Sunday, September 02, 2001
Baseball Insider
Phillies, Braves straggling home
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Contrary to popular belief, thoroughbreds don't accelerate down the stretch toward the finish line. The winner's circle is usually inhabited by the horse that decelerates the least. That's kind of the situation in the National League East, where the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies are staggering toward the wire. The standings make this a great race. But the rivals are running in quicksand.
Atlanta, which began Saturday leading Philadelphia by one game, has lost 13 of its last 17 home games. What kind of champion — division or otherwise — plays like that when it counts?
“This has been a weird year,” right fielder Brian Jordan told the Morris News Service. “I don't know what to expect. It's going to be a challenge.”
Similarly, the Phillies had lost 11 of their last 15 overall entering play Saturday. But remaining competitive this late in the season has seemed to energize Philadelphia — in contrast to the Braves, who perennially appear in the postseason.
“We've been right in it all season and we're going to be right there at the end,” Phillies center fielder Doug Glanville told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “We need to enjoy this, savor it, appreciate it. We've got some exciting things in front of us.”
NEW TARGET: Seattle's fabulous Ichiro Suzuki, who began Saturday with 205 hits, is closing in on the all-time rookie record for that category. This isn't news.
What's news is that Suzuki will have to extend himself more than anyone originally realized to make history.
It was initially thought that Suzuki was aiming at the total of 223 hits amassed by Pittsburgh's Lloyd Waner in 1927. That was the rookie standard listed in The Sporting News' record book, which is widely considered to be authoritative.
But it's not official. That distinction belongs to the Elias Sports Bureau, which recognizes “Shoeless” Joe Jackson's 233 hits for Cleveland in 1911 as the real rookie mark.
Though Jackson had played parts of three seasons before 1911, the qualifications for rookie status (no more than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched or 45 days on a major-league roster before Sept. 1) hadn't yet been established. Also, Jackson's involvement with the infamous 1919 Chicago White Sox may have tarnished his image with TSN.
SHARP TONGUE: Cleveland Indians coach Grady Little, who served as the team's acting manager while Charlie Manuel un derwent abdominal surgery, showed a knack for wit during his stint in the hot seat.
Tuesday, volatile reliever John Rocker slammed the ball into Little's hand after being removed from a game against Boston in the eighth inning. Though the Indians led handily, Rocker had thrown two wild pitches and walked three batters.
Little didn't scold Rocker for being shown up on the mound. He singed him with sarcasm instead.
“That might have been the best fastball he threw,” Little said of Rocker's palmistry act. “It was good to see him hit the target.”
TAMPA-RING: If tampering charges were reversible, Oakland superstar Jason Giambi would be guilty.
Giambi, who's eligible for free agency after this season, has essentially ruled out signing with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and all underachieving teams like them.
“I think you work too hard in your career. I don't really see myself going to Tampa,” the reigning American League MVP told the Baltimore Sun. “Why do you want to take a step backward? Not to say they're not going in the right direction. But when you get an opportunity for what you've done in your career and get a chance to win, you want to stay with a winning team.
“I know it's hard to understand. But I look back now, being in the playoff hunt, and wonder how did I play all those years when we were terrible, coming to the ballpark every day going, "Oh, we've lost 97 games.' You're already planning your trip as soon as the season ends. It's hard to motivate yourself when you do that.”
QUICK PITCHES: The 4-4 record and 7.78 ERA Rob Bell has compiled with the Texas Rangers has them wondering whether the right-hander, formerly the brightest hope of the Reds' starting rotation, might be better as a set-up reliever.
• Detroit finished with 14 home runs in August — three fewer than Chicago's Sammy Sosa. Thursday, Shane Halter went deep to end a streak of eight homerless games. Joked Tigers manager Phil Garner to reporters, “When I saw Shane circling the bases, I said, "What's he doing?'”
• Another indication of the popularity of bobble-head dolls occurred Wednesday after Arizona's Luis Gonzalez pounded his 50th home run. The fan catching the ball — who happened to be wearing a St. Louis jersey, though the site was Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark — wanted two autographed bats, a ball and a Gonzalez bobble-head figurine before yielding the home-run ball.
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Amelia 27, Meadowdale 6
Beechwood 30, Lloyd 12
CovCath 34, Dixie 21
Elder 26, Cleveland Glenville 6
Holmes 45, Holy Cross 15
Newport 18, Dayton 13
Warren Harding 55, Moeller 0
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