Dissecting the Divisionals

By Paul Wysard

Condolences to Giants and Braves fans. Your teams won 100 games and were gone in less than a week. There has been much talk in all the media about the 5-game series being unfair to those particular clubs and to a few others in general over the years. For example, strong Baltimore and Houston teams in the later '90s, who never got out of the post-season starting gates. The Braves snuffed out the Astros early on several occasions, and have now been given a bitter dose of that medicine. But MLB seems very reluctant to move to 7 games in the three tiers. How about everyone dumping two interleague contests and starting the Divisionals on what is now the last Saturday of the regular season?

Let's go on to some other observations, trying to keep them fresh and not simply rehashes of what we see and hear in the major media. First, as a Braves fan (and I've said this in TDA before) it seems to me their troubles started in the fourth game of the 1996 World Series. Having hit very well in Yankee Stadium, they built a 2-1 edge in games while at home, then blew a 6-run cushion in game 4... and they haven't won a Series game since. Including 2000, they have lost in the first round three times. One might think there are newer players who wouldn't be carrying any old baggage, but the core of the club now was there then --- Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Javy Lopez, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz. Ditto Manager Bobby Cox and several coaches.

Having said all of the above, it is not at all certain that the Braves could have stayed with the Cubs over seven games. They would have needed Smoltz on virtually a daily basis, and he was clearly in pain during his save appearance Saturday night. He paced after every pitch, an anomaly, and his teeth were clenched into a canine leer. They do not now have to discuss the matter, and might not even do so later, but the man was hurting badly and one suspects the elbow and that is bad.

We also don't know whether Gary Sheffield's hand would have been strong enough to hit with his usual force, an absolute necessity if they were to prevail. Finally, the team would have had to face Mark Prior again, and therein would lie an almost cer- tain fourth win the Cubs would need.

Speaking of Prior, someone taught this young man how to pitch, and that teaching was pre-professional. The mechanics, discussed here before, are exquisite, and had to have been developed before he worked under Larry Rothschild. Maybe in the certain cascade of stories that will follow the season we will find out who the teacher was.

July 2001 Cabrera at Low-A Kane County

In a seven-game set, the Giants would have had a better chance of overtaking the Marlins than the Braves had vis-a-vis the Cubs. Schmidt and Ponson would have been ready to respond at Pac-Bell, and the team was beginning to hit at the end of the last game. This is not to dismiss Florida lightly, as it is impressive, but could I-Rod, Conine and Co. keeping doing it every day? And how do you like this kid Miguel Cabrera? We may have another Pujols in the making.

Oakland is building an Atlanta-type reputation for being unable to close the deal. The stat is something like ten clincher games dropped during the past several playoffs, and losing Hudson in the first inning Sunday was a disaster. But do the A's position players, outside of Tejada and Chavez (who weren't hitting), really consitute a championship team? Hatteberg, Singleton, Ellis, Long --- all quite pedestrian.

Although Manny Ramirez is becoming an irritant in showing up other players, including some on his own club, one has to respect the Red Sox.  They were down in individual contests, down two games, but battled back three times with a different catalyst or hero each time. Starting Wednesday, we will be in a time warp, in September, 1949. For those of us old fogies who remember that month of attrition between the two ancient enemies, especially the failure of the Sox to earn a winning split on the very last weekend, it will be nostalgic.  For those who weren't around or were too young, but who would like to join us along memory lane, I recommend David Halberstam's The Summer of '49 and his recent article on "The Red Sox Nation" in The Boston Globe.  Those should be the homework between games.

   Which leaves us with the New York Yankees, balanced, organized, and playing well. Derek Jeter was being interviewed on TV and was quick to correct the reporter, who suggested that the team might be looking over its collective shoulder at the game 7 loss and quick exit in the last two Octobers. "Many of our guys are newer," he said.  And a look at the starting lineup does show that only the folks "up the middle" -- Posada, Jeter himself, and Williams --  were at their posts in 2000 and 2001.  It looks like we'll be watching the pinstripers for the rest of this  month.

   In closing, here are some last-inning bunts:  Vinnie Castilla still plays a great third base... Scrappy Minnesota suddenly became the bland leading the bland... Sammy Sosa was a non-factor for the winning Cubs in games 3,4,and 5... As a result of his "bush" slap at the ball in Eric Karros' glove, Robert Fick will be quietly let go by Atlanta  because they don't like that kind of stuff... Some of the fundamentals exhibited in a number of the games could make a good satire of the Fred McGriff instructional promo... Oakland catcher Ramon Hernandez was a pleasant exception to that with his superb sacrifices... Hideki Matsui takes some strange approaches in the field, but he is a better player than many thought, this person included... Enjoy the rest of it!