,"
Orza said. "The question of eligibility for the playoffs is different than
the question of home-field advantage. We are not going to play games just for
that reason."
A report this week, by the Los Angeles' Times Jason Reid, that the Dodgers
had definitely decided not to bring back Todd Hundley next season came as a
surprise to Hundley's agent, Seth Levinson.
"From day one," Levinson said, "Bob Daly and Kevin Malone have never wavered
in their desire to sign Todd Hundley. And we always agreed we would not
negotiate until the end of the season."
The report said the decision not to re-sign Hundley was based on the Dodgers'
desire to keep their payroll under $100 million next year. But their
projected payroll is already around $98 million, even before they consider
what Chan Ho Park will make or what it would cost to re-sign the two free
agents they would most want to retain, Hundley and Darren Dreifort.
So ultimately, the Dodgers' desire to compete figures to overcome their
desire to keep the payroll under $100 million (since that's essentially
impossible, anyway). And that means you should not cross Hundley off their
2001 roster quite yet.
One NL executive ranks the free-agent starting-pitching class this way:
Top of the class: Mike Hampton.
Next-best: Mike Mussina.
Best of the rest: Rick Reed, Dreifort, Andy Ashby.
Interesting but scary: Bobby Jones, David Cone, Kevin Appier.
Dreifort is reputed to be looking for $27 million for three years.
But the exec's review of him is: "An overhyped guy. So many people I talk to
don't know if he's ideally a starter or a reliever. So how does a guy like
that command $9 million a year?"
It's the time of the year for rotation juggling. At the moment, Randy
Johnson is not scheduled to pitch in Arizona's four-day, five-game series
against the Giants next weekend in San Francisco. But if the Diamondbacks
decide that, by some miracle, they're back in the division race, they could
move him up to pitch the finale on three days' rest. That would also set
Johnson up to start Game 1 of the playoffs on his normal rest, if the
Diamondbacks make it.
Meanwhile, the A's already have juggled their rotation to make sure Tim
Hudson starts the first game of their series in Seattle next weekend. He
originally was set to start last night in Tampa Bay and then Wednesday in
Baltimore, the day before the Seattle series begins. But Hudson has become
this team's certifiable ace. So they flip-flopped the rotation for Tampa Bay,
moving Hudson back to Saturday night and moving Barry Zito up to Friday night's
series opener.
If Arizona doesn't make the playoffs, big changes are coming. Manager Buck
Showalter is all but gone. And the Diamondbacks then would look at a two-year
plan in which they try to win with their current nucleus, then launch a major
rebuilding plan in 2003. That's the year most of their deferred contract
money kicks in. And of the current veterans, only Matt Williams and Tony
Womack are signed for that year.
One scout who spent last week watching the Mets says he's worried Mike
Piazza is hurting far more than he's letting on: "It looks like his back is
bothering him, unless it's something else with his shoulder. He couldn't get
down low to block pitches. He has no flexibility with his lower half. And he
had no body control to hit a fastball down in the strike zone. He had the
worst feel for the strike zone I've ever seen him have, in all the years I've
been watching him."
Hard to say what this means. But the Pirates' September call-ups include
Adam Hyzdu, making his big-league debut after 11 seasons in the minors; Matt
Skrmetta, who spent eight years in the minors before surfacing earlier this
season in Montreal, and Brian Smith, who finally made it after seven seasons
in the minors.
In a recent edition of Crain's Chicago Business, a front-page story
discussed the White Sox' attendance problems. Included was a quote from Paul
Konerko that says it all:
"If I didn't have an allegiance to this team and I was buying a ticket to a
game," he said, "I'd go to Wrigley."
Also, a letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times this week proposed a
plan in which the two Chicago teams stage their own race -- and the winner gets
to play the next season at Wrigley, the loser at Comiskey.
Boy, how much do people hate that park?
Finally, when the smoke had cleared from all the coin tosses to decide home
sites for playoff tie-breakers this week, the Indians had lost all five of
them. Assistant GM Mark Shapiro was the guy calling heads or tails, and he's
taking big-time grief over it.
"I said, 'Mark, who are we playing at home?' " chuckled John Hart. "And he
said, 'Uh, nobody.' I said: 'Just don't be gambling the farm away.' "
Useless information dept.
Another first for Randy Johnson: Last Sunday, he became the first pitcher
ever to record his 3,000th career strikeout -- and 300th of that particular
season -- on the same day. In fact, Johnson is the only man ever to join the
3,000-300 Club in the same season. On the other hand, Elias' Ken Hirdt
reports that Nolan Ryan, in that amazing way of his, racked up No. 5,000 and
No. 300 in the same year (1989).
Also, the Unit's 14 strikeouts in the game in which he reached 3,000 was the
second most ever on that model of milestone day. Bert Blyleven got to 3,000
on Aug. 1, 1986, in a game in which he struck out 15.
One of the most amazing stats of the year is this one: The Yankees
outhomered the Red Sox in their head-to-head games at Fenway Park, 14-zip,
this year. The only other season in the last 70 years in which the Red Sox
went homerless at home through an entire season's series with the Yankees,
according to Elias: 1986, when the Yanks outbombed them, 6-0.
This is the fourth time in his career that Roger Clemens has had a winning
streak of nine games or more. The only other active pitcher to have that many
winning streaks that long, according to Elias, is (who else?) Greg Maddux.
Pedro has had three. And the eclectic group at two includes Kevin Brown,
Dwight Gooden, the Big Unit, Darryl Kile, John Smoltz, David Wells, Andy
Benes and, believe it or not, Jason Bere.
Mike Piazza -- who is still hitless in September with runners in scoring
position -- even had his first four-whiff game this week since 1994. In
between Piazza's four-whiff games, Sammy Sosa had eight of them and Jose
Canseco fit in seven in between DL stints.
A ninth-inning homer by Alex Ochoa on Wednesday kept the Reds alive to
achieve one of the all-time great feats: If they can make it through the
final two weeks of the year without getting shut out, Elias reports they'll
join the 1932 Yankees as the only teams ever to do that in seasons of 150
games or more.
Another great Yankees-Red Sox factoid: When Yankees starting pitchers made
it through their entire three-game series in Fenway with a grand total of two
runs allowed, it was the fewest runs they'd given up in any road series of
three games or more since June 17-19, 1985, when the unlikely trio of Ron
Guidry, Joe Cowley and Ed Whitson held Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray and the
Orioles to two runs in three games, according to Elias' Kevin Hines.
Injury of the week: Jim Edmonds got his finger caught in a folding chair
while watching an NFL pregame show last Sunday. His finger got stuck in the
chair so inextricably, he had to call over Shawon Dunston to unfold the chair.
It might be time to add Jason Giambi to your MVP ballot. In his last 11
games, since making it back into the lineup after getting a cortisone shot in
his shoulder, he's a ridiculous 22-for-40, with seven home runs and 18 RBI.
"It's not his shoulder I'm worried about," manager Art Howe told the San
Francisco Examiner's Brian Murphy. "It's his back. He keeps carrying us."
Only a blown umpire's call kept Houston's Richard Hidalgo from doing
something truly historic this week: Hitting two or more home runs in three
straight games. Hidalgo already had homered twice on Saturday and Sunday.
Then he homered once Monday and later launched a long drive to right that
cleared the wall and came down in the bullpen. Except it hit a second fence
that cordons off the bullpen and caromed back onto the field -- and was
incorrectly ruled a triple.
Had it been rightly called a home run, Hidalgo would have been the third
player in history to have three multi-homer games in a row. The others,
according to the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent: Ralph Kiner, in
September 1947, and the other Frank Thomas, in July-August 1962.
What a year Dave Hansen has had out in L.A. He has seven pinch-hit home runs. Not
only does he have seven pinch homers, breaking Johnny Frederick's 68-year-old
single-season record, but the seven have come off a group that includes Curt
Schilling, Ugueth Urbina, Jon Lieber, Jose Jimenez and Rick Aguilera.
Hansen also now has more career pinch homers (13) than non-pinch homers (12).
Nine of his last 13 homers have come as a pinch-hitter. And he has only one
non-pinch shot this season. David Vincent reports that of the 10 players in
history who hit five or more pinch homers in a season, only Joe Cronin (five
pinch homers, no other homers for the '32 Red Sox) had a higher percentage of
pinch-hit bombs that year. Frederick hit 10 homers in his big year when he
wasn't pinch-hitting.
Asked Tuesday, after his history-making homer off Schilling, if he was
surprised to set this record, Hansen replied: "They're all surprise home runs
to me."
One more from the Sultan. The 5,000th home run of this season was hit last
Friday. And this was the earliest date ever for a 5,000th homer, breaking the
old record -- set way back last year -- by a day.
Gotta love those Tigers. They've blown by their old single-season record
for most ejections, with 19. And on their last road trip, they had two games
in which they had more ejections (one) than runs scored (zero). Their five
other close calls: Aug. 30 (one ejection, one run), April 22 (five ejections,
six runs), April 24 (three ejections, four runs), July 9 (two ejections,
three runs) and Aug. 25 (two ejections, three runs).
The Detroit Free Press' John Lowe reports that the home-plate umpire for
Friday night's knuckleball flutter-off between Detroit's Steve Sparks and
Boston's Tim Wakefield was C.B. Bucknor, who had a slightly different
experience the previous game he worked the plate. The pitcher that day: Randy
Johnson.
If the Astros had just not been comatose in the first half, this would be
an MVP year for Jeff Bagwell. Has anyone noticed this guy has scored 141 runs
this year? According to Elias and Astros stat guru Todd Fedewa, Bagwell's 517
runs over the last four years are the most by any player since Ted Williams
scored 541 between 1946 and '49. Wow.
From our optical-illusion department, we present this gem: We think of the
Braves as being one of the best teams in baseball and the Red Sox as being
one of the most miraculous contenders ever. But ESPN stats genius Jeff
Bennett points out that the Braves have scored 714 runs and allowed 648,
while the Red Sox have scored 718 and allowed 662.
Only one National League starter has beaten both Randy Johnson and Tom
Glavine this year: Javier Vasquez.
And only one player has homered this year off both New York closers --
Mariano Rivera and Armando Benitez: the Phillies' Brian Hunter.
Juan Gonzalez turned this incredible trifecta Wednesday: He made the third
out of the first, second and third innings.
The Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports that the Diamondbacks are not the
first team in recent times to win 100 games and have their attendance go down
the next year. The Braves actually did that two years in a row ('97 to '98,
then '98 to '99).
Who's the only first baseman in baseball with 20 stolen bases? Would you
believe Ryan Klesko (with 21)? No other regular first baseman even has 10.
Proof that we're now keeping track of way too many records came Sunday,
when the Giants announced that J.T. Snow had set a record for most sacrifice
flies in a season (14) by a left-handed-hitting National Leaguer.
Thanks to their three straight complete games last weekend, plus an off
day, the A's managed to go all the way from Wednesday, Sept. 6 until Monday,
Sept. 11 between appearances by any member of their bullpen. Hard to do in
this day and age.
Johnny Damon is too amazing. Just since the All-Star break, this man has
two five-hit games, six four-hit games and 11 three-hit games. That's more
five-hit games in two months than Mark Grace has had in his career (one).
In farm land, we had a combined no-hitter this week in the California
League playoffs -- by Visalia's Scott Chiasson and Corey Miller, against
Modesto. But incredibly, they gave up three runs in that no-hitter. Chiasson
issued six walks and hit three batters in six innings -- allowing all three
runs in the second, on a sacrifice fly and two bases-loaded walks. Miller
twirled three perfect innings. Howe Sportsdata reports it was Visalia's first
no-hitter since 1961.
And maybe the wildest minor-league playoff feat of the year (literally)
took place last Saturday, in Appleton, Wis. The Appleton Post-Crescent's
Mark Lazurus checked in to report that in the fifth inning, Wisconsin Timber
Rattlers starter Matt Thornton pulled off the grand slam of wild pitches. He
allowed Beloit third baseman Nick Frank to reach base on a third-strike wild
pitch on what should have been an inning-ending strikeout. Then he threw
three more wild pitches -- wild-pitching Frank all the way around the bases.
Anyone ever remember a guy scoring a run on only wild pitches? What a sport.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings will appear each Saturday. | |
ALSO SEE
Indians to play two -- teams -- on Sept. 25
Stark: A look at Week in Review
Jayson Stark archive
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