James Floto Presents "The Outside Edge," a weekly review of the 2001 season.

Week Nine: We Complete the first third of the season

That is correct, folks, 54 games equal a third of a 162-game season. As of Monday morning, June 4, seven teams have played exactly 54 games, while 13 more have played either 53 or 55--and the entire NL West, which rarely endures rain outs, has played 56 games. The season is a third over. Approximately 54 games henceforth, we will show how teams did in the middle third of the season and compare it with the first third, and at the completion of the year, we will divide the season into three neat little packages. Maybe the Devil Rays, under new manager Tony Perez, will play .500 ball during the middle third of the season, even though their wretched 15-41 record essentially dooms them to a horrible season regardless of the magic Perez, who as Director of Player development, may be able to pull off because he knows these guys. On the other hand, the high sailing Mariners may level off and play .500 ball during the middle of the summer.

THREE STREAKING CLUBS. Which provides us with a segue into our first topic, the fact that three teams have been on fantastic tears recently. On Sunday, Ben Sheets threw a wet blanket on the Cubs 12-game winning streak, but the Cubs are remain enthusiastic. This was the longest winning streak by the Cubs since their roster included names like Cavaretta, Herman, Jurges and Stan Hack, with Ethan Allen and Auggie Galan in the outfield, and hurlers named Bill Lee, Larry French, Tex Carelton, and the old Arkansas Hummingbird himself, Leon Warnake. Despite their 13-game win streak that year, those Cubs finished tied for second with the Cards, five games behind the Giants. The 2001 club got off to a fine start, started to pull in it's claws as baseball's talking heads started laughing, sating, "Here they go, it couldn't last." But the they revived, culminating in the 12-game streak, which allowed them to climb right back over the Cardinals. They lead the NLC by 2 1/2 games on 6-4, with a 33-21 (.611) record. How are they doing it?

Hitting? Sammy Sosa is roaring, with a .297 BA, .429 OBP, 16 HRs, 50 RBI and a .632 SA. Swell, but you need more than Sammy. The Cubs as a team are hitting .252, 11th in the NL. Their 229 runs are 10th, and their OBP is also 11th. After Sammy, Rondell White has 24 RBI and Rickey Gutierrez has 23--at the 1/3 point of the season, these guys, the Cubs 2nd and 3rd RBI guys, are on pace for about 75 RBI. No one else has more than 19. So it's not their hitting.

Must be the pitching, then, correct? 37-year-old Kevin Tapani, 19-9 in '98 but 14-24 the last two years, is hot once again, 8-1, 3.47. Jon Lieber is 5-3, 2.95, Jason Bere has an erratic 5.13 ERA, but is 4-2, while Jason Tavarez is making a comeback, despite his 3-4 record. He has shown flashes of that nasty delivery that once made him and Jose Mesa a frightening 1-2 bullpen combo in Cleveland. Kerry Wood is also making a comeback, 4-4, 4.07, also with several nifty starts. Can Tapani, Tavarez and Wood, all veterans who have had fine years but have struggled in recent seasons, all rock steady in 2001? Even now, the Cubs have only scored 9 more runs than they have given up, but their 3.79 ERA is second best in the NL, and relievers Duncan, Farnsworth, Fassero (10 saves) and Gordon (9 more), are keeping the Cubs in the race.

In recent weeks we have marvelled at how evenly matched the NLW has been. Last week, only 3 games separated the top from the bottom. Now, Arizona, riding a 9-game win streak, leads second place LA by 3 games and the last place Pads and Giants trail by 7. This is a volatile division, and I predict that several other teams will have big streaks, and at least LA and Colorado will be highly visible in the D-backs rear view mirror, and the Giants will be there if their pitching ever comes around. But now it's Arizona's turn. They are doing now what they were supposed to last year when they acquired Curt Schilling, even though Matt Williams is still hobbling. The Big Unit is having another eye-popping year (6-4, with the 38th worst run support in the league), 2.95, 137 K's and only 27 BB in 92 IP, while Schilling currently leads the majors with 9 wins (vs. one loss), a 2.76 ERA, and 100 whiffs and only 12 walks in 91 innings. However, their other regular starters --Ellis, Anderson and Reynoso are a combined 7-9 with a composite ERA over 5. You ain't gonna win a pennant with this Spahn and Sain, wait for rain set-up--especially playing half your games in the desert. Relievers Prinz and Sabel are impressing the scouts, Kim is not as spectacular as last year but is good enough and the veteran Greg Swindell is a stabilizing force.

With Williams (.266, 5, 21) still struggling, who is carrying the club? Luis Gonzales was about on a par with his long-time teammate Derek Bell (who, despite all the dissing this year in Pittsburgh, was a highly respected outfielder in the mid-90s in Houston) who hit ..336 and .331 his first two years in Arizona, with 26, then 31 homers, and 112 and 106 ribbies. He already has 21 homers and 45 RBI with a .329 BA and .422 OBP. Mark Grace, who I again advise you to watch as a potential 3,000-hit guy, is doing fine in his first year in the desert, with a .317 BA and 33 RBI. Jay Bell, another reliable veteran, is hitting .317 with 27 RBI. Grace and Bell both have 8 homers. Reggie Sanders gets less press than any man with 44 RBI in the game. Steve Finley struggles at the plate, but even though he is 36, he plays center field with the grace of a 26-year-old and makes those highlight films constantly. This club is the only one with a better ERA than the Cubs and has scored about 50 more runs.

Furthermore, it seems rather ironic that guys who yank on their privates and scratch their tushes on national TV, in-between spitting sunflower seeds all over the floor of the dugout, want to discuss "baseball etiquette." This is not about Miss Manners Charm School, it's about winning ball games. I appear to be in the minority, but my vote goes to Davis. Schilling, by the bye, has several misdemeanor priors in snivelling. Anyway, the D-backs won the game and 8 more so no win is going to feel too sorry for them. Not me, anyway.

Meanwhile, there is one more club on a hot streak, and this is the best club in baseball in 2001. The team with the best record already, has won 11 straight and boosted their W-L Pct. from .700 to nearly ..800! Allow me to play with the Mariner's possibilities for a minute. They are 43-12, the best start since the '53 Yanks. Only the 1912 Giants and '39 Yanks, at 44-11, had better starts. If the Mariners fail to win another game, they are already 3 wins ahead of the '62 Mets. If they merely play .500 ball for the remainder of the year, they will conclude the season with a 97-65 record. If they keep playing anything like they have, they just may beat the 1954 Indians 111-43 record or the 1998 Yankees 114-48 record.

No fair, some pundits and fans cry. These are not the '39 Yanks or the '54 Indians. These are the Seattle Mariners. No only that, these are the M's sans the Unit, KGII and A-Rod. That may be the reason they are winning so steadily. The Mariners have had good pitching recently, and while the players who remain may not command the salaries or publicity of the departed superstars, you are still talking about a team with the great Edgar Martinez, two-time AL batting champ John Olerud, Japanese phenom (7-time batting champ) Ichiro Suzuki, as well as Brett Boone. Hey, these guys are hitting like DiMaggio, Selkirk, Joe Gordon, King Kong Keller and Tommy Henrich. Edgar is actually a little below his career average at .311, but has 46 RBI. Olerud is in another batting race, with a .342 mark, along with 41 RBI. Ichiro is 3rd in the AL at .362, 27 RBI, good for a lead-off man, and has scored 52 runs. Boone, the scion of one of baseball's two three generation families has finally displayed those bloodlines after years on near-stardom and injuries. Boone, now 32, is hitting ..322, with 12 homers and 60 RBI. So think about it: Edgar and Olreud are on track to drive in over 120 runs, while if Boone kept this pace up he would have 180 RBI!. Ichiro would score 150 runs and they all would be well over .300

The there are the secondary players, the solid baseball professionals the scouts love: Mark McLemore, who is hitting a career best .314; Mike Cameron, who will never be Griffey, the man he replaced, but he is playing excellent center, has a .350 OBP, 8 homers and 32 RBI; even Carlos Guillen, the shortstop, has 27 RBI, and David Bell, a member of the other three generation family, has 23. Dan Wilson doesn't hit too much, but is perhaps the most under-rated defensive backstop in the game. The Mariners have a fine pitching staff and part of it due to his influence. No Big Unit here, but Jamie Moyer is 7-1, Aaron Sele is 8-0 and Freddie Garcia 6-0; 21-1 for their top three starters. Sasaki has 23 saves and middle men like Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes connect the dots from the starters to Sasaki.

MANNY We try not to repeat topics here at the Edge, but I have to say a few words about Manny Ramirez. In our era, one of the five things that are nearly impossible to do is to win the triple crown. The batting average gurus usually lack the power to keep up with the muscle men of the 21st century; the sluggers lack the discipline to hit for a super high average. Enter Manny, who so far loves Boston and the Green Monster. On Monday morning he was leading the AL with a .381 average, 16 points above #2 Giambi. He is tied with A-Rod and Delgado with 18 homers. He is two RBI ahead of Boone, with 62. He is actually on track to win the Triple Crown.

HIGHLIGHTS AND TIDBITS FROM WEEK NINE

MANAGERIAL CHANGES. Two managers were shown the door this week; one John Boles, who was only halfheartedly running the Marlins. He likes other aspects of administration, not on-field managing. Felipe Alou, however, loves to manage, but after 10 years he perhaps had played out the string. Even he spoke of a sense of relief after a decade of developing players for the Expos, only to lose them when they reached free agency or maximum trade value. Boles was replaced by Tony Perez, who barely got a chance with the Reds before Mare Schott fired him in favor of that great lop, Ray Knight. At first he only wanted this job on an interim basis, but within the first week in the dugout, declared he would finish out the season. Felipe, meanwhile was replaced by Jeff Torborg, a popular relatively young manager. In 8 seasons with Cleveland, the Chisox and Mets, he is 492-551, his best year being the 94-68 record he helped the 1990 White Sox amass. Neither Perez nor Torborg has much to work with; we'll see what they can eke out of the meager talent handed over to them.

THREE DOTS...It was like old times Sunday watching first Glavine and then Smoltz upended the Pirates in a double-header. Smoltz appears to be on the mend and so do the Braves. They may lack the swagger of the Braves of the '90s, but they still feel themselves a match for the upstart Phils, who they now trail by 6 games...Pedro Astacio won his 100th game Sunday against the slumping Giants. It is a shame that a team with Bonds, Kent and batting leader Rich Aurilia can't stay above .500 due to pitching problems. Especially troubling since Gardner (1-4, 5.89), Rueter (5-6, 6.41), and particularly Livan Hernandez (3-8, 6.81) who at times last year pitching like an ace, have all had fine seasons recently. Luckily Estes (4-2, 2.85) and especially Ortiz (7-3, 3.42) are keeping the club closest enough that they can bounce back if even one of the three 6 ERA guys gets busy...Bonds has hit 29 homers in just 54 games, the fastest ever to that number. On Wednesday he passed McCovey and Williams and needs only 13 more homers to pass the great Jimmie Foxx for 11th place all-time...The Diamondbacks and Giants had a couple of wild games mid-week. On Monday, Arizona beat SF 2-1 in 12 innings. On Tuesday, it took 18 innings for them to squawk by the Giants, 1-0. A good day for the ERAs of all 14 pitchers, including loser Vogelsong, who gave up a run in 3 innings. Aurilia went 3 for 6, Kent 3 for 7. For the other hitters on both clubs, it was a long day...On Saturday, Clemens won his 266th game, tying him with Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 30th place all time...Matt Morris is returning to his role as Cardinals stopper after a couple years on injury. He is 8-3 and stopped the Cards recent skid by beating the Reds on Sunday...The White Sox are moving on up, winning 9 of 11. They are now 23-30, like the A's they got off to a poor start, got hot, but still have a long ways to go to unseat the divisional leader, in their case the Twins, who they trail by 12 1/2, and the Tribe, who are 12 ahead of Chicago...Jamey Wright and Charles Nagy have returned to the Cleveland rotation. If even one of them pitches like they have in the past, watch out, Twins..The Red Sox have made no secret of the notion that they would gladly trade for David Wells. What a rotation that would be--Pedro, Nomo, Castillo and Wells. Maybe even a comeback from David Cone...On Wednesday, Pedro finally defeated Mussina and the Yanks, after five tries. In those five games vs. the Yanks without a win, Martinez had a 2.75 ERA. On the season he is now 7-1, 1.44...Also on Wednesday, Mulder of the A's won his 7th, as did Joe mays of the Twins. Hampton (7-2) lost to the underrated Chan Ho Park (6-4). Greg Maddux fell to 4-5 as Javier Vazquez (5-5) of the Expos triumphed over him. Wendell Miller of Houston also won his 7th game and helped himself with three hits...Dan Reichert of the Royals won his 5th game on Wednesday. Chad Durbin is the only other KC pitcher with more than two wins, and he has 3. The Royals are off to the worst start of their 33-year history...Jim Thome hit his 243 homer on Tuesday, passing up Albert Belle for the all-time lead in Cleveland homers...LA's catcher Paul Loduc went 6-for-6 last Monday, in the Dodgers 11-10, 11 inning win. He had 3 runs scored, a homer and 4 RBI...

FINALLY: Tony Gwynn is talking about replacing Jim Dietz, the baseball coach at his San Diego State alma mater for the past 31 years. The stadium is already named for him and his son would be on the squad. He has not announced his retirement, but he can't do both things...Injury of the week: San Diego's Adam Eaton, who cut a finger opening a pack of DVDs with a knife aimed towards him. Eaton, the Pads' ace, is day-to-day.

STATS This week, we are just going to list the standings, so that after the next 1/3 of the season we can compare how the teams do the next 9 weeks.

AL East: BOSTON 32-22 (.593); New York 30-24 (.556), 2 GB; Baltimore 26-29 (.473), 6.5 GB; Toronto 26-30 (.464), 7 GB; Tampa Bay 15-41 (.268), 18 GB.

AL Central: MINNESOTA 36-18 (.667); Cleveland 35-18 (.660), .5 GB; Chicago 23-30 (.434), 12.5 GB; Detroit 22-31 (.415), 13.5 GB; Kansas City 20-36 (.357), 17 GB

AL West: SEATTLE 43-12 (.782); Oakland 27-28 (.491), 16 GB; Anaheim 27-28 (.491), 16 GB; Texas 20-35 (.364), 23 GB

NL East: PHILADELPHIA 35-20 (.636); Atlanta 29-26 (.527), 6 GB; Florida 26-29 (.473), 9 GB; New York 24-33 (.421), 12 GB; Montreal 23-34 (.404), 13 GB

NL Central: CHICAGO 33-21 (.611); St. Louis 31-24 (.564), 2.5 GB; Milwaukee 29-26 (.527), 4.5 GB; Houston 28-26 (.519), 5 GB; Cincinnati 21-34 (.382), 12.5 GB; Pittsburgh 17-37 (.315), 16 GB

NL West: ARIZONA 34-22 (.607); Los Angeles 31-25 (.554), 3 GB; Colorado 28-28 (.500), 6 GB; San Francisco 27-29 (.482), 7 GB; San Diego 27-29 (.482), 7 GB.




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