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Notebook Rocker wasn't the only target of abuse in Seattle
NEW YORK (AP) -- John Rocker wasn't the only Cleveland player offended by what he heard from Seattle's fans. Rocker threw a cup of water at hecklers standing behind the Indians' bullpen in left field during Game 1 of the Division Series on Tuesday. The controversial reliever had become upset with fans who were taunting him by chanting "Rocker Racist" and other disparaging remarks. The visitors' bullpen at Safeco Field has a chain-link fence at the back which allows fans an unobstructed view of the field and lets them get close to opposing players. It also lets them get in players' faces. "It was awful," reliever Paul Shuey said of the treatment the Indians' relievers got in Games 1 and 2. "Not as bad as New York, but they were like three to five feet away screaming anything and everything at you. The things they say about you and your family -- it's hard not to take a poke at them." Shuey said Rocker wasn't the only target for fans' venom. "It was crazy, just crazy," he said. "Not just with Rock, though he attracts everybody." Heading out?Even before Houston lost Game 3 and was swept out by Atlanta, Astros manager Larry Dierker got less than a vote of confidence from GM Gerry Hunsicker."It's something I wish we didn't have to deal with," Hunsicker replied in answer to a question regarding Dierker's future. "It's a critical time for the franchise." Dierker is the first manager in major league history to lead his team to a division title in four of his first five years. Despite the regular-season success, Dierker and the Astros have not made it out of the first round of the playoffs. "Unfortunately, in this business there's always going to be scapegoats. It's the nature of the business," Hunsicker said. "The manager is the one that usually is focused on. When you step back and think about it, it's really silly, it's really rather silly the way we react to the daily winning and losing. Because in reality, there's many, many factors that go in to winning and losing. "Again, I come back to somebody's got to be the scapegoat. You can't fire the guys that are out there and have the most to say about winning and losing," he said. Influencing GilesGrowing up, Braves second baseman Marcus Giles didn't spend summer vacations like the other kids.He would travel for about a month with his older brother, Brian, then playing in the minor leagues. The older Giles is now a star for the Pittsburgh Pirates. "I'd go hang out with him, take the 14-hour bus trips, hit batting practice with them, shower with them, have my own hitting group," Marcus Giles recalled. "I got to do the whole nine yards." That was an invaluable experience for the life to come, which included stops in many of the same cities. "Kinston, Watertown, Charlotte," Giles said. "I remember those places were dumps. They didn't change when I got there." Giles, who takes plenty of ribbing about his height (listed at 5-foot-8, maybe an inch or two shorter), said he slept in the luggage rack on those long bus rides. "I was always this big," he quipped. Composed rookieUnlike last year, when scheming St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sent Darryl Kile into the interview room in a failed effort to protect Rick Ankiel's psyche, he didn't hesitate to let 21-year-old starter Bud Smith talk to reporters Friday.Smith, who was born three months after Ankiel, is to start Game 4 on Saturday. "I'm sure it's stirring inside him, but he really maintains his composure and I'm sure he will tomorrow," La Russa said. Smith pitched a no-hitter against the Padres in September and was 6-3 with a 3.83 ERA. "I think definitely I'm going to have a little bit of nerves going out there before the game," Smith said. "That's normal. I have to take the same approach I have had all year, go out there and give my team a chance to win."
Ankiel set records in the postseason last fall, throwing nine wild pitches in four innings. He spent most of this season at a rookie league.
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