Champs to chumps
Week at a Glance: What a difference 1 1/2 years make
Posted: Wednesday June 02, 1999 08:47 PM
| |
Gone but not forgotten: Edgar Renteria may no longer wear the Marlins' teal, but Florida fans still remember what he did for them. AP |
By Bryan Boyle, CNN/SI
Pro Player Stadium was a site for sore eyes Monday. Cardinals shortstop Edgar Renteria faced
his former team for the first time. You know the one, though you can't tell
by looking at them now.
Renteria's two solo homers in his Miami homecoming pale in comparison to
the game-winning single he delivered for the Florida Marlins in the
11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. Nonetheless, the holiday
crowd of 21,943 gave the Colombian shortstop, traded in December for three
minor league prospects, a big ovation following each homer.
There's been little else to cheer about since the Marlins gutted their
pricey roster in a fire sale, second only to the strike in indignities
suffered by baseball this decade. But at least the strike again taught us
that time heals all wounds. And with Renteria making himself at home
Monday, it seems fitting to evaluate what the Marlins have done since
trading Moises Alou
to the Houston
Astros for pitchers Oscar Henriquez, Manuel Barrios and Mark Johnson only two
weeks after winning the World Series.
What follows is the Fish-flop: the '97 World Series champion Marlins in
Game 7 lineup brought to you by Marlins manger Jim Leyland vs. the '99 NL
East cellar-dwelling Marlins on Memorial Day lineup brought to you by
interim manager Fredi Gonzalez.
Right Field
CHAMP: Gary Sheffield, now an
outfielder with the Los
Angeles Dodgers, is batting .302 with 10 doubles, 10 homers and 33 RBIs
this season.
CHUMP: Mark Kotsay is second
in the NL with seven outfield assists for the Marlins. Kotsay's batting
.237 with three homers and 13 RBIs.
Center Field
CHAMP: Devon White, leading
off and playing an adroit center field for the Dodgers, is batting .259
with four homers, 22 RBIs and eight stolen bases this season.
CHUMP: Preston Wilson, stepson
of Mets coach Mookie Wilson, recently lost a 10-game hitting streak, the
longest by a rookie this year. Wilson's batting .272, and 11 of his 37 hits
have been homers.
Left Field
CHAMP: Alou, out for the season after undergoing
knee surgery in March, finished third in the balloting for last season's
National League MVP while playing for the Astros.
CHUMP: Cliff Floyd, whose home
run Monday was reversed back to a double when umps checked a TV replay, is
batting .275 with six homers and 23 RBIs in only 31 games.
Shortstop
CHAMP: Renteria hit three homers last season, his
last with the Marlins. Renteria hit two Monday in the first game against
his former team to raise his season total to three. He also has 10 errors
this season.
CHUMP: Alex Gonzalez is tied
for the lead among NL rookies in doubles with 13. Gonzalez is batting .286
with six homers, 21 RBIs -- and he has one less error than Renteria this
season.
Third Base
CHAMP: Bobby Bonilla homered
Monday in his first at-bat since coming off the DL. Bonilla is batting .162
with three homers and 12 RBIs in a little over one-half of the Mets' games
this season.
CHUMP: Rookie Mike Lowell appeared in
his third game this season Monday. He's 3-for-11 with two RBIs and an
error.
Second Base
CHAMP: Craig Counsell, the
lone remaining starter from the '97 lineup, scored the World Series-winning
run on Renteria's hit.
CHUMP: Counsell is batting .127 with no homers
and two RBIs in 33 games this season.
First Base
CHAMP: Darren Daulton was granted free agency by
the Marlins on Halloween 1997. He retired shortly thereafter.
CHUMP: Kevin Millar recorded
his first major league home run -- and first inside-the-park homer of his
life -- when he hid a hit last week beneath the ivy of Wrigley Field, out
of the sight of a bewildered Sammy Sosa. Since his
call-up May 20, Millar is 13-for-35 (.371) with one homer and nine
RBIs.
Catcher:
CHAMP: Charles Johnson, a
defensive wizard, now calls signs for the Baltimore Orioles.
Having finally caught on to AL pitching, Johnson is batting .271 with 10
homers and 21 RBIs.
CHUMP: Jorge Fabregas is
batting .204 with three homers and 15 RBIs in 37 games -- and is the
third-highest paid player on the ballclub ($1.85 million this season).
Pitcher:
CHAMP: Al Leiter, troubled by
a knee injury that's affected his delivery, continues to struggle this
season with the Mets. After signing a $32 million, four-year deal in the
offseason, Leiter is 2-5 with a 6.39 ERA.
CHUMP: Brian Meadows took the
loss Monday, falling to 4-5 and raising his ERA to 4.82 this season.
 |
New York Mets at New York Yankees, June
4-6
Interleague play may not have been what Frank Sinatra had in
mind when he belted out "New York, New York," but this Subway Series will
determine who's king of the hill, top of the heap, A-No. 1 in the city that
doesn't sleep. The three-game set over the weekend pits two teams
possessing second place in their respective decisions, and will likely be
won with pitching and defense. The Mets and Yanks have combined for just
one more home run (103) than the Seattle Mariners,
entering Tuesday. The Mets have the best fielding percentage in the majors,
yet trail the Yankees' team ERA by nearly one-half run.
If you
only watch one:
Al Leiter (2-5, 6.39) vs. Roger Clemens (5-0,
4.11) on June 6
Clemens aims to win his 21st straight decision
|
Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox, June
4-6
NL East leader meets AL East leader. The Red Sox are red
hot. They enter Tuesday having won four straight, eight of their last 10
and 19 of their last 24 games. Boston's 20-8 record in May was also its
best showing that month since going 21-7 in 1986, the last year the Red Sox
appeared in a World Series. Contrarily, the Braves have scrapped and clawed
to maintain their place atop the division. Atlanta's venerable pitching
staff has finally been proven vulnerable, while Ryan Klesko struggles
to wield half the bat and glove of Andres Galarraga, who's
out for the season. The Braves are 14-10 on the road; the Red Sox are 16-8
at home. Who'll give?
If you only watch one:
Tom Glavine (3-6, 4.99)
vs. Pedro Martinez
(10-1, 2.01) on June 4
Glavine grew up cheering the Red Sox;
Martinez goes for 11th win |
 |
Reds hot
With
Monday's victory in which relievers Ron Villone and Scott Williamson
combined for 6 1/3 innings of hitless relief, the Reds claimed a third
consecutive win and their 11th in the last 15 to improve to three games
over .500 (25-22) for only the second time since September 1996. They also
pulled within three games of the NL Central-leading Astros. The Reds'
relief corps deserves most of the credit for the recent surge; Cincinnati
starters are a combined 13-15. The bullpen, however, is 12-7 with an
NL-leading 2.79 ERA. And since last Wednesday, the pen has a 1.02 ERA,
allowing two earned runs in 17 2/3 innings. The Reds also are 20-0 when
leading after eight innings. They're in the early stages of a 12-game road
trip, though, wrapping up with interleague series against the Royals and
Twins. |
Some
things in common
Curt Schilling has
tossed five straight complete games, and his six total complete games are
more than any other team in the majors. He also owns a share of the
lead in the NL for wins. With whom? Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz? No. As of
Monday, they each trail their No. 4 starter, Kevin Millwood, who won
his team-leading sixth game Monday vs. Colorado. Houston's Jose Lima and St.
Louis' Kent
Bottenfield share the view and 8-2 records with Schilling. Lima, traded
in a 10-player deal from Detroit to Houston in December 1996, is ninth in
the NL with a 3.03 ERA. Bottenfield, signed as a free agent by the Cards in
January 1998, keeps winning despite opposing batters' .292 average against
him. |
 |
Joy
Greg Norton, CHA, 5 HRs
in four-game series, May 27-30 in Detroit
Batting .433 (13-for-30)
with 5 HRs, 8 RBIs over last eight games |
Coy
Jamie
Moyer, SEA, 6-4, 5.51 ERA, 1.49 WHIP this season
Put up 1-3 record,
7.64 ERA in April; 5-1, 4.07 ERA in May |
Oy!
Steve
Woodard, MIL, allowed 8 R, 11 H, 3 BB in 3 IP on May 29
All eight
runs scored in the third inning |
For the money
Harold Baines, BAL,
.319 BA, 11 HR, 37 RBI this season
40-year-old went 5-for-10 with 2
HR, 6 RBI from May 29-31 |
To the show
Byung-Hyun Kim, ARZ, 1 save, 10.13 ERA in
two appearances
20-year-old fanned Mike Piazza in ML debut
for first save |
 |
| Over the weekend, commish Bud Selig
announced that Jerome "The Dean" Holtzman would become the game's official
historian after a 56-year career with Chicago newspapers. Holtzman, a
seasoned sports writer who created the save statistic and was honored by
induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, broke into journalism as
a newsroom copy boy on June 23, 1943, at age 17 -- on the same day he
graduated from high school. Old school. |  |
| Umpire Frank Pulli used TV replays
to decide that Florida's Cliff Floyd hit a double and not a home run
Monday. Also Monday, Detroit's Matt Anderson was
ejected by umpire Chuck Meriwether for plunking a Red Sox batter on a 3-2
count, while the Tigers' Damion Easley was hit
thrice in the same game without any due consequence. Said Tigers catcher Brad Ausmus after the
game, "There's just no consistency." Aye. |  |
| The Dodgers fired Charlie Hough as
pitching coach after only 44 games. Eureka! Now with Hough out of the
picture, L.A. catcher Todd Hundley can
finally stop calling for fastballs with runners on first base. | |
On May 29, the Pirates saluted the
20th anniversary of their 1979 World Series champs. Nineteen members of the
team -- no word if Ed Ott was among them -- were on hand for
autograph-signing sessions and a pregame ceremony that ended with the
Sister Sledge ditty "We Are Family." The current Bucs donned replicas of
the '79 uniforms: bright gold jerseys with black pants and the round
pillbox caps with three horizontal gold stripes. Stargell Stars all around.
 | |
 |
The Hack watch
 The Hack watch continues. Last year, it was Juan Gonzalez tearing
up the AL's RBI chart, driving in 101 runs before the All-Star break. This
year, it's Manny
Ramirez with the hot bat early. Through Monday's games, Ramirez had
knocked in league-leading 63 runs in 49 games, putting him on pace for --
yes, we know it's early -- 208 RBIs and well ahead of Hack Wilson's record
of 190. Let's just hope that Ramirez's pending appeal lessens a suspension
that could keep him from taking an early Hack at Wilson's amazing
record. |
|
The Glance's All-too-early RBI Projection |
| 1. Manny Ramirez, CLE 208 (63 RBIs in 49
games) |
| 2. Ken Griffey Jr., SEA
169 (51 RBIs in 49 games) |
| 3. Matt
Williams, ARZ 159 (51 RBIs in 52 games) |
4. Shawn Green, TOR
156 (48 RBIs in 50 games)
|
|
 |
| Questions? Comments? Concerns? Ask the Glance. |
|
Glance answers up |
I'm going to '70s
Night at the Kingdome this year. But I'm wondering, what's the strangest
promotion in the majors this season?
Brian Gavin,
Seattle
There are the incessant Beanie Baby giveaways -- like
the one in Seattle last week. There's Lawyer Appreciation Night in Tampa
Bay, where attorneys will be charged double and billed by the third of an
inning. But the Glance likes the thinking in Minneapolis, where the
question begs, "What's in a name?" Before their game with Cincinnati on
June 7, the Twins will have former Twins pitcher Paul Thormodsgard honor
rookie first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz for
tying the team record for the longest surname. Any fan whose last name is
12 letters or longer can buy a ticket for a buck. |
|
CNN/SI's Baseball Week at a Glance appears
each Tuesday throughout the season.
|
