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 Inside Baseball
Posted: Wednesday June 30, 1999 04:52 PM Hit-by-Pitch Parade | Closing the Kingdome The Hot Corner Cards rookie Jose Jimenez takes flight with an improbable no-hitter By Jeff Pearlman and Stephen Cannella
Eric Davis sounded almost insulted last Friday night when asked if he had ever considered righthander Jose Jimenez a likely candidate to throw a no-hitter. "What kind of a question is that?" snapped the Cardinals' rightfielder, who minutes before had preserved Jimenez's 1-0 gem against the Diamondbacks with a tumbling grab of pinch hitter David Dellucci's liner in the ninth -- his second acrobatic catch in the game. "He's a major league pitcher. Any major league pitcher that has the ball is a candidate." Forgive us, Eric, for assuming the 25-year-old Jimenez wasn't a good bet to outpitch Randy Johnson, shut down the best-hitting team in the National League and become the league's first rookie to spin a no-hitter since the Cubs' Burt Hooten in 1972. "I want to fly," an ecstatic Jimenez said after his masterpiece. Three hours earlier he had seemed as likely to sprout wings and buzz around the Bank One Ballpark roof as he was to hold Arizona hitless. Facing a lineup that had banged out six or more hits in 50 consecutive games, dating to April 30, Jimenez entered the game with a 3-7 record, a 6.69 ERA and one win in his previous 11 starts. Yet he allowed the Diamondbacks just three base runners and outlasted the Big Unit, who struck out 14 and gave up only five hits. Jimenez shut down Arizona with a vanishing sinker and a mix of fastballs, changeups and sliders, all of which he threw for strikes, but his improbable performance had less to do with the quality of his stuff than with a newfound ability to make that stuff last. "Our scouts said he could be devastating for three or four innings, then he'd start getting balls in the middle of the plate," said Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter. "We kept waiting for him to show some dents in his armor." Conceded Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, "In a lot of games that Jose lost, he pitched well for the most part, but in one inning it would all get away from him." Before last Friday's start Duncan corrected an overstride in Jimenez's motion that had been flattening his sinker, and in recent weeks manager Tony La Russa and Duncan had counseled their young pitcher to stay confident and concentrate even if he wasn't piling up wins. Said La Russa, "We had to teach him not to beat himself up, because sometimes you pitch well and lose." A native of San Pedro de Macoris, in the Dominican Republic, Jimenez signed as an 18-year-old free agent in 1991 and spent three seasons in the Dominican summer league. He came to the U.S. in '95 and over the next four years went 41-29 with a 3.11 ERA for four minor league teams. After going 15-6 for the Double A Arkansas Travelers last season, leading the Texas League in wins and ERA and throwing a no-hitter in August, Jimenez skipped Triple A and won his first three major league starts as a September call-up. He went 2-0 with a 2.95 ERA in his first three starts this year before falling into his two-month slump. "Even in the minors I'd get so happy when I pitched a good game and then so mad when I pitched bad," says Jimenez, who walked two, hit a batter and allowed only five balls out of the infield against Arizona. "I think I get myself down." He had plenty of opportunities to lose his concentration against Arizona. He had to stand around on the mound in the eighth inning after an unruly fan jumped on the field, and again with two outs in the ninth when Showalter came out to argue that Davis had dropped Dellucci's liner. Backup catcher Alberto Castillo, a fellow Dominican who for most of this season has been Jimenez's personal backstop, kept his righthander focused. After the game, in the visitors' clubhouse, Jimenez and Castillo watched over Rene Lachemann's shoulder as the third base coach charted the no-hitter on videotape. "Wait, rewind, I want to see my jump," said a beaming Jimenez, referring to the celebratory leap he took after the final out. For the first time in months, he wasn't beating himself up.
Pitching at Coors: "Home runs aren't the problem at Coors Field," says Brian Bohanon, professor of thin air and its impact on flying baseballs. "It's the bloopers. Give up a homer or two, fine. It happens. But the outfield is so big and the fielders have to play so far back that there are too many bloopers, and then a pitcher's dead." The Rockies' 30-year-old lefthander knows whereof he speaks. Since signing a three-year, $9 million contract with Colorado in the off-season, Bohanon has spent a lot of time studying everything about Coors, from the effects of high altitude on flight to the positioning of outfielders. Which may be why, at week's end, he was 9-4 for the Rockies, a team three games below .500. Oh yeah, that's 9-4 with a 6.28 ERA -- including 4-1 with a 9.08 ERA at home. "ERA no longer means a thing," he says. "My priority is to outlast the other starter. If he gives up six runs and I give up five...well, I'm not happy allowing five runs, but I have succeeded." When Colorado general manager Bob Gebhard signed Bohanon, he was widely second-guessed. Sure, Bohanon was a coveted baseball commodity (a lefthanded starter), but in six major league seasons with five teams he had a record of just 25-30 and a 4.72 ERA. Last year, when he was primarily a reliever with the Mets and then a starter with the Dodgers, he finished 7-11 but had a career-best 2.67 ERA. "When he was with the Dodgers, we saw something," Gebhard says of Bohanon's 5-7 record and 2.40 ERA in 14 starts with L.A. "We felt he had the right makeup to come here and succeed." Indeed, Bohanon has a couple of things going for him. First, he throws four big-league-quality pitches -- a fastball in the mid-80s, a 75-mph changeup, a dramatically arcing curveball and a cut fastball. Many of the pitchers who struggle at Coors do so because, frustrated over the limited snap of a curveball at high altitude, they abandon the deuce and throw too many heaters. "The hitter is at such an advantage here that you can't place the ball up in the strike zone and you can't be predictable," says Bohanon. Also, he doesn't panic. Bohanon had given up 12 homers at home through Sunday, but he refuses to condemn Coors. In fact, he loves the place. "I've totally used it to my advantage," says the soft-spoken Texan. "No one likes to come here and pitch. They dread it. I chose to come here, and I'm not intimidated. It's my ballpark."
Hit-by-Pitch Parade: In a four-game stretch last week, Diamondbacks utilityman Greg Colbrunn went to the plate six times and brought back souvenirs from three of those trips -- contusions incurred when pitches bounced off his body. If there were a giant whirlpool where bruised hitters from around the majors went to soak, Colbrunn would have plenty of company. In last weekend's 45 games, 26 players were hit by pitches, continuing a 10-year trend that has batters getting plunked at an ever-increasing rate. In 1990 one out of every 186 hitters took one for the team. By '94 the number was one out of every 142; in '99, through Sunday, it was one out of every 118. There are several reasons for the trend, including the game's ongoing offensive explosion. The frustration of watching balls fly out of parks and ERAs soar can drive pitchers to extract the occasional pound of flesh. "When you've got guys hitting home runs at historical rates, you better expect to get plunked every now and then," says White Sox slugger Frank Thomas, who was hit six times last year and through Sunday had been hit three times in 1999. Hyped-up offense has also increased the number of accidental plunkings, as pitchers have realized they must pitch inside to keep hitters from diving across the plate. Young pitchers used to facing college players brandishing aluminum bats often lack experience and confidence throwing inside, which leads to wildness. Pitchers young and old are also throwing inside to try to reclaim that part of the plate. Hitters are standing closer to the plate, and leaning farther over it, than ever before, a habit developed in recent seasons as they tried to reach pitches inches off the outside corner that were being called strikes. Then there are the batters who don't know how to get out of the way of inside pitches. Others, clad like knights in armor, don't bother moving. "If I was going to make a rule change, I would not allow hitters to wear protective garb," says Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter. "It creates a false sense of security." Says Expos general manager Jim Beattie, "Hitters aren't afraid of the inside pitch. You see a lot of guys hit on the hands -- they're swinging, not looking to protect themselves." Indeed, in the last week Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez and Jim Leyritz were each hit on the hand. Surprisingly, as hit batsmen become more common, fewer seem to be retaliating by rushing the mound. That's due in part to baseball's strict policy of suspending fighters, but it's also a sign that hitters have come to expect a bruising now and then. "As long as they're not throwing at my head, I don't care too much if I get hit," says Milwaukee outfielder Jeromy Burnitz. "It doesn't really hurt that bad." Charmless in Seattle When an era comes to an end, as the Mariners' 22-year Kingdome residency did with a 5-2 win over the Rangers before a sellout crowd of 56,530 on Sunday, people tend to recall only the positives. Alas, until a 19-year-old kid named Ken Griffey Jr. arrived in Seattle in 1989, the Kingdome had no positives. Beginning with the team's birth in '77, the Mariners went 14 straight seasons without a winning record -- years when, as rightfielder Jay Buhner remembers, "it was so quiet, you could hear the fans talking about you." When Seattle acquired him in '88, Buhner had to give up Yankee Stadium for the Kingdome. "It was a total downer," he says. As Sunday's swan song approached and the team completed preparations for its move into the $515 million Safeco Field on July 15, Mariners faithful were invoking some of the defining moments of the old ballpark. There was the earthquake-delayed game against the Indians in 1996, the power outage of '94 and the two pop fouls that hit speakers and never came down. On Guaranteed No-Hitter night in 1990, Seattle lefty Matt Young allowed no hits for all of 1 1/3 innings. On June 5, 1979, what would have been Willie Horton's 300th home run struck a cable and dropped for a single instead. "There was always something weird," says Dave Heaverlo, a lefthander with the Mariners in 1980. Heaverlo earned a place in Kingdome lore when he allowed a home run to the Athletics' light-hitting Bert Campaneris. "The press asked me how he hit it so far," recalls Heaverlo. "I told the truth: The air conditioner must have been blowing out." That's a fitting epitaph for the Kingdome, which will be razed after the 1999 NFL season to make room for a new football stadium. For despite some bright moments -- two Mariners no-hitters, Gaylord Perry's 300th win, the miracle season of '95 -- Seattle's old concrete hulk was an ill wind that blew no good. The Reds recently contacted Marlins general manager Dave Dombrowski to inquire about struggling righthander Livan Hernandez (3-7, 4.66 ERA). Florida wants righthanded starter Brett Tomko or righty reliever Scott Williamson as part of any deal, but Cincinnati doesn't want to give up either of them. The Cardinals also called about Hernandez but laughed off Dombrowski's request for Triple A lefthander Rick Ankiel or Double A righty Chad Hutchinson, two of baseball's top pitching prospects. At week's end Hernandez, still only 24, was six games under .500 since being selected as MVP of the 1997 World Series.... Although Blue Jays G.M. Gord Ash says the two-year, $16 million extension recently signed by lefthander David Wells ties him to Toronto, Greg Clifton , Wells's agent, thinks otherwise. "If anything, I think this makes him more tradable," Clifton says. "Teams are now dealing with a known quantity." Maybe, but it's hard to imagine many clubs wanting to take on that type of financial commitment.... It has been a little more than a year since Fox Group fired Dodgers G.M. Fred Claire and manager Bill Russell , then three days later canned three coaches. At the time L.A. was 36-38. Through Sunday the Dodgers were 34-39 and 7 1/2 games out in the National League West.... Does White Sox DH Frank Thomas have a messiah complex? Asked his impression of 22-year-old outfielder Carlos Lee (.295, 26 RBIs in 44 games), Thomas said, "I see a young me. I think he's the second coming."... The Diamondbacks see themselves as contenders, but not with Gregg Olson (six blown saves in 17 chances) as their closer. Arizona has used Byung-Hyun Kim and Vladimir Nunez to close games, while eyeing the Expos' Ugueth Urbina (16 saves in 21 chances), but Arizona G.M. Joe Garagiola Jr . doesn't want to part with his top pitching prospects -- Double A starters Nick Bierbrodt , John Patterson and Brad Penny .... Mo Vaughn took responsibility for the Angels' sluggish first half and, in effect, apologized for not being the player the team shelled out $80 million to get last winter. "I haven't been a leader since Opening Day," says Vaughn, whose sprained left ankle has limited him to DH duty most of the season. "When you're DH'ing you can't feel you're a part of what's going on. I'm struggling right now because I'm really frustrated."... Darryl Strawberry , who pleaded no contest to drug and solicitation charges, began his court-ordered 100 hours of community service last week at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Boys and Girls Club. "I'm teaching them about staying away from drugs and staying away from wrong situations," said Strawberry, who played pool, basketball and football with kids last Thursday. "If I can inspire them to do that, that would be a gift to me."... A's leftfielder Ben Grieve , batting .131 on May 19, was up to .248 at week's end, having finally snapped out of one of the worst starts in memory by the previous season's Rookie of the Year. Since May 20, Grieve had hit .360.
Issue date: July 5, 1999
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