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 Inside Baseball
Posted: Tuesday June 15, 1999 01:28 PM Interleague Assessment | Cubs' Pitchers Avery's Struggles | The Hot Corner Low-cost Oakland makes the grade in a sweep of the big-ticket Dodgers By Stephen Cannella and Jeff Pearlman
During April, when the Dodgers were stumbling to a 9-10 start and playing the lifeless baseball that has been Los Angeles's calling card for much of the decade, first-year general manager Kevin Malone preached patience. "We built this team for the long haul," said Malone, who shelled out $124 million on four free agents in the off-season and tossed around predictions that the Dodgers would make the World Series this year almost as freely as he did greenbacks. "If we're playing like this in June or July, then I'll be worried." Start fretting, Kevin. After being swept in Oakland last weekend, the Dodgers were a season-worst three games under .500, 6 1/2 games behind the National League West-leading Diamondbacks and busily damning their underachieving selves with faint praise. "One good thing," said Bill Geivett, an assistant to the G.M., "is that no one in the division has run away from us." On the other side of the field the surprising A's, 33-29 and 3 1/2 back in the American League West, were pinching themselves, having shown that, even if just for one early-season interleague, intercaste series, money isn't everything. Of course, expectations are a little different when a team has Oakland's payroll of $23 million (26th lowest in the majors) compared with the Dodgers' $84 million (second highest). "I just told my assistant, 'We really needed that game,'" Oakland general manager Billy Beane said after the A's 4-3 victory last Saturday. "It seems like I say that after every win we get." Los Angeles could learn from the way Oakland has been getting those wins. Through Sunday the A's .239 average was the lowest in the majors, and they were hitting a flimsy .212 with runners in scoring position, but Oakland (which has the league's best home record, 21-11) had been carried by timely hitting, an improving defense, a solid bullpen and a pitching staff that had the American League's third-best ERA (4.35). There was also a sprinkling of veterans, including outfielders Tony Phillips (12 home runs) and Matt Stairs (14 homers, 42 RBIs), who have steadied Oakland's young core during the seasonlong offensive slump. That sort of blend is exactly what Dodgers skipper Davey Johnson, for all the expensive talent at his disposal, doesn't have, especially after injuries knocked shortstop Mark Grudzielanek and outfielders Todd Hollandsworth and Devon White out of the lineup recently. Johnson has been frustrated by the Dodgers' lack of depth and flexibility, as well as by a rotation that, aside from ace Kevin Brown (7-3, 2.69 ERA), has been flammable. Righthanders Darren Dreifort, Chan Ho Park and Ismael Valdes and lefty Carlos Perez were a combined 16-21 with a 5.38 ERA. The pitching woes have been compounded by erratic play fueled by the National League's fifth-worst defense and an offense that was batting just .239 with runners in scoring position. "There was some not-real-heads-up stuff out there," a testy Johnson said last Saturday, after L.A. hit into four double plays and botched a sixth-inning relay that should have cut down Oakland's John Jaha at the plate. Malone says he's confident the Dodgers will catch fire and is still begging for fans to be patient, though he concedes he would like to see a leader emerge in Los Angeles's star-studded clubhouse. "All that s--- about leadership and chemistry is complete bulls---," first baseman Eric Karros says. "When you're not playing well, that's the easy way out, to say you don't have leadership." Maybe so, but it's a good clubhouse mix as much as clutch hitting that has the A's playing over their heads. "Our team has great chemistry," says one Oakland player. "I'd rather be on a team where everybody's making $180,000 than one where everybody's making $8 million."
Rookie with a Hot Bat:
If ever there was a team in need of a feel-good nonfluke, it's the Mets. Over the past few weeks New York, a disappointing 33-29 through Sunday, had endured an eight-game losing streak and a string of ugly, even bizarre incidents, from the sudden dismissal of three coaches on June 5, to struggling outfielder Bobby Bonilla's refusal to pinch-hit against the Blue Jays three days later, to manager Bobby Valentine's suspension for sneaking back to the dugout in disguise after being thrown out of a game on June 9. Agbayani, a chunky, happy-go-lucky native of Honolulu who spent six seasons in the minors and appeared in 11 games last year with the Mets, was a bright antidote to all this. Agbayani is everything a quirky rookie should be: Last year he married his wife, Niela, at home plate before the Triple A All-Star Game in Norfolk, Va. He keeps a Hawaiian warrior mask in his locker, reminding him to play with ferocity. Instead of finding an apartment, he chose to live in a Marriott in Queens. "I didn't know how long I'd be here," he says. "The hotel was easy." Three years ago Agbayani, a 30th-round draft pick of the Mets in 1993, was mired in Double A, a reserve outfielder hitting .170 with no pop. It was, he says, the closest he came to considering an alternative career. Following a surprise call-up to Norfolk, however, Agbayani was teamed with Valentine, the Tides' manager at the time. In an effort to add power to Agbayani's bat, the two began watching tapes of Rangers sluggers Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez, both of whom employ leg kicks in their swings. Agbayani, who now has a pronounced kick, hit a career-high 11 home runs the next season and another 11 in '98. "I credit Bobby for it all," he says. "Without him, I'm still in Double A." On Sunday, with two outs in the fifth inning against the Red Sox, Agbayani took a 1-and-2 changeup from Mark Portugal and drove it 383 feet into the leftfield stands. The solo blast sparked the Mets to a three-run inning and a 5-4 win. Suddenly New York looked like a wild-card contender again, having won two of three from Boston and six of seven since the end of its losing streak. And as chants of "Ben-NY! Ben-NY!" rained down from the stands at Shea, Agbayani looked very much at home.
Interleague Assessment: When the season's first round of interleague play ended on Sunday, the National League held a 68-57 advantage over the American. Seven teams (the Expos, Giants, Indians, Marlins, Mets, Phillies and White Sox) went 6-3 and two teams (the Diamondbacks and the Astros) went 4-2 for a .667 winning percentage, facts that tells us little about who might have the edge among the World Series contenders, the Astros, Braves, Indians and Yankees. Thanks to a few regional rivalries (Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox and Indians-Reds, for example), interleague attendance was up about 20% over attendance at this season's intraleague games, but in many ballparks the increase was hardly noticeable, a sign that fans have become jaded by baseball's three-year-old gift to them. Clearly, if interleague play is here to stay -- as the game's hierarchy says it is -- its format must be changed, something the lords of baseball are dragging their feet on. Players and fans have grown bored with the East-meets-East, West-meets-West and Central-meets-Central matchups every season and apprehensive of the competitive imbalance that schedule creates. "Interleague play was set out so you'd play different divisions every year," says Mark McGwire. "That's the way it was described to the players in the first place.... Every player I've talked to doesn't like it." Adds A's outfielder Matt Stairs, "We stay out West for all our games. We should be able to play at Shea or at Wrigley once in a while." The biggest concern is the effect that the interleague schedule could have on playoff races. For instance, the Mets, who play the Yankees six times, and the Reds, set for six games with the Indians, will have tougher roads in the National League wild-card race than say, Philadelphia, which gets to play six games against the stumbling Orioles, and the Cardinals, who had six against the Tigers. "If we lose the wild card by two or three games," says Cincinnati manager Jack McKeon, "there are going to be some people wondering if it was worth it just to draw 150,000 people to our park [to see the Indians]." Still Burning Without Wood When the Cubs lost flamethrowing Kerry Wood for the season (torn right elbow ligament) in March, most observers wrote off Chicago's chances of returning to the postseason. Yet the Cubs, 32-27 through Sunday, are in contention for a National League playoff berth with a ragtag rotation headed by the seemingly unimposing trio of Kevin Tapani (5-2 with a 2.51 ERA), Jon Lieber (5-2, 3.48) and Terry Mulholland (3-2, 3.71). Manager Jim Riggleman's staff had a 4.55 ERA, which ranked seventh in the league, but perhaps more telling, Cubs pitchers had given up only 167 walks (second fewest in the league), which is key for a rotation that relies on throwing junk and getting ground ball outs. "Sometimes you think your staff needs improving, just because you're so intent on getting better," says Chicago general manager Ed Lynch. "Then you look around the league and compare. We have one of the better staffs." Lynch expected good results from Tapani, an underrated 35-year-old righthander who won 19 games last season, and from the rubber-armed Mulholland, 36, who was vital as a lefty setup man and spot starter in the Cubs' playoff run last season. The shocker has been Lieber. When Lynch traded outfielder Brant Brown to the Pirates last December, he acquired Lieber, a 29-year-old career sub-.500 righty who had struggled against lefthanded batters. With Pittsburgh last year, however, Lieber's record was deceiving: He went 8-14 with a 4.11 ERA but received poor defensive backing and only 3.9 runs per game. "When you know you're not going to have runs to work with, it's hard to focus," says Cubs reliever Rodney Myers, a teammate of Lieber's at Double A Memphis in 1993. "When we traded for Jon, I was thinking, 'We've got ourselves a good one.'" But this good? Upon arriving in Chicago, Lieber made a decision: He would start regularly throwing a changeup, a pitch he had experimented with in the past. Previously he'd relied on a fastball and a slider. Lieber has also modified his slider so that it breaks in harder on lefthanders. "I knew I could be O.K. with the two pitches, doing what I was doing," he says, "but the Cubs made a commitment to me. I wanted to make one back." So far, Lieber has fit in well with his new teammates. In public he comes off as a quiet guy, but he has a joking side. Deep in his locker Lieber keeps his secret weapon: a set of Billy Bob's Fake Teeth, jagged brown dentures that break up the clubhouse. "They're just for fun," he says. "Sometimes you have to remind yourself to smile." That won't be necessary, if Lieber and the Cubs can keep it up. Knock on wood. Not So Special Delivery While with the Red Sox for the past two years, lefthander Steve Avery grew frustrated with Boston's insistence that he pitch with more of a three-quarters delivery. After joining the Reds as a free agent last December, Avery -- twice an 18-game winner with the Braves in the early 1990s, but 16-14 with a 5.64 ERA during his stint with the Red Sox -- made it clear that his three-quarter days were over. "I want to try to go back to the way I used to throw," he said, referring to the over-the-top arm motion he used with Atlanta. "It's when I had the most success." Using his old delivery, Avery was effective in his first seven starts for Cincinnati, going 2-3 but amassing a 2.56 ERA. Could he be the 15- to 20-game winner of his youth? "I don't see why not," said Reds pitching coach Don Gullett just a month ago. Now all the gains Avery made are mysteriously gone. His fastball, up near 90 mph at the start of the season, is again in the high 70s, where it was with Boston. His changeup, once one of the game's best, is thus rendered all but useless. Avery, 0-3 with a 13.94 ERA in his last four starts through Sunday, says the drop-off has to do with poor mechanics and a loss of strength from a recent bout of the flu. Maybe. "I'm totally baffled over where his velocity and command went," says Gullett. "Before he would walk a guy or two, but he had the arm speed and the deception on his changeup to get out of it. Now he doesn't have it." With his team 11 games out in the American League East through Sunday, Blue Jays manager Jim Fregosi said he wants first baseman Carlos Delgado to be more of a clubhouse leader. The mellow Delgado, who was named team captain last season by then skipper Tim Johnson, wasn't thrilled by the challenge. "I'm not going to change anything because somebody walks in the room and gets a new job," said Delgado, who was hitting .269 with a team-high 57 RBIs.... Although he didn't see the blowup between Orioles outfielder Albert Belle and manager Ray Miller on TV -- the two got into a dugout shouting match after Belle failed to run out a grounder during a June 9 game against the Marlins -- White Sox skipper Jerry Manuel , who managed Belle last season, had sympathy for the outfielder. He said Belle's doesn't-hustle reputation is ill-founded. "If a guy's playing a lot of games, like Albert, he sometimes runs out of gas," says Manuel. "You're just worn down, so it doesn't look like you're hustling. But Albert hustles, trust me."... Through Sunday, Mariners lefthander Jeff Fassero (3-7, 7.00 ERA) had given up 23 homers this season, which puts him on track to break the major league record of 50 set by Bert Blyleven of the Twins in 1986.... With Sandy Alomar not likely to recover from a bone chip in his left knee until July, the Indians are looking for another catcher to split time with rookie Einar Diaz . One candidate is former Reds MVP Joe Oliver, 33, who was batting .309 with five homers and 26 RBIs for Durham (N.C.), the Devil Rays' Triple A affiliate. Tampa Bay general manager Chuck LaMar , who can't be happy with the play of backup catcher Mike DiFelice (.229 average, three RBIs in 48 at bats), says Oliver is still in Tampa Bay's plans.... During his first 10 years in the majors, from 1987 through '96, outfielder Luis Polonia could bunt, steal and hit for average, but he didn't consistently handle the curve. After two years playing in Mexico, however, Polonia is back in the American League, having been acquired by the Tigers and called up on May 26, and he says he has conquered his nemesis. "Before, the breaking ball was the kind of pitch I struck out on or took," he says. Batting leadoff for Detroit, Polonia was hitting .434 in 53 at bats through Sunday.... Jose Canseco told the St. Petersburg Times that he considers World Wrestling Federation honcho Vince McMahon a genius and suggested that baseball take a leaf from wrestling's entertainment-first book. Among Canseco's ideas: bases that light up upon contact and orange "bonus" baseballs that would count for two runs per homer.... No one is suggesting that pitching and defense aren't important, but consider that the Angels were second in the American League in ERA (4.34) and second in fielding percentage -- but stood last in the West. Of course, Anaheim's .259 batting average was 12th in the league.... Cubs shortstop Jose Hernandez is taking the ballplayer-visits-hospital tradition in a new direction. With Chicago in Colorado next week, Hernandez has arranged for a personal tour of Denver's Alameda East Veterinary Hospital, the setting of his favorite TV show, Emergency Vets. Hernandez is a self-professed junkie of Animal Planet, the 24-hour channel.
Issue date: June 21, 1999
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