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Fire on the frontier
Streaking Indians closing on Twins in AL Central
Posted: Tuesday May 08, 2001 11:51 AM
Updated: Tuesday May 08, 2001 12:00 PM
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Manny who? Juan Gonzalez has provided the offensive punch for the Indians with 21 extra-base hits and 34 RBIs in 29 games. AP |
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com
Pity the poor Minnesota Twins. Off to the best start in their history, the second best in baseball this season, the American League Central-leading Twins are sizzling along at better than a .700 clip.
And they're losing ground.
Yes, the Cleveland Indians are the hottest team in baseball and the Twins know it. The Clevelanders have closed to within a game of the media-darling Twins and, by week's end, no one will be surprised if the Twins are knocked from their early season perch. Maybe for good. That's how good the Indians look to be.
Hitting has brought the Indians to where they are. They have the best hitting in the league (.297), the second-best slugging percentage (.462, behind the Texas Rangers' .494), they've scored more runs than anyone in the league and they have maybe the best slugger in the game (Juan Gonzalez is hitting .371, with nine homers, 34 RBIs and a .707 slugging percentage).
They have a capable pitching staff, with some promising youngsters, and proven starters Jaret Wright and Charles Nagy could be ready to come back from their injury rehab assignments in a matter of weeks.
The Indians also have fed off an easy early season schedule. Their current eight-game win streak has come against the Rangers, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who are a combined 32-61 (.344). This week, at home, they get the Royals and Rays again in back-to-back series. Then they go on the road against Texas and the Anaheim Angels, another losing team.
The Twins, meanwhile, have a three-game set against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium this week and have to face the Boston Red Sox at home next week (they have the Rays in between). The Red Sox and Yankees are a combined 38-25 (.603).
Yeah, it's only May. It's not over yet for the Twins.
But if the Indians have their way, it will be soon.
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"There was a lot of handholding, hugging, singing, things like that."
-- A's slugger Jason Giambi on a team meeting he called on Friday.
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Jimy Williams nightmares
1. Carl Everett driving the team bus
2. Everett: "Can I have a word with you, Jimy?"
3. Stumbling into a sportswriters' convention
4. Life without Carl Everett
5. Another lost "m" in his name
6. Duquette: "Can I have a word with you, Jimy?"
>>> Got a Top Six list? Click here.
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Batty, again, in Boston
When last we checked in with the Red Sox, they had survived a tempestuous spring training and were surprising everyone with their early season success.
The Sox still are in first. But hold on. The fire is not out. Some flare-ups last week proved again that this is a team on the edge.
Last Thursday, long-time antagonist Carl Everett all but blamed manager Jimy Williams for Boston's recent problems -- though, yeah, they're still in first. Everett said Williams' tinkering with the lineup has hurt the team.
"Other than me and Manny [Ramirez] and Shea [Hillenbrand], no one knows who's going to play until we get to the ballpark," Everett said. "It's tough to play that way. Guys need repetition. They're not comfortable."
Last Friday, after giving up three hits and two walks in the third, Williams went out to the mound to pull 25-year-old Tomo Ohka, who refused to give the manager the ball. And when he finally made it back to the dugout, Ohka kicked over a water cooler. Demoted closer Derek Lowe also showed up the manager by slamming the resin bag to the mound after he was pulled.
Saturday, a hacked-off Williams cleared the clubhouse in Oakland to talk to his team in what turned out to be a screamfest between the manager and at least one of the players, reportedly Everett. Williams refused to discuss what went on.
The Red Sox face a difficult stretch of games this month, including five with the Yankees, three with the Toronto Blue Jays, three with the West-leading Seattle Mariners and three with the Central-leading Twins.
Some tough times there and the whole lid could blow off this thing.
McHale's Rays
Detroit Tigers president John McHale visited Tampa Bay last Friday and, by all indications, is expected to become the Devil Rays' chief operating officer sometime this week.
Taking over the moribund Rays -- a franchise that is testing to see what the market might be for a losing franchise with a bad lease on a bad stadium -- might seem a little daffy. But McHale has made a name building something out of nothing. He is a respected baseball executive who helped get Comerica Park built in Detroit and, before that, Coors Field in Denver when he was with the Colorado Rockies.
Whether he can turn the fortunes around in St. Petersburg -- where the lease on Tropicana Field runs until nearly 2030 -- may be his biggest challenge ever.
New York's Jorge Posada | |
Yankees catcher Jorge Posada plans to play through the pain in his right shoulder, though it clearly is affecting his ability to throw out baserunners. He has caught seven of the 27 players who have tried to steal on him this season ... Royals manager Tony Muser is on the hot seat with everyone in Kansas City -- except the guy who makes the decisions. "Tony is the right guy for this team," owner David Glass told the Kansas City Star. "If you would ask the players, Tony has universal support from these guys. He's the leader and they respect him. They want to play for him. They're going to get it turned around." ... Cleveland shortstop Omar Vizquel became the first player to catch a ball off one of Tropicana Field's famed catwalks. Rays slugger Greg Vaughn smacked one up there in the first inning Friday. Vizquel saw it all the way, sprinted out to left field and pulled it in near the warning track. Per the Trop's rules, the ball was in play and Vaughn was out ... After ripping Chicago White Sox teammate Frank Thomas on a radio show -- "If you don't have the guts to be out there, you know what, you don't need to be here. You need to be somewhere else and learn how to play the game with guts and glory," David Wells said -- and then meeting with Thomas to talk it over, Wells told the team he isn't speaking to reporters anymore ... Angels broadcaster Rex Hudler, hospitalized last month after suffering a brain hemorrhage, expects to be back before the team's next telecast on May 15.
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The question is this: Just how many White Sox fans have fallen off the bandwagon? Nine wins out of 28 games played and all of Chicago is crawling back into their attics to grab their Cubs hats!
Chris Vignallo, N. Canton, Ohio
I guess $160 million goes for more in Boston than $252 million does in Texas, eh?
Reid Jackson, Burlington, Mass.
The Yankees are constantly criticized for signing free agents that enable them to win the World Series repeatedly. People should realize, however, that the core of their championship teams (past, present & future) are either 1) products of the Yankees' farm system (B. Williams, Pettitte, Posada, Jeter, M. Rivera, R. Mendoza, Soriano, N. Johnson, D. Henson) or 2) players who were traded for products of the Yankees' farm system (T. Martinez, Knoblauch, O'Neill).
Joe Widman, Ossining, N.Y.
It used to be Texas Pitching: Rogers and Helling then three days of shelling. Now, it's five more months of everyday shelling.
Kyle Trageser, Edgewood, Wash.
Chris LaPorte, Rocky River, Ohio, states, "Twins fans are hilarious -- 17 games into the season & they're already checking the playoff schedule. Jesse Ventura has a better chance of being re-elected than the Twins do of making the playoffs!" The Twins won a World Series during the '80s and again during the '90s. How many World Series did an Ohio team win during this span?
Jim Gerdes, Chokio, Minn.
No question Joe Torre had a nice career as a player, and is a wonderful ambassador to the game of baseball. It's early, but if the Yankees continue to stink it up, he deserves as many jeers for their failure as he received kudos for winning four titles in five years.
Justin Goldman, Rochester, N.Y.
Just imagine how good the Mariners will be when we lose Ichiro in five years or so.
Joshua Simmons, Tacoma, Wash.
Psst ... Alex ... got any spare dough? I need to buy playoff tickets for the Mariners ... which reminds me -- what are you doing this October?
Robert MacDonald, Seattle, Wash.
As a Twins fan, the Knoblauch incident was, I think, well deserved. He ripped the entire organization, the fans and the city. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!!
Michael Gumto, Fargo, N.D.
With (the A's) postseason hopes dashed after a miserable April, perhaps the smartest thing Billy Beane could do is dangle Johnny Damon out there for the highest bidder.
Mike Strange, Midlothian, Va.
Noted: Small-market Twins, owned by wealthiest individual owner Pohlad, finally puts competitive team on field, draws ... 24,000? Against the Yanks.
John Chu, New York, N.Y.
Pedro & Nomo, OH NO, NOT LOWE!
Joe Tyman, Lexington, Mass.
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