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Jonesin' for some run support Padres right-hander suffering from lack of offensive help
Updated: Friday June 01, 2001 11:23 AM
Sports Illustrated's Stephen Cannella checks in with his baseball thoughts every Thursday throughout the season on CNNSI.com. Leo Durocher, the legendary Dodgers and Giants manager, described the charmed existence of Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean in his 1975 book, Nice Guys Finish Last, this way, "If the roof fell in and Diz was sitting in the middle of the room, everybody else would be buried and a gumdrop would fall in his mouth." The way this season has been going for Padres right-hander Bobby Jones, if it were to start raining gumdrops, he'd catch only the black licorice ones. Jones, who signed a bargain free-agent deal with San Diego last winter, has been one of the unluckiest pitchers in all of baseball this year. Even after being roughed up for six runs and 13 hits in seven innings by the Astros on Wednesday, Jones had a very respectable 3.15 ERA, more than a run below the NL average. In seven of his 11 starts he had pitched at least seven innings and allowed three or fewer earned runs, including a stretch from April 22 to May 22 when he did so in six straight outings. He had walked just 12 in 74 1/3 innings, and his 1.45 walks-per-nine-innings ratio was the league's fourth-best. Jones's record through Thursday? A sorry 2-7. Say hello to the early favorite for this year's Joe Harris Award, presented in honor of the obscure Red Sox right-hander who set the dubious record for least run support received from his teammates. In 1906 Boston scored 1.67 runs per nine innings when Harris pitched. (Little wonder, then, that he finished the season with a record of 2-21.) At least those Red Sox had an excuse -- they were the worst offensive team in the league. The Padres are the second-highest scoring team in the NL (5.35 runs per game) but somehow haven't given Jones much to work with. They've averaged just 2.78 runs per nine innings in his starts. Through Wednesday three pitchers -- Pittsburgh's Todd Ritchie (2.54), Tampa Bay's Bryan Rekar (2.60) and Atlanta's Greg Maddux (2.75) -- had received less offensive help, but San Diego's dearth of support goes way beyond a lack of run production. The Padres, the worst-fielding team in the majors, have saved their shoddiest glovework for Jones's outings. They've made 16 errors, a startling 30% of their major league-worst total of 54, behind him in his first 11 starts. No other pitcher in the majors has watched his mates bumble the ball as often. Some historical perspective: No pitcher since 1990 has had more errors committed behind him than Orel Hershiser in 1992, when the Dodgers made 35 in his 33 starts. Jones is nearly halfway there with the season less than a third old. Take Jones's May 25 start against the Diamondbacks. He pitched well, but Padres infielders made three errors in Arizona's six-run third inning, the only inning in which Jones allowed more than two baserunners. His line for the night: 6 1/3 innings, seven runs, one earned run and a 7-1 San Diego loss."I understand," Jones said after the debacle. "Everyone is going out there doing best they can. I'm not so lucky right now. The guys are trying, and that's all we can ask from ourselves." Maybe they're trying too hard. "I had a year like that," says teammate Woody Williams, who with the Blue Jays in 1997 was supported by just 3.19 runs per nine innings, worst in the AL. Williams ended up with a record of 9-14. "Every game the guys told me, 'We'll bust out for you tonight.' I could see them squeezing the bats extra hard." If Jones needs a shoulder to cry on, he can call retired knuckleballer Tom Candiotti . In 1995 Candiotti's Dodgers teammates made 28 errors behind him, most in the majors. They complemented their defensive shortcomings with a pitiful offense, one that supported Candiotti with a major-league worst 3.45 runs per nine innings. Candiotti managed to win seven games that season (he lost 14). Somewhere, Joe Harris surely smiled. 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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