Teammates would settle their differences out by the bus or at the hotel bar in the old days. Now they go for blood on the Internet.
Texas Rangers shortstop Royce Clayton strongly criticized outfielder Chad Curtis in a posting on his personal Web site, which was headed “The Cancer in our Clubhouse.” It may have been the most surprising entry in AthletesDirect since Albert Belle recommended his twin brother for a general manager’s job.
Clayton later blamed the controversial first-person comments on a ghostwriter who published them without Clayton’s clearance and General Manager Doug Melvin downplayed the incident. Curtis did his best to make it a non-issue.
“I’m not going to judge Royce,” Curtis said. “I haven’t seen what was written and I don’t have any desire to.”
Melvin said it was “old news” that Clayton and Curtis had clashed in the weight room after Curtis objected to obscenities in the rap music that was playing in the Texas clubhouse before a game in April. But in the Internet journal, Clayton detailed a deep rift between Curtis and his new teammates.
“We were a team that had a good atmosphere,” Clayton wrote. “A team that had won the West two years in a row, a team that had great chemistry in which everyone got along. That feeling is gone in 2000. . . . This is all due to one person and his self-pride, not respecting or seeing the rights of others.”
Clayton wrote that it’s hard to take from a “utility player . . . who won’t play more than 70 games.” He demeans Curtis by saying “just check the back of his baseball card, and it will let you know just how important he is to any team.”
Here’s the best part. Clayton starts the journal by describing himself as having been “brought up [in] the old-school way that says you keep clubhouse problems right where they start.”
A Dodger tradition: Chad Kreuter wasn’t the first Dodger to go after a fan in the stands at Wrigley Field. Giants manager Dusty Baker remembers Reggie Smith doing the same thing 20 years ago.
“Reggie’s mom was really ill and somebody in the stands at Wrigley was talking about his mama,” Baker said. “Somebody says something personal to you, and you kind of react. . . . The customer is not always right, and the more intimate the ballparks, the more of a chance of something happening.”
Baker also recalls Smith going into the stands after a fan in San Francisco.
“When we were playing at Candlestick, someone yelled to Reggie, `I feel like hitting you with this beer can,”‘ Baker said. “Reggie told him, `If you do, I’ll come up and kick your butt.’ The guy threw the can and Reggie was like Bruce Lee–one move and he was in the stands. The guy had his hands on a rail and wouldn’t let go. The security people clubbed him and broke his hand.”
Body count: The pitchers Cleveland placed on the disabled list Thursday (Charles Nagy, Jaret Wright and Ricardo Rincon) had seven of the Indians’ first 21 victories. It happened on manager Charlie Manuel’s first day back from colon surgery.
“I get here, and they’re telling me that one pitcher, then two, then three are going on the DL,” Manuel said. “I’m thinking, `Are you kidding me?’ . . . It will give some of our guys at Triple A a chance to see if they can pitch in the big leagues.”
Nagy and Rincon will undergo elbow surgery and neither is likely to be back before August. Wright, who is bothered by a strained shoulder, could return as soon as Saturday night against the White Sox. His DL stint is retroactive to May 12.
Chilling out: Seattle Mariners manager Lou Piniella wasn’t among those rolling their eyes when Bob Knight apologized and vowed to control his temper in the future. It’s exactly what Piniella has done during his eight-year stay in Seattle.
Piniella was often ranting while managing the Yankees and Reds, but he saw the need to change after a televised wrestling match with reliever Rob Dibble.
“That started it,” he said. “It was embarrassing for me as a manager. I said to myself, `You either start calming yourself down or get yourself out of the business.'”
Piniella was surprised Knight would acknowledge the need to change, but doesn’t think the Indiana legend is destined to fail.
“I have to believe he’ll do it,” Piniella said. “You have to resolve to yourself that you have to change. You’re the only one who can do it. I thought he would have resigned. I read it as true contrition, and you’re going to see a change.”
Life after severance: Bobby Bonilla won’t be surprised to see Rickey Henderson become a force with Seattle. Bonilla is experiencing his own rebirth after the Mets dumped him.
Bonilla had been Atlanta’s starting left-fielder 29 times through Saturday, hitting .289 with three home runs and 10 RBIs for the first-place Braves. He is enjoying helping Atlanta continue its hold over the Mets. The twist is that it’s the Mets who must pay Bonilla almost $30 million over the next 25 years after agreeing to defer the $5.9 million he was owed this season.
“This is like a gift,” Bonilla said. “I’m ecstatic now. Hey, I’m doing the macarena.”
By the numbers: Five of Randy Johnson’s 10 losses the last two years have been in games in which Arizona was shut out, including the 2-0 loss to Montreal’s Carl Pavano on Tuesday. . . . Detroit is 7-32 all time at Jacobs Field. . . . Toronto’s 17 smallest crowds at the SkyDome have come this season, with the Blue Jays exceeding the previous low of 20,258 in only seven of their first 24 home games. This despite the Jays hitting 2.3 homers per game at home.
Whispers: Kreuter and several Dodgers are expected to be suspended and fined for going into the Wrigley stands. Coaches Rick Dempsey and John Shelby were in the stands and a group of players including Gary Sheffield, Mark Grudzielanek, Geronimo Berroa, Todd Hollandsworth and Orel Hershiser were either in the stands or leaning over the brick wall to pull their teammates back. Reports in Los Angeles say Kreuter told baseball’s dean of discipline, Frank Robinson, that his intent was to retrieve his hat and hold the fan until security personnel could arrive. . . . Josh Beckett, arguably baseball’s top young pitching prospect, is throwing pain-free after a stint on the DL with tendinitis and could be pitching again by next weekend. He’s on Kane County’s roster. . . . Philadelphia could add Pat Burrell any day now. The first overall pick in the ’98 draft has hit 39 homers in 132 games between Class AA and AAA the last two seasons. . . . Naperville North’s Jerry Hairston Jr. is expected to be out one to three months for Baltimore after surgery on his left shoulder. . . . Pittsburgh made a bad call on Pete Schourek. The Pirates are paying $1.8 million of his $2 million salary with the Red Sox and he’s among the AL’s leaders with a 2.78 ERA.
The last word: “Anybody can win it. Probably whoever gets the last at-bat.”
–Texas manager Johnny Oates on the AL West race, which so far has included a 17-16 victory by the Rangers over the A’s, a 13-11 victory by the Rangers over the Angels, an 11-10 victory by the Rangers over the A’s, a 9-8 victory by the Angels over the A’s and a 9-7 victory by the A’s over the Mariners.
