DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It happened in the fourth inning of Chuck Knoblauch's new-beginning spring training.
It happened on the second ground ball hit in Knoblauch's direction.
It happened Thursday -- four months and three days after that unforgettable evening in Shea Stadium when the Yankees won the World Series, a World Series, you might recall, in which Knoblauch never was allowed to put on a glove.
Yep, clear some room on the back page of the New York Post for a big, bold E-4:
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“ |
It's
no secret what happened last year. I know
everyone has their opinion: The more you think
about it, the better it might be. Or the less you
think about it, the better you might be. But I've
just tried to face it head-on most of the time. I'm
beyond that (denial mode) now. Last year was a
whole different world. This year, I've got a
different mind-set, a different
approach. ” |
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— Chuck Knoblauch |
Chuck Knoblauch's first throwing error of 2001 has arrived at a Grapefruit League box score near you.
"He's allowed to make an error," Joe Torre was saying afterward, in his first State of the Knoblauch Address of the spring-training portion of the schedule.
And he is. But if Chuck Knoblauch makes an error in the first spring-training game of the most important season of his life, it's also going to be news. And the manager knows it.
"No question, there's going to be scrutiny," Torre said. "On the media's part. On the fans' part. Questions will be asked. But my main focus is to get him out here thinking about baseball -- as opposed to what he has to prove."
Well, Chuck Knoblauch might have more to prove these days than Denise Rich. But he can't prove it in one day, because this is a long, long journey. It's a good bet, though, that when he planned that journey, he didn't plan to start it with an error.
Ironically, this wasn't even an error that resembled most of those gruesome let's-go-to-the videotape moments that turned Knoblauch's 2000 season into a defensive disaster.
It wasn't one of those routine three-hoppers right at him where he had time to think and double-clutch and then think some more.
No, this one came in a double-play situation so obvious, Knoblauch had actually been pantomiming DP throws to second, minus the baseball, just a moment before.
Then here it came. Toronto's Brad Fullmer smoked a bullet to his left. Knoblauch lunged and picked it. He saw his shortstop, Alfonso Soriano, racing toward the bag.
If this were Robbie Alomar, it would have been safe to write that 4-6-3 in your scorecard. But in this case, uh ... not so fast.
No sooner had the ball landed in Knoblauch's glove than he was rushing to let it go.
Uh-oh.
The baseball never came within 20 feet of Soriano. In fact, a throw that was supposed to end up at second base had to be fielded at third base by Scott Brosius, on the dirt near the front edge of the infield grass.
|  | | The Yankees are counting heavily on Chuck Knoblauch to get over his throwing woes and become a player they can rely on this year. |
Uh-oh.
The New York media horde launched into full red-alert, here-we-go-again mode.
But when the clubhouse doors opened a half-hour later, it wasn't a here-we-go-again Chuck Knoblauch who was waiting inside.
Here is some of what he said:
"It's night and day," he said, "how I felt out there compared to last year."
And: "Today was a good day."
And: "I'm not going to hang my head over that ball. Too many good things happened today."
True, good things did happen. He did get a hit (in three trips). He did turn a 5-4-3 double play right out of the instructional manual. He did make a gorgeous play in the hole between first base and second, finishing it with a Michele Kwan 360-degree pirouette and an on-the-money throw to first.
Good things happened. But in the past, all good things that happened to this man were obliterated by the full lunar eclipse that was Knoblauch's throwing arm.
And that is exactly what the Yankees can't allow to happen this year.
The way they've constructed their team, Chuck Knoblauch has to play second base. If he does, David Justice can DH most of the time. And Glenallen Hill and Henry Rodriguez can squeeze into the outfield picture.
Everybody gets his at-bats. Everything works.
And if Knoblauch can't play second base?
Uh-oh.
But there's a reason Knoblauch has been in Florida since early January, trying to erase all those blotches on his subconscious. And the easy-going demeanor he presented to the world Thursday seemed to be testimony to the success of that approach. So far.
His explanation of that error: "All I did was rush. It didn't have anything to do with anything else. I was just a little too excited. First game and all that. ...
"Looking back, I should have taken more time. I didn't need to rush. The speed of the ball dictates (how much time you have to throw it). I just rushed it. That simple."
Had this been last June or July, however, no one would have bought that line. It was never that simple last year. Ever. And Knoblauch was the first to admit it.
Asked if he might have dwelled on this error in a very different way last year, Knoblauch replied: "Probably. But now I know there's a bigger focus than that, there's a bigger picture than that. I've got to stay positive. It might have looked the same to you. But I know that all I did was rush it. So it was a different feeling to me."
What we all will debate is whether this was a man believing these things or merely saying these things because that's what he needed to say. But if body language means anything, this seemed to be a different guy. There was no tension in his face, no clench in his teeth, no anger in his eyes.
He was so relaxed, in fact, he was even able to poke fun at himself.
"Who knows?" he chuckled at one point. "Last year, I might not have even caught that ball."
That may or may not have been true. But one thing that was true is that last year, he wouldn't have been laughing about this.
If laughing at himself is a sign he has truly recognized and confronted his problem, it gets easier to accept every positive word out of his mouth. And it was hard not to notice that never, for one moment, did he try Thursday to pretend his little problem didn't exist.
"It's no secret what happened last year," he said. "I know everyone has their opinion: The more you think about it, the better it might be. Or the less you think about it, the better you might be. But I've just tried to face it head-on most of the time. I'm beyond that (denial mode) now. Last year was a whole different world. This year, I've got a different mind-set, a different approach."
And when Torre looks at his second baseman, he sees the same thing.
"His whole presence, to me, is different," the manager said. "It just seems like he's enjoying himself. We didn't see a whole lot of that last year."
"Now," Knoblauch swore, "I can hold onto the positive. I can go home, go to bed and think about the plays I did make, think about the hit I did get. Yeah, I know I made an error. But I also know I just rushed it. And I know how to handle that. As soon as I'm done talking about it here, I probably won't even think about it again."
Until the back pages explode, that is.
Until the next error starts the questions all over again, that is.
And then we'll really know if this is a new Chuck Knoblauch or just the same guy with a different act.
But this was the first day of spring training, and this was a guy saying, "I'm just going to hang onto the positive." So it's a day to paraphrase a great manager and say: "He's allowed."
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com.
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