No, the boos didn’t surprise Greg Maddux.
“I pretty much knew it was going to happen,” he said the other day during a quiet time after he beat the Cubs for the Braves 1-0 on Opening Day. “That’s the way it is.
“I don’t know what was said or written in the off-season, but I know I was honest with the press when I talked to them. The fans, if they were to pick sides. . . .”
Fans do pick sides when a key player leaves a ballclub.
His side, in the end, is that when he was ready to choose where he wanted to play-and he still says it was Chicago-the Cubs had already gone in another direction.
“I had an offer from the Braves and I had an offer from the Yankees,” he said. “I didn’t have an offer from the Cubs.
“Things didn’t get worked out, and it was obvious the fans didn’t understand my side. It was obvious by what happened.”
The Cubs’ side is by December, with potential replacements-Jose Guzman in particular-being wooed by other clubs, they couldn’t afford to operate by Maddux’s timetable.
There was some sloppiness on both sides before the final weeks. Simply put, as Maddux said, things didn’t get worked out.
But a pitcher who gave nothing less than his best for six years, who took the ball every five days, who helped win a division championship for the Cubs, got booed on Opening Day in Wrigley Field by fans with short memories.
He expected it, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
“I just want people to know that I enjoyed playing here,” he said. “I had a good time in Chicago. I enjoyed coming to the ballpark every day. I appreciated the support I got for the last six years.
“And there are a lot of things about the city and the team that I’m going to miss.”
After Monday, he’ll miss it a little less.
No sure thing: Charlie Leibrandt won 15 games for the Braves last season. Pretty good year. “A great year,” agreed John Smoltz.
Why, then, are people suddenly agog over the Atlanta rotation because they added a pitcher who, in two of the last three seasons, won 15 games? Smoltz wonders the same thing.
“Nothing’s guaranteed this year,” said Smoltz. “Because Greg’s added to our team doesn’t mean I’m going to win 20, (Tom) Glavine’s going to win 20 and so on. We still have to perform.”
Through five starts, Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Steve Avery and Pete Smith had allowed three runs in 38 innings. ERA: 0.71.
Pressure? What pressure? For the first time, Rick Wilkins has a big-league starting job. What can he do long-term?
“I want to be the best ballplayer I can be,” Wilkins said. “And wherever that leads me. . . . “
It got interesting.
“I want to be an All-Star player, you know? Be in the Hall of Fame.”
The Hall of Fame? He was neither kidding nor blushing.
“That’s everybody’s dream,” said Wilkins. “I don’t think I’m say anything any other ballplayer wouldn’t tell you.
“It’s just a matter of going out there and accomplishing it. Whether I do it, time will tell, but I’m definitely going to be striving for that. No question.”
Arrivederci aroma: This, from Mark Grace: “You usually find some bad eggs in a clubhouse, but so far I haven’t sniffed one yet.”
Arrivederci lira: Steve Buechele suffered with his ex-teammates when the Pirates lost to the Braves in that heartbreaker playoff last fall.
“I was very disappointed,” said Buechele. “I was disappointed for them. There’s a lot of good friends on that team.
“And I guess from a selfish standpoint, we still had a half a share at stake, too. Let’s put it this way-we were definitely pulling for the Buccos.”
The Blue Jays’ full World Series winners’ share was $114,962.16. Each Pirate’s share for losing the playoffs: $39,917.35.
Let me hear you: During the Florida Marlins’ first seventh-inning stretch ever, Joe Robbie Stadium’s loudspeakers boomed a recording of Gloria Estefan singing “Get On Your Feet” while nine aerobics dancers urged the fans to join them in a routine kind of like the Toronto “Let’s Go Blue Jays” silliness.
The people wanted “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
So the next night, the Marlins played “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the top of the seventh. Gloria and her dancers tried it again during the stretch.
That’s not what the people wanted.
The next night, Gloria and her dancers were gone. And when the people got on their feet for the seventh-inning stretch, they sang. . . . well, you know.
Around the league: The Mets’ Tony Fernandez made two errors in six chances Wednesday. For his career, he’s averaged two errors in 98.8. . . . The Dodgers made 174 errors last year, so they got Jody Reed to play second base and stabilize their middle infield. Reed booted the season’s first fair ball. . . . On Monday, the Astros released Jason Grimsley. They lost to Philadelphia’s Curt Schilling in their opener Tuesday. Houston had traded Schilling for Grimsley. . . . One more Marlins note: A male fan leaped onto the field at the opener, stripped as he raced across the outfield and was down to his skivvies when he reached ex-Met Darryl Strawberry-and hugged him before being gently ushered from the field by security. Strawberry was only mildly startled. “It’s not the first time it’s happened,” he said. “I’ve seen guys do that in New York. But in New York, the cops beat the heck out of the guy.”
When the Phillies released Dale Murphy so the Rockies could sign him, it seemed to be a fairly unimportant bit of business. Not to Terry Mulholland: “There goes the last ounce of sanity left in our clubhouse.” . . . The Braves may be talking about bullpen by committee, but they have would-be closer Mark Wohlers in Richmond working on a splitter. “He could be completely unhittable when he comes back,” says Bobby Cox. . . . It’s not his surgically repaired elbow, but the Dodgers fear Todd Worrell’s arm problems-probably caused by the forearm compensating for the old elbow injury-could be serious. They signed him in December as a free agent for $9.5 million over three years.
