When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa raced to the wire in their 1998 home-run race, Sosa said they had “healed America.” Perhaps they did, but at the moment it’s hard to remember what exactly ailed it.
These are different times. Barry Bonds knows that as well as anyone.
If America wants to become captivated with his slow climb toward 70 homers, that’s great with Bonds.
But he says there’s nothing he can do to heal a country still horrified by the terrorist attacks that left more than 6,000 presumed dead.
“No, not unless I have the power to bring life back,” Bonds said. “I just feel sorry for what happened. I feel just devastated. It’s just not right. It’s shocking, just shocking.”
Bonds consistently downplays his chances of overtaking McGwire. That no longer seems unlikely–not with him having 64 homers–but he’s genuinely puzzled by why anyone would wonder what he is thinking about it.
“People want to know what our leaders our thinking, what our president is thinking,” Bonds said. “More people are out to find out what they’re thinking right now as compared to what our plans are. I just feel that’s why we have a president and our leaders to answer most of the questions going on now. That’s their job. It’s our job as Americans to back up their decisions and do what we can to help in any way, shape or form.”
Had the Giants taken two of three against Houston last week, they would have entered the weekend tied with Arizona for the National League West lead. Instead they got swept to remain two back. Their wild-card standing has become precarious. After play resumed from the six-day shutdown, they fell from a half-game lead to three games behind St. Louis.
After this weekend’s series in San Diego, the Giants play three at Los Angeles and then go home for a three-game series against the Padres. After that they finish the season with three games in Houston and three at home against Los Angeles.
Ending badly: Javier Vazquez, who was the one true bright spot for the Montreal Expos this season, had his season ended prematurely when a pitch from Florida’s Ryan Dempster on Monday caromed off his batting helmet and left him with a fractured eye socket.
Dempster appeared almost as shaken up as Vazquez. The two grew close during last year’s All-Star tour of Japan. Dempster not only hung over Vazquez on the field but visited him in the clubhouse afterward.
“He knows exactly how I feel about it,” Dempster said. “I talked to him. It [stinks], man.”
Vazquez, 25, established himself as one of the elite pitchers this season. He was 16-11 with a 3.42 ERA and had worked more innings than any NL starters except Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson when he got hurt.
“My main goal was to throw 200 innings this year, and I did that,” Vazquez said.
An extra touch: When the Mariners clinched the AL West on Wednesday night, their subdued celebration included an unusual gathering near the pitcher’s mound. Players knelt and bowed their heads. Chuck Snyder, who has led the Mariners in Sunday chapel since 1979, led a prayer for about two minutes while 45,459 fans watched in silence.
“I just asked for God’s blessing for comfort and soothing for those people who are going through untold agony,” Snyder said. “I also thanked the Lord for having [the Mariners] have such a good season and for them being such good representatives of the city.”
After the prayer, Mariners players circled Safeco Field, waving and tipping their caps to fans. Mark McLemore wound up carrying an American flag, which he waved to loud cheers.
“I have no idea how it ended up in my hands,” McLemore said. “I played with a lot of teams that have won division championships and been to the playoffs, but with all that has gone on in the country this past week, it was, by far, my most special moment. . . . Everyone in here is mature enough to understand the significance of the situation. I think we did it with taste, respect and dignity.”
The Mariners became only the eighth team in history to win going wire to wire. Entering the weekend 106-41, they needed to win nine of their last 15 to break the 1998 Yankees’ AL record of 114 victories and 11 of 15 to break the 1906 Cubs’ major-league record of 116.
“I said a long time ago, I will not tax this club to get the win record, and I’m not going to do it,” manager Lou Piniella said. “But it’s there in front of us.”
Pedal to the metal: Agent Scott Boras is seething about the Dodgers’ recent use of free agent-to-be Chan Ho Park. He started on three days’ rest Sept. 9, when manager Jim Tracy went to a four-man rotation, then pitched in relief Monday before making his scheduled start Thursday.
“He has an ERA of about 2.80 when he has his normal rest and his pattern,” Boras said. “Most organizations, their 1-2-3 starters, they have their five-day rotations. And the Dodgers made the decision to make those adjustments and it’s something that has not been beneficial to Chan Ho.”
Park asked Tracy to work an inning if possible Monday, which was to be his day to throw. He felt he needed it after the unscheduled six-day break. But he was surprised when Tracy brought him into a tie game with San Diego. He took the loss after giving up four runs without getting an out.
“It wasn’t easy,” said Park, who recovered to work seven scoreless innings against Arizona on Thursday. “There was much more pressure there than starting a game. I wasn’t ready for the situation mentally.”
Park’s return to Los Angeles is uncertain but he could decide their fate this season. He’s scheduled to work three of the Dodgers’ last 11 games, including the final game of the season at San Francisco.
Baton pass: Has any manager ever had the luxury of having one Hall of Famer to pinch-hit and another to pinch-run for him? San Diego’s Bruce Bochy did in the 10th inning Wednesday at Los Angeles when he batted Tony Gwynn for pitcher Jose Nunez, then pinch-ran Rickey Henderson after Gwynn got a leadoff single. Henderson wound up scoring the winning run.
“To see those two switch places–that’s always a special moment,” Bochy said. “You are looking at two guys who have had tremendous careers. That was a pretty neat inning.”
Henderson was available to pinch-run only because he had been scratched from the lineup with flulike symptoms. Bochy planned to start him in each of San Diego’s last 19 games to give him a shot both to break Ty Cobb’s record for runs scored and reach 3,000 hits. He entered the weekend with 2,239 runs scored, six short of Cobb’s record, and 2,987 hits.
Injury of the week: Padres first baseman Ryan Klesko is out at least 10 days, and possibly the rest of the season, after aggravating a back injury when he and Bochy stumbled while backpedaling as they helped unfurl a giant American flag in Tuesday’s pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium. Klesko originally injured his back working in his garage during the six days off.
Numbers: The Expos and Marlins sold 8,817 tickets for their three-game series last week in Montreal. . . . Oakland was 14-0 with utility man F.P. Santangelo starting before losing to Texas on Wednesday. . . . Colorado first baseman Todd Helton has become the seventh player with 50-plus doubles in consecutive seasons. The others: Cleveland’s Tris Speaker (1920-21), Cleveland’s George Burns (1926-27), the Cubs’ Billy Herman (1935-36), St. Louis’ Joe Medwick (1936-37), Seattle’s Edgar Martinez (1995-96) and Houston’s Craig Biggio (1998-99).
Whispers: Because it would include off days after Games 1 and 2, Cleveland will need only three starters for a possible playoff series with Seattle. Manager Charlie Manuel is considering Chuck Finley, rookie Ryan Drese and Steve Woodard, probably in that order, as alternatives behind C.C. Sabathia and Bartolo Colon. He also will use the next two weeks to decide if Paul Shuey is throwing well enough to be on the postseason roster.
Quote of the week: “He seems to have a knack for RBIs you can’t teach.”–St. Louis right-hander Darryl Kile on teammate Albert Pujols, who has driven in 221 runs in 284 games as a pro, including an NL rookie-record 125 this season.
