Sunday, April 02, 2000
BASEBALL INSIDER
Yankees, Braves retool, could repeat
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Though repeating as a champion is among the most difficult tasks in sports, the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves have had plenty of practice. A second consecutive World Series featuring the pair is entirely possible.
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HAFT'S PICKS
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Reds beat reporter Chris Haft, who has been wrong a few hundred thousand times, forecasts the finish of the 2000 major-league season:
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Central
1. Cincinnati
2. Houston
3. Pittsburgh
4. St. Louis
5. Chicago
6. Milwaukee
East
1. New York
2. Atlanta *
3. Montreal
4. Philadelphia
5. Florida
West
1. San Francisco
2. Arizona
3. Colorado
4. Los Angeles
5. San Diego
* Wild-card winner
DIVISIONAL SERIES
New York over San Francisco
Atlanta over Cincinnati
NLCS
New York over Atlanta AMERICAN LEAGUE
Central
1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Kansas City
4. Detroit
5. Minnesota
East
1. Boston
2. New York*
3. Toronto
4. Baltimore
5. Tampa Bay
West
1. Seattle
2. Texas
3. Oakland
4. Anaheim
* Wild-card winner
DIVISIONAL SERIES
Boston over Seattle
Cleveland over New York
ALCS
Boston over Cleveland WORLD SERIES
N.Y. Mets over Boston
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The Yankees have all the confidence a team should possess after winning three of the last four Series. “All we have to do is play to our career averages and we'll be there,” right fielder Paul O'Neill said. “There's not one guy in this room you point to and say, "He's got to have a monster year.' We're not that kind of team.”
New York seemed to jell toward the end of spring training. After a rough start, they won their last seven games in Florida. Second baseman Chuck Knoblauch may not have kicked his poor-throwing habit, but appeared to curb it. Catcher Jorge Posada batted .333 without Joe Girardi around to split time with him. O'Neill, the ageless former Red, hit .404.
The Braves, who reached every National League Championship Series played in the 1990s, still look formidable, despite the John Rocker tempest and the loss of injured right-hander John Smoltz. Many observers believe that second baseman Quilvio Veras and outfielder Reggie Sanders, obtained from San Diego for second baseman Bret Boone and first baseman-outfielder Ryan Klesko, strengthen Atlanta's lineup.
“On paper, it's probably the best eight everyday players and bench guys we've had since I've been here,” said ace Greg Maddux, who joined Atlanta in 1993. “Defensively, I think it's our best team. There's really not a hole.”
But the Braves' competition in the National League East is more serious than ever. The New York Mets, who nearly toppled Atlanta in last year's League Championship Series, added Cy Young Award runner-up Mike Hampton. Even previous also-rans such as Montreal and Philadelphia have geared up to make runs at the wild-card berth.
“I think the fight for our division will be a lot harder,” Maddux said. “The teams around us are better. I don't think we're going to be thinking about the postseason in the first week of September like we have in the past.”
CHIPS AHOY: Early pick for American League batting champion: Ruben Mateo of the Texas Rangers.
You absolutely have to love Ma teo, a rookie center fielder. While other players gobble steroids and less-controversial supplements to foster nutritional and muscular development, Mateo insisted that he relies on chocolate chip cookies to help his hitting. It must have worked, since he batted .379 in Florida.
“I started eating a couple of cookies, and that's when I started to hit,” Mateo said. “Now I eat two a day. I'm going to keep it up during the season. Every day, two cookies. I'm going to break the hitting record. I'm going to hit in 162 straight games.”
He won't, of course. But others were impressed enough to try to take credit for Mateo's power snacking.
“I walked in one day and saw Ruben eating a salad,” Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. “I said, "Ruben, you ever have a pulled muscle?' He said yeah. I said, "You ever have a pulled fat?' He said no. I told him, "You better start eating chocolate chip cookies.'”
Shortstop Royce Clayton believes he started the legend. “We were up in Dunedin, and Ruben's walking around with no body fat,” Clayton said. “I said, "Ruben, you back up against the fence, you're going to be out a month. You need to start eating more cookies.'”
INFLATIONARY PERIOD: Lay off Denny Neagle. He had distinguished company this spring.
Neagle, the Reds' No.2 starter who posted a 9.72 exhibition-season ERA while allowing 10 home runs, was virtually matched by Arizona's all-everything lefty, Randy Johnson. The “Big Unit” posted a 9.64 ERA, yielding 28 hits — including six homers — in 17ö innings.
“It probably has been one of my more frustrating spring trainings,” said Johnson, last year's NL Cy Young Award winner who will start Arizona's season opener Tuesday against Philadelphia.
Johnson said he couldn't tell whether he has lost his stuff even if he had, since he's not throwing enough breaking pitches for strikes. “If I start getting my breaking ball over, my location is better and I continue to get hit — well, then I have something to worry about,” he said.
Lousy spring pitching from usually effective hurlers is a common malady. Mike Sirotka, the Chicago White Sox's Opening Day starter, had a 13.15 ERA. Four of San Francisco's five projected starters recorded ERAs of 5.74 or higher.
DARN THAT DOME: Last week's demolition of Seattle's Kingdome prompted sharp reaction from pitchers who suffered in the hitter-friendly ballpark.
Said reliever Bobby Ayala, who was booed routinely during his Mariners tenure, “What? They didn't call me to push the button?”
Oakland's Gil Heredia recalled allowing nine runs in one-third of an inning at Seattle while pitching for Texas in a 1996 game.
“If you don't have bad memories there, it means you don't have a good memory,” Heredia said.
QUICK HITS: One of the wildest late-spring trade rumors was the one sending Cleveland's Manny Ramirez to Montreal for relief ace Ugueth Urbina, outfielder Rondell White and right-hander Miguel Batista. “I don't like to deny rumors, but that's inaccurate,” Cleveland General Manager John Hart said. “I've heard some doozies lately.”
• Colorado Rockies manager Buddy Bell, who managed last summer's U.S. team in the Pan Am Games, promoted playing in this year's Olympic Games as a development tool. The U.S. team is expected to consist of accomplished minor leaguers. “It would be a tremendous experience, probably better than getting called up in September,” Bell said.
• The Padres plan to use Klesko at first base regularly, though his career batting average against left-handed pitchers is .208. He hits .298 off righties. Last year, Klesko hit .102 (5-for-49) against lefties.
• Left-hander Pete Schourek had this to say after the Pittsburgh Pirates released him despite signing him to a contract that guarantees him $2 million this year: “Nobody ever said the people in the game were the smartest people in the world.”
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