Two cities 90 miles apart. Two baseball teams, the White Sox and Brewers, light-years apart in their philosophies about winning and losing.
Two general managers, Sal Bando and Ron Schueler. Two managers, Terry Bevington and Phil Garner. And two almost opposite attitudes toward what to do to correct losing ways.
After Monday night’s game, Milwaukee was seven games behind Cleveland, the Sox eight. Realistically, neither remained in the pennant race. Otherwise, they had little in common.
For one thing, according to preseason evaluation of teams, the Brewers overachieved. The Sox underachieved.
Different reactions: In late July, when the Sox trailed the Indians by 3 1/2 games with two months of the season remaining, Schueler concluded his team had no chance to win. Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf agreed. So Schueler unloaded Harold Baines, Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin for minor-leaguers.
Sunday night, after Milwaukee lost its fifth straight game with 15 to play, Bando exploded. He delivered an emotional and rare postgame talk to the players. Basically, he demanded they wake up and start playing like major-leaguers.
Garner also was irked at his team’s losing eight of its last 10 games. Although he rarely rips his players, he said they went “in the tank.”
Playing for second: Garner and Bevington offered widely different views on the remainder of the season and the “consolation prize” of second place.
“Second place would mean a lot,” Garner said. “It would mean we’d end up one step above last year. That’s improvement. But considering where we were 10 days or two weeks ago, it’s a terrible disappointment. Still, I’d rather finish second than third.”
Bevington would have nothing to say about playing for second place.
“We’re playing for first place right now,” Bevington said. “Ask me that question about `playing for second’ if that time ever comes.”
Garner says he has one eye on the November expansion draft and how it can affect his team for 1998.
“Some of our guys have gotten off the bubble. Some have gone on it,” said Garner, referring to the 15 players each team can protect when the draft begins. “Unfortunately, it often becomes a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately thing.”
Putting added emphasis on his players’ performance in recent weeks makes sense to Garner.
“If you can’t play in September, you’re just not a good club,” Garner said. “That’s just the bottom line.”
No excuses: Two years ago, when the Brewers faltered in the final month, Garner said, it was due in part to inexperience and injuries. Those alibis, he said, are no longer valid.
“We’re not talking of injuries suddenly striking us on Sept. 1,” he said. “We played since that time with the guys who got us to that point. My whole objective has been to be patient and give these guys a couple of years to learn to play up here. Well, we’ve had three years, and it hasn’t worked.”
Two teams, both disappointed that they could not overtake the Indians when they faltered. One manager talks of why it didn’t work and how to correct it. The other manager pretends he’s still in the race.
