– Relax, everybody: Sure, the relievers are relieving a lot. Piling up those innings. All that`s absolutely true.
But there`s another side of that: In the second half, the starters are sure going to be rested . . .
”We don`t need stud starters,” said Sox GM Larry Himes. ”That`s probably the biggest overrated quality you need on your pitching staff, the one guy who goes 300 innings a year.
”I want guys who go six, seven innings. Keeps your bullpen sharp. Everybody works.”
”A complete game, to me all it means is pretty much a blowout,” said Jack McDowell. ”Today`s game doesn`t allow for that anymore.
”Some of the best pitchers in the game, who`ve got the best power stuff, are closers now. You just aren`t going to complete too many games. That`s all over.”
”He`s using the bullpen like it should be used,” Greg Hibbard said of manager Jeff Torborg. ”I`m going to be fresh at the end of the year. You want your starters that way during a pennant race. You want your starters to be as strong in the second half as they were in the first half.”
And the relievers? The coaches-Dave LaRoche, Sammy Ellis, coach-without-portfolio Barry Foote-will watch over them, handle them with loving with care.
Said Torborg: ”They will not let somebody get hurt.”
– Best of everything: Next time you visit Comiskey Park, bring your camera to Shields Avenue, on the west side of the old park, walk about 50 yards north of 35th Street and let your eyes ride along the wall of the old Comiskey toward the new Comiskey. The effect? It`s like looking at granddad and grandson: Same family, newer model. As promised.
But hurry.
– Star-gazing: Carlton Fisk, Ivan Calderon, Barry Jones and Eric King, all having All-Star years, were left off the American League roster. Given the need to have all teams represented (which explains adding Kansas City`s Bret Saberhagen in an off-year), none is a glaring omission.
Even Tony LaRussa`s choosing Lance Parrish over Fisk is fine: Parrish, like Fisk a star veteran, is having a more productive year.
What`s curious, though, is why the same fans who continue to cling to Cal Ripken (as they clung to Brooks Robinson and other faded stars past their primes) were so quick to ignore Fisk, Parrish and Tony Pena, still quality players, in favor of rookie Sandy Alomar Jr.
Said Detroit manager Sparky Anderson the other day: ”I always used to say, `You could bring Willie Mays back, and the fans would vote for him.` ”
Unless, it appears, he was a catcher.
– Deposit 9,746 pence, please: Sox President Eddie Einhorn was in a London pub watching England beat Cameroon in the World Cup when he rang up Jerry Reinsdorf at the park to get an update on Sunday`s game. It was the bottom of the eighth, the Sox had two runners on, and they were being no-hit by Andy Hawkins. A half-hour later, the historic inning and the call were over.
”Jerry gave me a play-by-play,” said Einhorn. ”A $600 phone call, but I had to know.”
– So that`s it: Reinsdorf on Cub fans vs. Sox fans: ”A lot of Cub fans just like to come out for a day at the ballpark. Our fans are real baseball fans. If you don`t give them baseball worth watching, they don`t want to watch it.” – That, too: Torborg on this year`s Sox fans vs. last year`s: ”There`s a lot more of them.”
– Peterson points: They`re being a little careful with Adam Peterson, which is part of the reason he hasn`t gone longer than six innings in his early starts, even in the good ones. It`s a matter of building the young (24) man`s confidence that he can pitch at the big-league level.
Pitching coach Ellis enjoys this challenge.
”As a coach, he`s the kind of guy you like to work with. He`s a big strong kid, good strong arm, and you know that if he gets over the hump, you`ve got something. There`s no guarantee he`s going to get over the hump or that he`s going to be a 15-game winner. But if we get him to where he can function well at this level, we`ve got something.”
– Around the league: More from Sparky on the All-Star fan voting: ”You`re not getting an All-Star team. Don`t call that an All-Star team. It ain`t. How can you have an All-Star team when the players ain`t even voted? They`re the ones playing against them. They`ll tell you who can play and who can`t.”
Anderson`s solution: Split the vote among the fans, players and media. . . . When Saberhagen didn`t strike out a Yankee in 5 1/3 innings Wednesday, it was the first time in 128 consecutive starts that he didn`t strike out at least one man. . . . Speculation within the Milwaukee clubhouse is that Tom Trebelhorn took an active part in the Seattle skirmish to show his club he hadn`t kissed off the season. Said one Brewer coach: ”He didn`t leave the bench to restore order. He left to kick (butt).” . . . The Tigers have won 22 games on the road. Last year, they won 21 for the whole season. . . . Oakland`s Mark McGwire, the people`s choice, on beating out Cecil Fielder: ”I would`ve taken Cecil. And if the players voted, there`s no question he would be the starting first baseman.”
Wondering about Seattle`s Randy Johnson (9-3) making the All-Star team ahead of King and Jones? Try this: In his last seven starts, he`s 6-0, 2.46 ERA. The only lefty in the league with more victories is the Angels` Chuck Finley (10-3). . . . Finley, by the way, had a back pocket searched by umpires last week after the Indians thought he was messing with baseballs. The search netted a batting glove and a sanitary sock, neither suspicious. ”They can strip me, they can frisk me, they can give me a test for a hernia,” said Finley. ”I`m not doctoring the ball.” . . . Boston`s Mike Greenwell, through Friday, was homerless in his last 63 games. An eye exam showed nothing wrong there: ”The doctor thought it was a joke. I just wanted to have one less thing to worry about.” . . . Ripken`s only error this season was on Friday, the 13th of April. To reach Kevin Elster`s major-league mark for shortstops of 88 straight games without an error (Ripken was at 77 through Friday), he`ll have to get past Friday, the 13th of July. Ripken is unfazed: ”I got married on Friday the 13th.” . . . The A`s may be interested in Kirk Gibson as a DH. . . . It`s not all glum for the Brewers: They`re on their way to a major-league record for sacrifice flies. Well, maybe it is all glum for the Brewers.
