THE OUTSIDE EDGE--Week Two

By The Flow

Notice the new title. A little zippier then "Week In Review," it is not, repeat not a reference to, or in support of, the "new, improved" strike zone. Braves hitting coach Merv Rettemund said he can't believe he was actually in favor of the "new" zone when he first heard about it during the winter meetings. The new zone is supposed to be the activation of the old (regulation) zone, but it is a brave new world zone. Different umps have wildly different interpretations. The new zone is supposed to help speed up the game. That statement contains two dubious propositions: one, I don't see what's the big deal about needing to speed up the game, but two, if that's really what we want to do, calling more high strikes (which is essentially what the new old new zone is all about) is not going to speed them up.. Mark McGwire echoed our our own whacky Baseball Crank when he said, "The only way to do that (speed up the game) is to reduce the game to seven innings, go to three balls and two strikes. " We'll keep you posted on the Great Experiment, which so far has far more detractors than supporters

STANDINGS: At the end of Week Two, Toronto (9-4), Minnesota (9-2), and Seattle (9-3) are leading their respective divisions in the AL, while Philadelphia (7-4), Chicago and Houston (8-4) and San Francisco (7-5) are ahead in the NL. Minnesota? Not only are they 4 ahead of Cleveland and 5 in front of Chicago, the two teams that are supposed to duke it out for control of the AL Central, the Twins have t he best record in the majors! They are young, they probably don't have the depth to remain kings of the mountain all season, but they have excellent pitching, good defense, and Tom Kelly. Twice before, in 1987 and 1991, Kelly brought the Twins from nowhere to the World Series. They have no Kirby Puckett nor Kent Hrbek in 2001, but they have Brad Radke (3-0, 2.70), Eric Milton and Joe Mays (both 2-0, 3.32). They have five regulars -- the two first base/ DH guys, David Ortiz and Doug Mientkiewicz (loser of the Ted Kluszewski spelling derby when names were given out), third sacker Corey Koskie, left fielder Jacques Jones and shortstop Christian Guzman -- hitting well over .300. It's not like these guys came out of nowhere, either: they are young, but Koskie hit .300 last year, Ortiz and Jones were in the .280s and Guzman hit .277. But Guzman is better known for his fielding prowess and it is the Twins' solid fielding, backing up the quality pitching, that has the club off to its best start in franchise history.

People have been waiting on the Phillies for years. With a potentially mighty lineup including excellent hitters like Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu (did you know that in five big league seasons, Abreu has a .313 lifetime average and a .413 OBP?), Doug Glanville, plus catcher Mike Lieberthal, an excellent backstop who hit 31 homers in '99, the Phils were in the hunt in both 1998 and '99 until the dog days of August, when they folded. The demise was written off as the learning curve of a young club. But they stunk all year last year and this season their earlier promise had pretty much been written off. Quietly, they are putting together a good season, and Bruce Chen (1-0, 1.50) has been pitching like he was supposed to for the Braves, Robert Person appears poised for another solid season, while Omar Daal at 1-0, 4.41 is clearly off to a better start than last year when he went 4-19 and may prove the old saw that it takes a good pitcher to lose 20 games (ok, it was 19, but the point is, the manager must have faith in the poor chump if he keeps giving him the ball after that many losses). Rickey Bottalico is back and doing well, although he lost his old closers' spot to Jose Mesa. Many laughed at the Phils for giving the 34-year old Mesa a two year, 7 million dollar deal. The once feared Cleveland closer has been a fierce-looking journeyman reliever who was fooling no one in recent years, but so far he is proving to be a good acquisition, with 4 saves (okay, the 7 mil is still absurd). Chris Brock has also been effective in the bullpen. In fact, the Phillies stat page shows that "7 are tied with one" for the club lead in wins. Don't you love these early season stats?

In the AL East, the Blue Jays have managed to stay ahead of the Red Sox and Y ankees, but this division could end up a good old-fashioned donnybrook. The Jays are 9-4, the Sox and Bombers are right on their tail feathers at 8-4. Those who still doubted that Boston had the pitching and the guts to win without Garciaparra are coming around, especially after the Red Sox took three of four from the Yanks this weekend (here we are including this morning's Patriot Day tilt, held early enough that fans can be at the finish line when the winners of the Boston Marathon come pouring in. So Boston is actually 9-4 and the Yanks 8-5, and the Blue Jays have the day off.)

It was a tight series, one that could easily have ended up 3-1 Yanks instead of the other way around. Friday it was 3-2 Boston, Saturday 3-2 New York, Sunday 5-4 Boston, and this morning, 4-1, Boston, the only non one-run game. Pedro is pitching like we figured he would: only 1-0 because of two close no-decision games, including this weekends' battle vs. Clemens, but he has a 1.23 ERA., 31 K's in 22 innings--and only 6 walks. But many critics thought they had nothing after Martinez. Instead Nomo is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and is averaging close to a K/IP, while Paxton Crawford and Frank Castillo are keeping their ERAs right at 3. In the series vs. the Yanks, these four gave up 6 runs and 13 hits in 24 innings.

There is no doubt they miss Nomar, and outside of Manny Ramirez, who has been everything Dan Duquette had hoped for (.396, a homer and 13 RBI, and a .482 OBP--who cares if he has fanned 20 times already?), it ain't pretty. Jose Awfulman is in the Dick Stuart, Dr. Strangeglove Hall of Fame, yet he is a .280 career hitter in his 12th big league season, and is hitting .342 so far in 2001. Carl Everett is trying real hard to live up to the Albert Belle/Mr. Mellow persona, but he is hitting .340 with a homer and 5 RBI. Brian Daubach is only batting .240, but has 4 homers and 10 RBI, numbers reminiscent of Rob Deer.

Out west, the Mariners are showing that a deep pitching staff and solid lineup are perhaps more important than departed superstars Johnson, Griffey and A-Rod. Suzuki continues to delight fans on two continents, Mike Cameron will never be Junior be he is one good center fielder, John Olerud has fit right into the Northwest, and Brett Boone may at last be living up to the potential he displayed early on. But if you ask me, The Ancient One, Edgar Martinez, is showing that maybe it was he, not Junior or the Rod, who was the real heart of this team all along (for raw soul, you still gotta go with Jay Buhner, who has been physically falling apart for years but is the fire that keeps this team going). Edgar is a DH and he didn't do much before age 30, but if there was a Hall of Fame for players with great careers after 30, he'd be a charter member. Coming into 2001 with a .320 career average, so far he is hitting .390, has a .554 OBP, a Ruthian .707 Slugging Average, 3 homers and 11 RBI -- at age 38! He will get his 2000th hit next season, all but 561 of them after turning 30.

The Rangers gained some ground this weekend by winning 2 of 3 from Oakland, rasing their mark to 7-6. But they yielded 8 runs Saturday and Sunday in the wins, and lost 13-1 on Friday. Like everyone outside of Texas predicted, they would score tons of runs---and give them right back. They win two of three but give up 29 runs! You ain't gonna win a pennant that way. As for A-Rod, since you asked, he was on fire this weekend: 6 for 10, with 4 homers and 13 RBI. On the season, he is now hitting .354, with a .458 OBP, 4 Hrs and 15 RBI.

And what of those A's, those last place A's that many predicted were going to the World Series, those A's with the worst record (2-10) in the majors? Well, they suck, that's what of those A's. They are still young, which means they are still learning, but they are also resilient and they just have too much talent to be losing like this. They could have easily won both weekend games after trouncing Texas 13-1 on Friday. They are obviously giving up too many runs, losing 9-8 and 10-8, but they scored 29 runs in three games, so the hitting drought appears to be over. The problem is, unless they go on an amazing winning streak, this two week disaster may cost them the division. They trail the M's by 7 games, so even if they play like they are supposed to, they have a lot of catching up to do.

This week, the big series will be the Dodgers and Giants, Tuesday through Thursday. So far, the NL West is shaping up into a great race. The Giants keep winning 2 of 3 (they lost two of three against Milwaukee this weekend, however), and are 7-5 for the season. The Dodgers are half a game behind their hated rivals, while the Rockies and surprising Padres are a game out. Arizona is slumping at 4-8, but are only 3 out.

The big news in this division is home runs. One person who appears to love the new strike zone is Luis Gonzales of the Diamondbacks. Always a good player, his homer total has risen the past three years from 23 to 26 to 31. He hit .336 in '99, his first year in the desert, then .311 in 2000. But this year he is going crazy--he leads all major leaguers with 9 homers! Yet Sunday, Todd Hollandsworth, a former ROY who has turned into a journeyman, stole Luis' fire. In the rubber match of the Colorado-Arizona series, the Rockies won 10-7, when Hollandsworth, after fanning his first two trips, whacked three consecutive home runs. Finally, there is Barry Bonds, who finished the weekend one short of his 500th home run. The Brewers beat SF Sunday, but Bonds hit his 5th homer of the season, #499 lifetime.

Let's back up to the NL East for a minute. We talked about the Phils, and if the Expos, who are half game out, are still breathing that rarefied air next week, we'll talk about them. But what about the traditional powerhouses of this division, the Braves and the Mets? The Braves are creeping up and the key stat here is that in their first 8 games they had a 5.36 ERA, while in their last 5 that ERA has evaporated down to 0.99. The best part-time pickup of the year may end up being Rico Brogna, part-time first baseman, full time class act who seems to be around home plate every time the Braves win one. As for the Mets, they lost three in a row to the Reds this weekend and are now looking for the scuba gear, swimming down there at the bottom with the Marlins.

The Reds are a team you can never overlook, and in the confused and complicated NL Central they have a chance. They showed how steady they are on Saturday, when they scored one run. Say what? That is, they scored in that game, giving them the NL record of 175 consecutive games without being shut out. They have Junior, who got a bad rap last year. There was a feeling that he had an off-year his first season as a Red. Yeah, right. For the first time in four years he didn't lead his league in homers, but he still whacked 40 and drove in 118 runs, while missing 17 games. I'll take a dozen. They also have Shawn Casey and Pokey Reese, two of the best youngsters in the game, and they have Dmitri Young who looks like he is finally going to hit like the Cardinals thought he would when they first brought him up. Since arriving in Cincy in '98, Dmitri has hit .300 or better every year, but at 6-2, 235 you want him to show more power than his career best 18 homers and 88 RBI last year. This could be the year.

The Reds have to out-duel the Astros, though, who are playing like they did in '98 and '99. Biggio and Bagwell are pretty much givens, and this year a former Honolulu boy, 3B Chris Truby, has already hit six homers. If he keeps hitting like that, he could took some of the pressure off the "Killer Bees.."

The Cubs begin Week Three tied with the Astros. Sammy is happy, Mueller is making people wonder why the Giants didn't try harder to keep him, and the pitching is shaping up--knock on wood. It's early yet, but with decent pitching all year, the Cubs could chew on the other contenders.

Which includes the Cardinals, along with the Reds and Astros. McGwire is still a big question mark, but J.D. Drew is looking like the superstar he was supposed to be, Vina, Renteria and Edmonds, along with catcher Mike Matheny -- who the pitchers love -- form one of the best up-the-middles in the game. Ray Lankford appears to be making a comeback. The big surprise has been rookie Albert Pujols. Many, including yours truly, wondered why the Cards let talented third baseman Fernando Tatis walk this winter. Now we know. Pujols has replaced Tatis, hitting .413, with 4 homers, 12 RBI, 10 runs, and a .739 slugging average. It is those pitchers, though, who will really determine what happens to the Redbirds. When their starters are healthy and on track, as in 2000, the Cards are world beaters. When they are not, as has been the case more often than not in the Larussa era, the ballclub struggles. Is Andy Benes going to make a full comeback? How about Matt Morris? So far, they both stink, as does Darryl Kile. Ankiel had that one good game, otherwise, while he is not throwing the ball over the screen, he hasn't shown much either. Of the three, Morris is the only one with a sub-5.00 ERA--and his is 4.76. Luckily, bullpen-by-committee members Veres, Timlin and Kline have kept them in several games.

So there it is, folks. Perhaps not quite as spectacular as opening week, but plenty of interesting stories. What interests me the most are these dark horses, the Twins, the Phils, the Cubs. If the Twins just play .500 ball for the remainder of the year, they will be 6 games above .500, their best season in a decade. Will the Phils finally live up to the expectations of '98 and '99? As for the Cubs, well...

See ya next week...PS--Remember also, that as well as the Dodgers and Giants, A-Rod and the Rangers face the Mariners starting tonight. Seattle fans have taken to calling their former hero "Pay-Rod."