Salt Lake Tribune | 2000-05-07 | Page 45

The Salt Lake Tribune SPORTS ° 6 Sunday, May7, 2000 Baseball 2000 The AROUND THE HORN Minor Trend? Homers _ INSIDE Are on Rise in Majors, : Falling in the Minors BY BEN WALKER The week in baseball, Sunday through Friday: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Leading Off Maybe it really is those Bud Selig-stamped baseballs they’re using in the big leagues Because in a season in which homeruns Hallowed Ground for Halo Anaheim Angels outfielder Darin Erstad showered the American League with hits in April. in fact, he is on a record pace. Erstad had 48 hits in 26 games through the first month of the season, an average of 1.8 hits a game.Atthis pace, Erstad would finish with 292 hits over a 162-gameseason, shattering George Sisler’s majorleague record of 257in 1920. On Sunday, Erstad, whosingled twice and drovein a run in a 5-2 win over Tampa Bay, eclipsed the major-league record of 47 hits in April, set by Colorado’s Dante Bichette in 1998. Erstadfinished the month with a .449 batting average (48-for- 107). Fred Jewell/The Associated Press Frank Thomas is swinging a hot bat for Chicago again nowthatinjury problemsare behind him. Changing Sox Fun While It Lasted Atlanta's franchise-record 15-game winning streak cameto a halt Wednesday night with a 6-4 loss in Los Angeles, ending the longestrunin the majors since 1991 when Minnesota won 15. BY RICK GANO @ Mark Grace, Cubs,scored his 1,000th careerrun in a 4-3 win over Houston on Wednesday. 1 Mark McGwire, Cardinals,hit his 530th homerin a 4-3 win overPhiladelphia on Sunday,leaving him four behind Jimmie Foxx for No. 9 on the careerlist and six behind Mickey Mantle for No.8. straight in oneinning. They have stayed on top in the AL Central but are yetto play the Indiansor the Yankees. “I watched the scoreboard and sawtheothernight that ClevelandlostandI said, ‘Let’s get another game,” said first baseman Paul Konerko,oneofthe team’stophitters. “Tt’s been tough,a difficult time” the mild-mannered managersaid. So when the White Sox returned to the team hotelin Detroit one night after anotherearly season win, Manuel madehis “[ knowit’s just the beginning of May, but why not?” If the White Sox have caughtthe eye of baseball with their improved play — the additions of shortstop Jose Valentin and pitcher Cal Eldred in a trade with Milwaukee have been a big boost — they’re still see- own contribution in his own way. Afterlis- ing a familiar color at Comiskey Park. tening to part of the game onradio, he hada special surprise waiting. You would think they would have already done enough to putfans in the stands. Maybe notin the far reachesof an incredibly steep upper deck that is perhapsbetter suited for skiers and mountain goats, but certainly in the lowerlevels of the 9-year-old “They didn’t even tip me,” he said witha laugh. Timesare certainly fun now for the park. k. mas and Manuel and endured an ugly brawl with the Detroit Tigers that resulted in tance of the bleachers. But just eight miles south, the White Sox struggleat the gate. the 31-year-old Thomas, have been playing witha fresh approach. = The White Soxareinfirst place, but as players lovetosay,it’s still early. “Wegot good chemistry from 1-25. Guys care about each other,” said Thomas,a twotime MVP coming off ankle surgery and two Fair or Foul? Stat of the Week Twenty-five years ago — May 4, 1975 — Bob Watson ofthe Houston Astros, sensing baseballhistory, raced around the baseson Milt May's home run and crossed the plate at Candlestick Park in time to score major-league baseball's one millionth run, seconds ahead of Dave Concepcion of Cincinnati. Longest AL Hitting Streaks Brewers Tigors Wednesday by homeringfive times,including three 40 1987 9 1917-5 Oh,Brother! and people can still see the game.” Talk about timingrOnedayafter their heated staredown with Pedro Martinez, the Cleveland Indianssigned hislittle brother, park before they come out?” Marketing director Rob Gallas said the total numberof advanceseats sold in various ticketing packages are up from last seasonandso are TV ratings. But right now the crowdsare small, thoughvocal. Jesus, to a minorleague contract. Jesus, a 26-year-old left-hander, reported to Last year the Sox drew 1,338,851, an averageof17,616. And nowthequestion: Will winning makea difference? “Whenit warms upa little bit and we're continuing to With the Indiansstill fuming over Pedro Martinez’s dusting of catcher Einar Diaz and play well, you'll see a little bit of an increase, maybe not supersignificantly,” pitcher MikeSirotka said. “But I think at this point somefans are little moreinto us. But it’s a little disappointing that weare in first place and the support really hasn't been there. We've done our part.” Huntington, Cleveland’s director of player personnel, is keeping a low profile. “T’m going to have to keep my head down the Indians’ Double-A affiliate in Akron. He hasalso pitched in the minors for the Dodg- ers, Reds and Brewers. hitting Roberto Alomar with a pitch, Neal DOWN ON THE FARM BY LAURENCE MIEDEMA whenI go in our clubhouse,” said Huntington, responsible for signing Jesus Martinez. Utahnsin the Minors ‘THE SALT LAKETRIBUNE Thelast time Todd Walkerplayed for the Salt Lake Buzz, he retooled his swingto please the Minnesota Twins. Walkernolonger cares what the Twins think. Walker was demoted by the Twinsto Triple-A Salt Walkerjoined the Buzz on Saturday in Tucson. “My future is not here. The coaches and management [in Minnesota]are set, so they're not going to change their opinion about me,” Walker told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.“This is for the best. I've been sent down twice now,and there’s no reasonfor meto stay around here if I'm nogood to the team. “T’'m notasking foranygifts, but in Salt Lake,it’s an easier place to play because the coaches communicate confidence down there.” Walker was hitting just .234 when hewasreplaced by hot-hitting Jay Canizaro. But the eighth overall pick in the 1994 draft was in a 9-for-31 stretch (.290)andcollected six of his eight RBIsin his last 11 games in Minnesota. The Twins said Walker's team-high fourerrors in 21 starts at second base, combined with Canizaro's sizzling start at Salt Lake, prompted the move. Canizaro hit .356 with 32 RBIs in 27 games for Salt Lake, but made seven errors at second base. Buzz ManagerPhil Roofis convinced Walker can resurrect his career and get a fresh start in anotherorganization. and was demoted, but after hitting 345 in 83 games for 1911 “You can have anintimate ballpark ina major metropolis and you sell them all out, Tired of Demotions, Buzz’s Walker Wants to Move to New Organization record 339 with 28 homers and 111 RBIs for the Buzz in 1996. He hit:194 thefirst month of 1997 with the Twins The longest single-season hitting streaks in American League history: Joe Yankees 1941 56 Sisler Browns 1922 a Paul Molitor playing exciting baseball, the pitching has picked up and eventhough thefielding is shaky,it’s improving. Duringthefirst six games of Manuel's suspension,the White Soxsplit, ending from a three-gamelosing streak Walker was a PCL All-Star whilehitting a franchise- Extra Bases Ty Cobb with the Twins at an average age of26.8 years — has been the 26-year-old second baseman wants to be traded. “| just thoughtit was silly on his part to get mad there. That's a guy who doesn't know how to play the game. Why would | wantto hit him on a 0-1 count and load the bases and have to face Barry Bonds?” — Mets pitcher Dennis Cook, on Marvin Benard, whotook offense to being hit by his pitch in New York's 7-2 loss to the Giants on Thursday. Tigers The White Soxstarted 17-8 in April, setting a club record for victories and scoring more runs (181) than any team in baseball history during that month. The AL’s youngestteam atthestart of the season — tied Lakefor the secondtimein four seasons Thursday, and Diamond Chatter Comiskey Parkis off the rampofa busy, traffic-snarled expresswayand devoid of the retro atmosphere so prevalentin the new parks across the majorleagues. “What’s going on?” pitcher Jim Parque asked earlier this season after anotherpal- The White Sox made a key pick-upin getting pitcher Cal try crowd.“What do we have to do? Throw Eldred from Milwaukee. perfect games andhit every ball outof the then we hadveterans. Now we have younger guys.” 1 Todd Helton, Rockies, became the sixth playerin Coloradohistory to hit three homers in a game,going 4-for-5 with five RBsin a 15-8 victory over Montreal on Monday. Two dayslater, he went5-for-5 forhis first careerfive-hit game as Colotado defeated Montreal 16-7. @ Rey Ordonez, Mets, committed his sixth error of the season in New York's 1411 win over Colorado on Sunday. He had fourerrors in 640 chancesalloflast year. @ John Rocker, Braves, gaveupfive hits and four runs in two-thirds of an inning in the ninth againstthe Phillies on Friday. He gaveup as manyrunsinthat outing as he had in 70 career games — a span of 65 innings. @ Vladimir Guerrero, Expos,hit a three-run homer and went4-for-5 in Montreals 10-2 rout of Milwaukee on Friday. Ty Cobb Paul Warner/The Associated Press sub-par seasons.“Thisis the best chemistry heresince the early '90s.It's little different mix because John Rocker — rocked by Phillies Tae the stadium his team hopesto build in the “You pay $5 and yougetto go around the ballpark. Andafter 35 minutes, you’re out of the ballpark,” Valentine said during trip to San Francisco. bars and restaurants within staggeringdis- mightfinally be panning out. And even those who mostcertainly aren’t kids, like After taking a look at new Pacific Bell Park Valentine already was dreaming upideas for park and watch aninningor two. covered Wrigley Field and there are many They have shown thattheir well-worn marketing slogan: “The Kids Can Play” Movin’ Along this week, New York Mets Manager Bobby betweendecks, so that fans — even when games are sold out — can passthrough the The Cubspackin the big crowdsativy- Manuel andsix ofhis players getting suspensionsof varying lengths. 9.5 percent. Also, Triple-A Memphis led the minorleague homerunparadewith 34 in the first nextfive years. Valentine imagines a moving walkwayin- Through their first 15 games, they were averaging just 14,200 a gameandthat’sfactoringin a crowdofnearly 39,000 for the homeopener. White Sox. They survived an air-clearing spring training blowup between Frank Tho- downward trend. The Double-A Texas League saw a jumpof 77 percent in homers — withoutthat surge, the overall rate in minors would’ve been off month. It’s blue. The colorof empty seats. Borrowing a bellhop’s hat, coat and a pair ofgloves, Manuel masqueraded as a doorman and began high-fivinghis startled players and coachesas they arrived. “Ohyeah,definitely a lot wetter, colder, the wind wasblowing a lot more, yeah. Last year wasn’t as bad, we didn’t get rained out but three timeslast year, we’ve been rained out six or seven timesthis year,” he said. “The thing with me,I had a couple games “So I had some opportunitiesto go out and hit the ball good. With bad weather,it’s in the back of your head, you try not to get jammed and youpull off balls a lot more.” There were two major exceptionsto the Butvictoriesin thefirst two monthscount,too. competition, the strategy and especially the contact with his players. April. wherethe weather wasn't too bad,”he said. “Let's don’t talk about[first place] till September. There’s a long wayto go,” Thomas said. CHICAGO — Jerry Manuelwastoldto take a hike. Suspended for eight games, banned from the Chicago White Sox bench, he quickly discovered how much hemissed the tributor, would be the weather,” Minorsaid. “It’s cold, the ball doesn’t go as far, because of Minorsaid the conditionsin the minors, where there are no domes,were worse this are winning with a young group oftalent THE ASSOCIATED PRESS before being called up by Baltimorethis week. “The only thing I can say is the weather. I would say thebig factor, definitely a big con- the weather,that’s my mainthing, plus the pitching’s getting pretty good.” Though few are watching, White Sox Streaks @ Juan Encarnacion, Tigers, extended hishitting streak to 17 games Fridayin a 10-8 win over Minnesota. @ David Segui, Rangers,is 15-for-32 during an eight-gamehitting streak, and ~ has reached base in 25 of 27 games. @ Matt Clement, Padres, has woneight Straight decisionsafter beating Florida 8-3 - on Tuesday. jumped 15 percent in the majors duringApril, homers were down 4.1 percent in the minors. The Burlington Beesof the Class A Midwest League,ih fact, hit only one homerun in 21 games. Overall, minor-league games in April had an average of1.4 homerunsper game, compared to a rate of1.46 last year. All of the baseballs used in the majors and minors, by the way, are made by Rawlings. Amongthose unaffected by the decrease in the minors was Ryan Minor,whohitfive homeruns in 21 gamesfor Triple-A Rochester Salt Lake, returned to the majors seemingly for good by hitting .316 in 1998. “Nobodyin the league had a better swing than Todd Walker in 1996,” Roofsaid. “Guys used to sit next to him just hoping someofit would rub off on them. The key for him is to havea good approach,prove everyone wrongandgettraded to anotherorganizationthat could use him.” Home Pitching Woes Statistics complete through Friday Player(Local Tie) P Team John Buck (Taylorsville) TroyFamsworth (BYU) Troy setae (BYU) _C Michigan A-Astros 250 0 8 1B Potomic __A-Cardinals 235 5 22 —OFPotomic __A-Cardinals 212 2 Class-Org. Avg HR RBI Starting pitching was supposed tobe oneof the Bu strengths. Salt Lake's starters have beensolid on Scott Prat (To i ma 2BAkon on AAdndians 25511 the road, but havehad their problemsat Franklin CoveyFie Salt Lake's starters logged a combined ERAof6.54 in Salt Lake’ 21 home games. The Buzzare just 11-10 at homeand 6-2 onthe road. Damian Sapp (Pl.Grove) Reed Secrist (Viewmont) Zach Sorensen (Highland) John Summers (Utah) DHTrenton C Tulsa SSAkron DHSan Jose Ron Wright (Delta) 1B Chattanooga AA-Reds 291 4 14 particularly toughonSalt Lake's starters. Every NateTebbs (Bingham) 28Rechestor Rainiers starterpitchedatleast five innings, one Salt Le s Pitcher Team Jobin Desitva(BYU) CalgaryAAAMariins 2.26.18) Nick Roberts (SUU) Michigan A-Astros The just-completed homeseries against Tacoma was Buzz’s only Doug Dent(Utah) pries. Salt Lake's starters allowed 25 earned runs and 33 hits in 16 innings, while Tacoma’sstarters allowed 11 : Class-Org. Wt RCuca. APadres Sa BrandonDuckworth (Keams) A WilleEyre (Cyprus) ~ QuadCity ATwins Jared Femandez (Keams) Pawtucket AAA-Red Sox Ryan Jensen (Cottonwood) Fresno AAAGlants Brian Knoll(BYU) Shreveport AA-Giants Jeremy Lambert (Kearns) Potomic A-Cardinals runs and20 hits in 22 innings. * at to get our starting pitchersto keep us in the ballgame,” Roofsaid. “Wefall behind like this, and it's tough to catch up.” Pioneerzz Open Camp The second-year Zion Pioneerzz openedspring train- ing for their second season in the independent Western Baseball League on Thursdayin St. George. Dixie College Coach Mike Littlewood will manage ERA 03 4.18 12. 3.76) 2-0 1.691 1-17.58 2-12.42! 0.0 5.06 =O -675: Please contact the Salt Lake Tribune at [e-mail] or 257- the teamafter Bruce Hurst guidedit to a 41-49 record. 8201toinclude localplayersin the minor leagues not on this list. The Pioneerzz, who just missed the WBL playoffslast season, returnsluggers Tim Belk and Rod McCall. The duocombinedfor 23 homers and 72 RBIs in just 276 at- bats. year Mike Smith Marcus Moore, whofinished fifth in the league with a 3.87 ERA andan8-3, anchors the pitchingstaff that in Hurst Field, Thepractices run through May 17 and are cludes Salt Lake City resident Tom Gourdin,a former Twins minor-leaguer, and two-time WBL pitcher of the TODAY-TUESDAY at TUCSON 8pm. | \ Mostof the Pioneerzz workouts begin at 10 a.m. at open to the public. Zion opens the season May 18 at homeagainst the Valley Stripers. THURSDAY-SATURDAY LAS VEGAS 6:15 p.m.