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Neagle proving critics wrong
Updated: Thursday April 26, 2001 4:39 PM
When Denny Neagle signed with the Rockies this winter, the guffaws could be heard echoing off Mount Evans all the way through the Garden of the Gods. If Neagle couldn't keep from getting shelled at Yankee Stadium, where Death Valley breathes life into most lefties, what, pray tell, would his numbers look like at Coors Field? Five starts into his Rockies' career, the 32-year-old Neagle is making Colorado GM Dan O'Dowd look smart. And baseball people aren't laughing quite so loudly about the decision to give Neagle $55 million over the next five years. "Denny Neagle will battle you," one major league scout told me after watching a recent Neagle performance at Coors. "He's not going for style points. I think he's the right kind of guy to pitch at Coors Field. And I know Mike Hampton is." While Hampton has gotten off to a 3-0 start with an ERA under 3.00, it's Neagle who has really stumped the experts. He threw another solid game at Coors on Wednesday against the Cubs, lowering his overall ERA to a glittering 3.21. That's stunning stuff from a slop-thrower with a history of shoulder problems and a 5.81 ERA the second half of last season with the Yankees. But Neagle's changeup fits O'Dowd's profile of the classic Coors survivor. Having those two lefties at the top of the rotation takes pressure off talented right-hander Pedro Astacio, who is thriving as well. Offensively, the Rockies are still a nightmare to pitch to, and Todd Helton is just starting to get loose. There's balance. There's depth. There's defense. There's every reason to believe the Rockies can make a serious run at their first playoff trip since 1995, when Don Baylor guided them to a wild-card berth in just their third season. "I like the makeup of their club," the scout said. "[Center fielder] Juan Pierre reminds me of Mickey Rivers. He's a pest and he can really run. If Larry Walker stays healthy, he's going to be MVP."
Sinking the showboatsLike John Shaft or Dirty Harry working their way through a most-wanted list, Preston Wilson has been taking names and meting out justice.When the Marlins center fielder hit a recent home run off Expos closer Ugueth Urbina, it made Wilson's day on several levels. Not only did it ice a rare Marlins win, but it also made it three down, one to go on Wilson's personal hit list of showboat pitchers. This "game within the game," as Wilson calls it, started last May 6 with a grand slam off Mets closer Armando Benitez. Wilson greeted that blow with a fist-pumping, spinning tour of the bases. Afterward, Wilson admitted Benitez topped his short list of annoying pitchers. He vowed to homer off Urbina, Astros right-hander Jose Lima and Dodgers lefty Carlos Perez as well. Wilson got Lima on Sept. 6 in Houston, cracking a three-run homer in the fifth inning that was accompanied by another fist pump. Wilson faced Perez in three games last year, but was unable to connect. Now, with Perez stuck at Class AAA Las Vegas and getting shelled, Wilson's quest has been temporarily interrupted. "That's all right," Wilson told me. "There's just a couple you notice who are always showing up people. Those are the guys you like to get. There's less than a handful." Even if Perez doesn't return to the majors, Wilson's work might not be done. He said he wouldn't mind teaching a lesson to Orioles right-hander Willis Roberts, who danced his way through a spring training outing against the Marlins. "He was jumping around, doing all kind of crazy stuff in a spring training game," Wilson said. Circle July 15-17 on your pocket schedule. That's when the Orioles visit the Marlins for an interleague series. Wilson pointed out his hit list is "something that's strictly on the field." He has exchanged pleasantries with Benitez, Urbina and Lima since making his public declaration. "It's not like it's a blood-feud rivalry," Wilson said. "It's not anything where you want to do physical harm to anybody. There's just certain guys you want to get. Just like pitchers have certain guys they like striking out." The outgoing Wilson admits he probably resides on some of those hit lists as well. It's all a matter of degree, he said, a matter of time and place and situation. "I like people who play with emotion, but you don't have to direct it at anybody," he said. "If it's a game-winning homer or a guy is pitching a one-hitter or no-hitter, it's OK to get excited. The last out of a game where it's a close score or bases-loaded, nobody-out and you work out of it, that's something to be fired up and pump your fist. But if your team is leading 6-1 and you strike somebody out and you're doing something crazy up there, that's not right. People are going to take offense to that."
Shouldering the loadAlready this season they have seen the likes of Mike Morgan, Bobby Witt, Brian Anderson and now closer Matt Mantei land on the disabled list. If ever there was a team that needed a lift, it's the Diamondbacks.If ever there was a time for Todd Stottlemyre to return to the mound, this is it. But it's probably not going to happen, at least not for awhile. Stottlemyre underwent minor knee surgery last week to repair torn cartilage suffered while running. But that's not the biggest issue for the 35-year-old warhorse. Stottlemyre found a way to pitch with a torn rotator cuff last season. His right elbow survived nerve transposition surgery this winter. But the right-hander could miss the first half and more with what must seem like, for him, an injury of maddening insignificance. Instability in his shoulder-blade area makes it impossible for Stottlemyre to pitch. There's noticeable weakness in the back muscle that holds the pitcher's shoulder blade in place. "When he throws a pitch, you can feel it, you can see it," Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr. told me. "His [scapula] just kind of wings out. He has to strengthen that muscle, and it's hard to do a lot of exercises in there." An exercise therapist holds Stottlemyre's shoulder blade in place when he works out, but there's no guarantee or even any real sense of when the pitcher might be able to return. The Diamondbacks are hoping, optimistically, he'll be ready by the All-Star break, but they also realize these are uncharted waters, even for someone so experienced in rehabbing injuries. "Because his rotator cuff is so damaged, other muscles have had to take some of the strain," Garagiola Jr. said. "This particular muscle wasn't sufficiently built up, so here we are. The really ironic thing is when they did the MRIs, the tear in his rotator cuff actually was smaller. It's been scarred over." Stottlemyre hopes he has one more comeback left in him. Nobody who knows him is about to bet against his eventual return. "One thing about this guy," Garagiola Jr. said, "you give him a challenge and explain it to him. You say, 'OK, you do this, this and this four times a week for 'X' hours a day and you have a chance,' he says, 'Fine, let's go back to work.' He's in good spirits." Mike Berardino covers baseball for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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