San Diego Padres owner John Moores endeared himself to baseball fans in the days prior to the strike deadline with a statement saying he was prepared to shut the game down for a season in order to get a favorable labor deal. Okay, "endeared" isn't actually the proper verb; "made his idiocy known" is a more suitable one. Moores' ultra-hardline stance--one which had no parallel voice even in that season of heated rhetoric--was manipulative and appalling.
It was also a fairly transparent bluff. Moores had already successfully milked the taxpayers of San Diego for roughly $300 million towards a new baseball stadium, set to open in 2004 to replace The Murph. For the Padres, who are covering $153 million of the stadium's cost, leading in with a full year's labor stoppage would have been financial suicide.
Now it looks like Moores could be shut down himself. He's the chairman of a software company, Peregrine Systems, which filed for bankruptcy this past weekend. The company had recently been de-listed by NASDAQ after admitting that it had overstated its revenues by abot $250 million. Since then, it's been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the Department of Justice for fraudulent accounting practices. With over 30 class-action lawsuits pending against Peregrine, Moores' share of the Padres could be liquidated if he's found liable.
But hey, what's a little liability when you're Fortune Magazine's 5th Greediest Executive? And what's a few more feds when you've already been the subject of a federal investigation regarding the bribery of a city councilwoman for the ballpark deal--an investigation which brought construction of the park to a halt for over a year? Moores was eventually cleared of wrongdoing: ""It is not a crime to give a gift to a public official."
In a group for whom convicted felon George Steinbrenner (conspiracy to make illegal campaign contributions to the Nixon campaign '72) is the model for success, Moores stands out among baseball owners for his greed, his audacity, and his ability to draw federal heat. It was bound to happen sooner or later: the third base coaches are waving his chickens home to roost.
As we saw last week, there's no telling what can happen once a fan runs out onto the field of play. This guy ran onto the field during the A's-Mariners game on Tuesday night. Clearly, he misunderstood the concept of the term "winning streak".
"They don't have it this year" is Page 2 writer Bill Simmons' simple eulogy for this year's Boston Red Sox, writing of their absence of the inexorable IT of which winning ballclubs are made--luck and good timing, "mindless gimmicks" and "quirky stretches," to use the writer's own words. I'd planned my own postmortem of the Sox as Tuesday night's work, but Boston denizen Simmons did the definitive job with his piece, so I'm tempted to save my schadenfreude for another day.
Which comes down to essentially the same point Simmons makes: these Sox didn't have enough of IT to get riled up about as we rooted against them. Not the way we could enjoy watching 2001's Duquette-led ship of fools hitting the iceberg, as its passengers choked each other to death on their way to drowning. This year's ship developed a slow leak a good ways out of the harbor--during the first round of interleague play--but aside from casting Jose Offerman overboard in spectacular fashion, never rewarded us with their typically unified front of divisiveness.
That was the case, at least until the team was truly dead in the water (OK, I'll stop with the maritime theme...) following their last go-round with the Yanks. Since then, the Sox's triumverate of superstars each found time to become embroiled in petty controversy (...which mean's it's time to bust out that can of schadenfreude after all):
Manny Ramirez, whose bonehead-first slide in a May 12 game cost him six weeks with a broken finger, thus foreshadowing the team's initial swoon, caused a flap over his at-bat theme music and then was vilified for not running out a routine groundout against Tampa Bay. Manager Grady Little didn't immediately yank Ramirez, which apparently caused him a sleepless night. Now, with all due respect to Little and anybody else who was kept awake by his gnashing, in my book any guy with an OPS over 1000 and a history of hamstring problems can pull up once in awhile if there's nothing on the line. Given that Ramirez has shown via his absence just how valuable he is, and given that he's tied to the Sox with a supposedly "immoveable" or "untradeable" contract (to use the words of two writers), doesn't it make sense to think in terms of the big picture of having him as healthy as possible?
Nomar Garciaparra, who has lost considerable ground to Alex Rodriguez and Miguel Tejada in the Great Shortstop Trinity or Quartet or Whatever since injuring his wrist and missing most of last season, evoked the ire of one Steve Buckley of the Boston Herald with a flippant remark. Responding sarcastically after a tough loss to a question about why the Sox road record was better than their home mark, Garciaparra triggered a bitter back-page tabloid rant in which the writer told the shortstop, "You don't deserve to play in Boston." Buckley attempted to hang Nomar for the high crimes of complaining about the fans and the media, even fabricating a story which had the Boston shortstop calling the pressbox to complain about a scorer's decision. He's right about one thing; Nomar doesn't deserve such horseshit treatment. "If we're all so negative, so cynical, so pessimistic, so Calvinist, believing that every pennant is predestined in spring training," writes Buckley , "then you should probably not be here." Probably not.
Pedro Martinez decided that he's calling the shots up and down the Boston organization. On Saturday, Martinez threatened to leave the Sox after 2004 ""if they don't pick up the option soon and negotiate with me." Invoking the heartwarming free-agency saga of Alex Rodriguez by threatening "to hear what other teams have to offer" Pedro reminded the Sox that "that could be very risky." Never mind the fact that he's got a ticking time-bomb for an arm and that contract Armageddon is not one but TWO years away; he doesn't get to hear jack shit from other teams for a long while no matter how the Sox treat him.
That hasn't slowed his Napoleon complex, however. Fresh off of his 20th victory, Martinez declared himself shut down for the season without consulting manager Little--this before the team was actually mathematically eliminated from the Wild Card. Now explain to me again why the Sox should eagerly commit money to this delicate flower well before they have to?
Look, contrary to Simmons' excellent analysis, the Red Sox failure this season is simple to explain. They underperformed in 1-run ballgames (13-22), and this skewed their Pythagorean projection (a simple prediction of a team's Won-Lost record based on Runs Scored and Runs Allowed). The Sox, with 799 scored and 621 allowed, project to a winning percentage of .613 and are 6.6 games below that projection. The Yankees, with 848 scored and 676 allowed, project to a winning percentage of .602 and are 3.7 wins above that--a 10-game swing between projection and performance. That's where the Sox season died.
There's a fragile equilibrium to an unhappy ballclub. In order to make a team truly worthy of one's enmity, poor performance on the field must be accompanied by ever more sour missives delivered at and by the players through the media. Just when it seemed the Red Sox didn't have enough of IT to pull this off, just when I'd dismissed them, it's apparent that they've hit their stride after all. With writers and players finally pointing the fingers, the team has arrived at last during the season's final weeks. What an amazing comeback!
On Saturday, the Yankees wrapped up the AL East title, thus making official what had been a foregone conclusion since vanquishing Boston one last time on September 4. With a week left in the regular season and not much in the way of competition except those pesky Devil Rays, the big suspense in the Bronx is attached to personal milestones, playoff pairings, and postseason roster and rotation decisions. Oh, and the small matter of whether or not Mariano Rivera's shoulder can hold up.
In the milestones department, Alfonso Soriano is one bomb short of his quest for 40 homers and 40 steals and nearing the ML record for homers by a second baseman. Bernie Williams is on the cusp of 200 hits, 20 homers and 100 RBI, and not quite dead in the AL batting race. Jorge Posada and Robin Ventura are within striking distance of 100 RBI, giving the Yanks as many as five with that distinction. The team itself is 2 wins shy of 100. Most of these numbers will round into shape but don't expect to hear any whining unless that last one goes unfulfilled. I had them down for 103 and I think they've got a shot.
The playoff pairings aren't set in stone, but it's virtually certain (one Anaheim win or one Boston loss) that the Wild Card will come from the Wild Wild AL West and will face the Yankees. The A's lead the Angels by three games with six to go, meaning that they'll likely win the division and place out of a third straight 5-game ALDS matchup with the Yanks. The Yanks and A's do have something going, however; they're vying for the league's best record and thus home-field advantage in the playoffs. The Beaners are one game up on the Bombers at this writing.
Joe Torre has two big decisions facing him this week, and while Michael Kay and Suzyn Waldman may feign suspense to keep viewers tuning in, anybody who watches the team knows that the answers have already been scripted.
On the leftfield situation, where Rondell White, Juan Rivera, and Shane Spencer are vying for the starting role and perhaps a roster spot, here is what Joe will say: "Obviously, with Shane's hamstring the way it is, we have to consider some other options. This Rivera kid has really shown us what he can do, and we're still hoping Rondell can get it going and help us out. Shane, well, you know he can hit lefties, so he could be a pinch-hitter for us."
On the starting rotation, where five distinguished starters are competing for four slots in the rotation: "The Posada incident wasn't a factor--that's a family matter we've already taken care of. We felt that since El Duque has had a bit of experience coming out of the bullpen, he's the most suited to the task. That may change depending upon the matchups, if we get through, but for the time being, we're going this way."
At the beginning of the season I complied this chart, showing the postseason stats of the Yankee starters:
W-L ERA IP ER
Pettitte 10-7 4.34 149.1 72
Hernandez 9-2 2.48 90.2 25
Wells 8-1 2.74 85.1 26
Clemens 6-6 3.33 127.0 47
Mussina 4-2 2.56 66.2 19
Hitchcock 4-0 1.76 30.2 6
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TOTALS 41-18 3.19 549.2 195
Hitchcock is unlikely to make the postseason roster, but everybody else has a legitimate case as a starter. Though he hasn't pitched particularly well in the second half, Clemens gets it on pedigree. Despite his recent controversies, Wells is in, for making Boss Steinbrenner's hamburger gambit look smart. Pettitte's been the Yanks' most consistent pitcher during the second half, 10-2 since the All-Star break. The choice for fourth starter ultimately comes down to Mussina and Hernandez.
Despite his gaudy 16-10 record, Moose has struggled the hardest of any Yankee starter this season, with his 4.33 ERA to show for it, but the Yanks are committed to him long-term. They'll push El Duque into the relief role because they can. Hernandez has spent a season on the brink of being traded, and the Yanks seem destined to exert their leverage at all times by reminding him that he's expendable. More tellingly, he's also the only one of the bunch who's made a relief appearance since 1998.
It may be stretching things to say I don't agree with a decision that hasn't even been made, but I'm bracing for this one. Other than any medical report on Rivera's shoulder (which has seemed to hold up through two non-consecutive appearances since returning from the DL) and Sori's 40-40 quest, it's the only real drama in the Bronx right now.
The Milwaukee Brewers are bad, downright awful, in fact. Having already lost over 100 games this season, they're the worst team in franchise history--even worse than the 1969 Seattle Pilots (64-98). And even less likely to leave behind a bestselling epitaph.
Their offense is pretty pathetic, last in the league in runs scored, and 14th out of 16 in OPS. But faced with a series which actually meant something--three games against the San Francisco Giants this weekend, games with NL Wild Card implications--manager Jerry Royster chose to make his team even more feeble than it already is. Royster benched All-Star shortstop Jose Hernandez in order to prevent him from breaking the single-season major league record for strikeouts in front of the home crowd.
Hernandez has struck out 188 times this season, one short of the record Bobby Bonds set in 1970. With a week to go, he's a lock to break the record if he plays at all. But Royster didn't bench his shortstop to avoid the record, as Florida Marlins manager John Boles did by sitting Preston Wilson during last season's final week. The manager of the Brewers is simply trying to protect his player, upset because Hernandez was being booed at Miller Park for NOT striking out, among other things. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Fans in the right-field stands assembled what looked like 188 'K' placards, which were removed at an usher's request."
They do know their strikeouts in Milwaukee. Last year's team set a major-league record for striking out with 1399, led by Hernandez (185) and Sexson (178). This year they've cut down considerably (1079 with a week to go), which is even one less thing the Milwaukee faithful have to cheer about. Royster doesn't see it that way, however: "I don't think he deserves any treatment like that. What he deserves, if he gets it, is the strikeout record. Also what he deserves is praise for the way he's played. He's getting none of that. He's only getting where people are trying to humiliate him... We won't avoid the record. I will help him avoid being humiliated."
Somebody else will have to nominate Royster for the Humanitarian of the Year Award. I'll take issue with the fact that he can't even lose right. Hernandez, who's hitting .282 AVG/.351 OBP/.473 SLG/824 OPS with 24 HR, is the team's second best hitter. Without him the enfeebled Brewers managed only three runs and 14 hits over their three games with the Giants. Not that one hitter would have definitely made a difference against the Giants, but Hernandez's presence in the lineup rather than rookie Bill Hall (hitting .158 through the end of the series) couldn't have hurt the team, and was merited given the circumstances of games with playoff implications. Is the integrity of the schedule too much for Milwaukee to handle?
Royster, who may well get fired at season's end anyway, deserves some grief over this. A seven-year contract to manage the Brewers ought to be sufficient punishment.
As for Bonds' record, it will likely fall to Hernandez during the Brewers' series in Houston. It's amazing that that the mark has stood for 32 years, given that strikeouts rates have increased about 20% in that span. Here are the National League rates of K's per team per game, taken at five evenly spaced intervals from the time Bonds set the record until now:
1970: 5.88 per team per game
1978: 5.10
1986: 6.01
1994: 6.32
2002: 7.01
The stigma against strikeouts isn't what it used to be; it's worth noting that of the top 40 single season totals, only two of them happened before 1970, and one of them was Bonds' previous high of 187 in 1969 (the other was previous record-holder Dave Nicholson's 175 in 1963). Several players have come close to breaking the record in this span, including Wilson, former Brewer Rob Deer (who didn't play several games during the season's final week in 1987, when he finished with an AL record 186), Pete Incaviglia, and Jim Thome. It was bound to fall sooner or later.
Postscript: Score an error for me on the Preston Wilson comment; it was 2000, not 2001 when Wilson struck out 187 times. Furthermore, while Boles vowed to bench Wilson down the stretch to avoid the record, he did back off somewhat. The Marlins outfielder played in 161 games for the season, with two pinch-hitting appearances in the final week.
