Enough already with the home runs.
|  | | Kevin Elster was retired last year, but hit three home runs on April 11. |
Hey, I like watching players slam home runs as much as the next guy,
but like Roberto Benigni, a little goes a long way. And in the past couple
years, home runs have become what slam dunks are to basketball and wives are
to Al Martin. More is not always better.
Even though baseball provided fans with unprecedented home run
totals in recent years, scarcely a month into this season, we've already
seen things we never saw in the previous century.
Last Sunday, New York's Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada became what
are believed to be the first teammates to each hit home runs from both sides
of the plate in one game. Three Sundays ago, the Twins and Royals each hit three consecutive home runs, the first time two teams had ever done that. The Twins hit six home runs that same game, which you would think
was about as unlikely as owner Carl Pohlad loaning money to a farmer without
charging an interest rate of prime plus Minnesota's ERA.
And then there's Kevin Elster, who was officially retired last year,
yet homered three times in one game a couple weeks ago, thereby forcing
everyone to re-evaluate their offseason conditioning programs.
At last count, home runs per
game are up over last year's exhausting pace. And if you think you're tired from
all this, consider poor Kenny Mayne as he tries to keep up with fresh,
relevant home run calls.
"Little Elián has been returned to his father!"
"I don't think the INS will be returning that one!"
"I'm Attorney General Janet Reno and these are my federal agents
and we're forcibly removing this ball from your building!"
Well, at least that takes care of the Marlins game. Only 14 more to
go.
And what is the game's response to this carnage? To build even
smaller ballparks so even more players can go yard.
Major league rules specify that no stadium built after 1959 should
have a fence closer than 325 feet from home plate but that didn't stop the
Giants and Astros from sneaking the fences in at their new parks while
everyone was too busy wading the revenue streams to notice. Houston's left-field foul pole is a tempting 315 feet from Jeff Bagwell while San
Francisco's right field pole is merely 307 feet from Barry Bonds.
C'mon, 307 feet? That's not even an adequate restraining
order distance for Wil Cordero, let alone a suitable distance down a big-league foul
line.
True, the Tigers built a big stadium but with all the player
complaints and the "Comerica National Park: jokes, we'll see more of those
in the future the same day we see Pete Rose get a decent haircut. Which is
a shame because something needs to be done to curtail the power explosion
before the home runs ruin the game.
Yes, fans enjoy home runs. And yes, the 1998 home run chase between
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa captivated the nation. But it did so precisely
because those two players were doing something no one had ever come close to
doing before. When Jermaine Dye hits 75 home runs this year, though, Todd
McFarlane won't be the only fan feeling pretty sheepish.
One of baseball's beauties is the variety of its game scores. A team
can lose 10-8 one night, win 2-1 the next and lose 7-3 the next and none of
the games will be remotely similar. But as the home runs and scores pile up,
the danger is the games will become as dully repetitive as Phil Rizzuto
during a rain delay.
So raise the mound. Enlarge the strike zone. Deaden the ball. Bring
Sandy Koufax out of retirement. Bring Al Newman out of retirement. Ban
creatine, andro and Wheaties. Just do something to limit the home runs before
it's too late.
Baseball doesn't have to eliminate the home run. It just needs to
make it special again.
Box score line of the week
Alex Rodriguez walked five times to produce a nifty 0 2 0 0 line.
Struggling Kevin Tapani allowed a career-high 10 runs while running his
losing streak to 12 decisions. Arizona starter Armando Reynoso allowed seven
runs and didn't retire a batter. Tampa Bay closer Roberto Hernandez served
up three home runs in the ninth inning. Cincinnati's Dennys Reyes allowed
five runs on two hits for this dandy line -- .1 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0
K.
And that was just on Sunday.
So it was a pretty competitive week. And the winner was 41-year-old
former Cy Young winner Orel Hershiser, who pitched perhaps the worst game of
his 18-year career April 19, hitting as many batters (four) as he retired to
tie a major league record. His line:
1.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 4 HBP, 1 WP
Hershiser's favorite victim was Houston left fielder Richard
Hidalgo, who tied another mark by getting hit three times, twice
by Hershiser and once by reliever Matt Herges. Said Hershiser: "The back of
his jersey must have looked like a catcher's mitt by the end of the game."
Lies, damn lies and statistics
Tapani hasn't won a game since June 24, leaving him with more home
runs (one) than victories (zero). He also has as many home runs as Larry
Walker. ... Manny Ramirez has more three-strikeout games (three) than
Milwaukee starter Jaime Navarro (two). On the other hand, Navarro has almost
as many zero-strikeout games (two) as Ramirez (three). ... The Royals
did not lead at the end of any inning during their nine-game losing streak. ... Teams scored 180 runs during Toronto's 10-game homestand. ... Kansas City owner David Glass paid less for the Royals ($96 million) than
the Reds are paying Ken Griffey Jr. for the first eight years of his
contract. ... Other than Opening Day, the Tigers haven't drawn
as many as 26,000 fans in a game. They are being outdrawn by more than 6,500
fans a game by the Padres. Perhaps doubling the ticket prices wasn't such a
good marketing ploy. ... Nice homestand for the Red Sox. They were home
for a three-game series over the weekend and all three were rained out. The
rainout of Sunday's makeup doubleheader prevented the Double Martinez Lunch
and the first doubleheader started by brothers (in this case Pedro and
Ramon) since Gaylord and Jim Perry did so June 22, 1974 for Cleveland. ... Rey Ordonez already has as many errors (four) as he made all last season.
From left field
Jose Canseco and other Cuba-born players sat out Tuesday's games to
protest the Elián Gonzalez case. While others argue over whether a
six-year-old belongs with his father or in a free country, here are the nine
players on Opening Day major league rosters who were born in Cuba:
| Player |
Team |
| Jose Canseco |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays |
| Livan Hernandez |
San Francisco Giants |
| Orlando Hernandez |
New York Yankees |
| Eli Marrero |
St. Louis Cardinals |
| Rey Ordonez |
New York Mets |
| Rolando Arrojo |
Colorado Rockies |
| Vladimir Nunez |
Florida Marlins |
| Rafael Palmeiro |
Texas Rangers |
| Michael Tejera |
Florida Marlins |
Barroom Jeopardy
Q. Which player is in the major league, Cuban and Mexican Hall of
Fames?
A. Martin Dihigo, a Cuban, who played in the Negro Leagues in the U.S., and
one season led his Mexican league in pitching and hitting categories.
Jim Caple is the national baseball writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has a website at www.seattle-pi.com. | |
ALSO SEE
Stark: Home runs here to stay
Home run theories
Users sound off on all the home runs
|
