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Woe is baseball It's just one problem after another for the national pastimePosted: Thursday May 30, 2002 5:21 PM
There have been better times to be a baseball fan. Think of the stories that have generated the most buzz among clubhouse denizens and box-seat buyers in recent weeks. The flap over Mike Piazza's sexuality. The continuing threat of contraction -- the Twins are close to saving their hides for next year, but Bud Selig hasn't abandoned the plan for other teams. (Are you listening, Tampa Bay?) There are the maddeningly slow labor negotiations, which have prompted the union to discuss setting an August strike date. The owners and players did make some progress in their talks earlier this week, deciding to eliminate exhibition games during the season and agreeing to changes in the way major league service time is counted. Does that excite you? Revenue sharing and a luxury tax it ain't, but even baby steps are important. Then there is Tom Verducci's story in this week's Sports Illustrated about the prevalence of steroid use in baseball. This story has needed to be written for a long time. The specifics of Verducci's piece are shocking and new, but anyone who spends much time around major league clubhouses has known for a while that weights and protein shakes aren't the sole sources of the Mr. Universe physiques beneath many uniforms. The steroid issue and the looming labor meltdown are linked -- and not just because the players' association's steadfast opposition to drug testing creates yet another issue that the union and ownership disagree on. Baseball got back into fans' good graces after its last work stoppage with the help of two gripping record chases: Cal Ripken's march on Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak in 1995 and the assault on Roger Maris' single-season home run mark launched by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998. Baseball can't count on a similar scenario if another stoppage drives fans away this summer. Regardless of what percentage of major leaguers use steroids -- 10 percent? 20 percent? 50 percent? -- it's hard to get excited about history being made by modern players who may be artificially enhanced. As irritating as the frequent labor wars have been, fans could always fall back on the fact that, on the field, the game was still the same one they'd always loved. That's why so many fans, even if they did so grudgingly, have returned to the sport after cursing both players and owners and swearing it off. Many people are turned off by the money and the greed that seem to pervade baseball, yet they endure as fans because they love the game itself. Steroid accusations -- and the lack of a testing program that would prove baseball is serious about keeping itself clean -- eat away at the trust that is the basis of being a fan. Without that, it's hard to justify why the games are played, or watched, at all. That being the case, will anyone care if there's no baseball come August? The fat toad becomes a princeWhen we last heard from Hideki Irabu in 2001, his major league career appeared to be over. In September of last year he was released by the lowly Expos, who couldn't rationalize paying $2.5 million a year to a pitcher who had won all of two games in 19 months with the team. Irabu's release came after he had been slapped with a weeklong suspension for missing a rehab start for the Class AAA Ottawa Lynx, reportedly because he'd gone on a drinking binge the day before he was scheduled to take the mound. Frequently injured (he made just 14 major league starts in two seasons in Montreal), ineffective (6.68 ERAover that span), out of shape and irresponsible -- those just aren't the labels a 31 year old who wants to extend his career needs attached to his name. No player, no matter how troubled, was too risky for the Rangers to invite into the fold this winter, however. Texas signed Irabu to a minor league deal in December and offered him a chance to make the big club in spring training. The gamble has paid off: After five tumultuous seasons, the Japanese import may finally have found a niche in North America as the savior of the Rangers' beleaguered bullpen. With Jeff Zimmerman out until midseason with an elbow injury and John Rocker banished to the minor leagues, Irabu has taken over as Texas' closer. He's flourished in the role: Heading into this weekend's series against the Royals, Irabu has converted 11 of 13 save opportunities. Take away his two early season starts, when he was bombed for eight runs in 11 innings, and his ERA is a sparkling 2.84. The Rangers' bullpen still has a way to go before it can be thought of as a strength, but the stability provided by the man once christened a "fat toad" by George Steinbrenner is a major reason Texas has been respectable (16-16) after losing 14 of its first 19 games. Irabu spent the offseason playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, where he led the league in wins and strikeouts. His attitude may have also gotten a makeover there. After declaring during spring training that he wouldn't be "comfortable" as a reliever -- just 10 of his 88 career appearances had him come out of the bullpen -- he now concedes that, "It's fun." A closer's short-burst workload seems to agree with Irabu. Known for cruising through the order once or twice and then losing his concentration late in the game as a starter, Irabu has had no trouble staying aggressive and sharp for the inning or so he now works. He walked just eight in his first 30 innings, and opponents were hitting a Mariano Rivera-esque .211 against him in his relief outings. His key has been getting ahead in the count with his fastball, then using his diving forkball, which looks like a fastball until it tumbles out of the zone, to put hitters away. Says Rangers catcher Bill Haselman, "Anytime you've got pitches that look like fastballs and aren't, you've got a great pitch if you get ahead of the hitters." Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for the magazine. Touching Base appears every week on CNNSI.com |
