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Best defense Without Nomar, Sox hurt for offense but get by on D
Updated: Monday May 14, 2001 8:23 AM
Sports Illustrated's Stephen Cannella checks in with his baseball thoughts every Thursday throughout the season on CNNSI.com. It sounds like the setup to a lame joke: How many major leaguers does it take to play shortstop while Nomar Garciaparra is hurt? The answer is four. The Red Sox have used Mike Lansing, Craig Grebeck, Lou Merloni and -- as of Wednesday night -- John Valentin to fill the hole left by the injured Garciaparra. Offensively, none of the replacements have made Boston fans forget that the Red Sox lineup is missing a two-time batting champ (the group has combined for a .196 average, a .233 on-base percentage, one homer, seven RBIs and just eight extra-base hits), but manager Jimy Williams has to be happy with the way the stopgaps have held down the fort in the field. When Garciaparra, who's due back around the All-Star break, had right wrist surgery on Opening Day, the Red Sox lost their best defensive infielder as well as their top offensive weapon. Until this week, when Lansing committed miscues in back-to-back games, none of Nomar's subs had made an error, and the Sox had gone deeper into the season than any other major league team without committing an error at short. The Red Sox are far from a top-notch defensive club, but their 20-13 start and major league-best 3.17 team ERA have been spurred in part by defensive play that, for them, has been surprisingly adequate. They've made 23 errors, sixth-fewest in the AL, and only the Angels, Orioles and A's have allowed fewer unearned runs. Catcher Jason Varitek has had trouble throwing out base stealers (he's nailed just six of 36) but has done an excellent job behind the plate, particularly in the seven games Hideo Nomo has pitched. Nomo's out pitch is a savage split-fingered fastball that dives into the dirt as it crosses the plate, making life equally difficult for hitters (who have to hit it) and catchers (who have to catch it). Last season while pitching for the Tigers, the right-hander uncorked 16 wild pitches, second-most in the league. This year he's thrown just one in his first 41 innings; putting him on pace to toss a grand total of five for the season if he were to pitch the same number of innings (190) as he did in 2000. That improvement is a testament to Varitek's ability to block balls in the dirt. On the MarkMark Kotsay signed a two-year contract extension with the Padres this week, bringing some stability to the career of a player who, less than a week before Opening Day, had his world turned upside down. A fan favorite in Florida and one of the top defensive outfielders in the game, the 25-year-old was dealt by the Marlins to San Diego for outfielder Eric Owens. The trade blindsided Kotsay -- a first-round pick in 1996 who came up through the Marlins' organization and was touted as a cornerstone of the rebuilding franchise -- and it showed in his early-season play. He had just five hits in his first 36 at-bats with the Padres and he spent the second half of April on the disabled list with a strained left quadriceps. "You don't want to let things off the field affect what happens on the field," Kotsay said Thursday after signing the extension, which will pay him $3.05 million next season and $4.45 million in 2003. "But as a young player, it gets a bit overwhelming." "He was shocked he got traded," says one NL scout. "It was like his high school sweetheart dumped him. He thought he'd spend his entire career in Florida. It took him two weeks to get over being traded." He seems to have gotten over it. Since returning from the DL on May 1, Kotsay has been on an eight-game hitting streak and is batting .400. Encore, encoreOpponents don't usually volunteer for duty on the days Randy Johnson pitches, but if the Phillies' hitters are smart they're already working on excuses to sit out Sunday's game, when they're scheduled to face the Big Unit at Bank One Ballpark. Johnson, of course, whiffed 20 Reds this week, becoming the third pitcher to reach 20 Ks in nine innings. If history is any indication, the left-hander is in for another big start this weekend. Check out what Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood did in the starts following their 20-K games: Clemens Wood Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for
the magazine. Touching Base appears every Thursday on
CNNSI.com.
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