RMJ 186 August 20

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20 ● Houston, vs Atlanta

No one wants to talk about the playoffs, for fear they will jinx the team. But at some point, you have to talk about it — and today was the day.  

The playoff roster must be set by August 31. If a player is not on the team or on the disabled list on that date, he is ineligible for the best-of-five first series of postseason games.

The first thing most teams do is add a catcher and subtract a pitcher. In a five-game series, with a day off in the middle, you simply don’t need eleven pitchers. Most of the time, your fifth starter moves to the bullpen to help out.

We pretty much concluded that we would take that direction too, though I am still willing to go with two catchers and take my chances that Brad will not get hurt. I conceded this was a risky proposition with Tony’s knee problem, and I deferred to those who did not want to take that risk.

The only reason I wanted to take the risk was to get some help for the bench.

With Derek hitting second, we need some power in the fourth, fifth, and sixth spots in the order — and we just don’t have any.  We have several candidates for promotion from the minor leagues: Richard Hidalgo and Bobby Abreu are the two outfielders; J. R. Phillips and Daryl Ward are the two first-basemen.

Most of the coaches seemed anxious to get some help from below. I think it is only natural to underrate the players on your own team and to prefer players coming in from the land of greener grass.

That being said, every coach in the room said that he would prefer young Ward to either Phillips or Thomas Howard as a left-handed pinch-hitter.

Ward played AA ball for most of the season. He is, by any reckoning, not ready for the Big Show. Gerry is not inclined to rush players to the majors, but Bill and I don’t mind. We feel that if the player fails, he can still learn something; take it back to the minors and return later.

We have also seen guys who never had to go back. They simply made the adjustment to the competition and continued to succeed.

One problem is that Howard is an outfielder and Ward is a first-baseman. If we were going to replace Tank, it would probably be with Richard — but he hits righthanded.

We talked around in circles for the better part of 90 minutes before we decided to continue thinking about it and to meet again on Saturday.

 

Cubby and I reviewed some tape of Biggio trying to turn the double play in last night’s game. We looked at one play where he was unable to get off a throw, and another where his relay was late.

We got a stopwatch and timed the plays. Turned out he had more time on the throw he didn’t make than on the one he did.

“I thought he could have made that play on Colbrunn when it happened,” Cubby said. “But he can’t make it so close to the bag. He has to cheat to get it off in time.”

Cubby demonstrated what he was talking about — and as he did, I noticed something that could be a problem.

“When you come way across like that, you have to throw sidearm,” I said. “Bidge doesn’t throw sidearm.”

“I know,” Cubby said. “That’s the same thing Bogey told me when I asked him about it. I’m not sure Bidge can make the play that way, but I think I’m going to try to talk to him about it.

“Not in here,” he said. “It’s coming up on game time, and I don’t want to confront him with tape and a stopwatch. But maybe the next few days on the field. We can always show him the tape, if he wants to see it.”

I have found that these little meetings are generally more valuable than the full-squad affairs.  In fact, I have arranged to have Wagner meet with Nolan Ryan on Friday to talk about the problems and the progress of a young fireballer.

This was accomplished with the help of our strength coach, Gene Coleman. Vern and I decided not to tell Billy until Thursday night, so as not to distract him. So I was perplexed when Biggio approached me about it just before the game tonight.

“Is Nolan going to just meet with Billy or everyone?” he asked.

“It’s just for Billy,” I said, masking my surprise. “But I’m sure the other guys will want to meet him, if he has time.”

“What Billy wants to do is talk to Nolie one-on-one,” Bidge said. “He was afraid everyone would be in there with him.”

I assumed “everyone” meant Vern and me, and I was a little ticked by the suggestion — but I tried not to show it.

“He can meet with him one-on-one if he wants to,” I said. “I’ve already talked to Nolan about him, and I have a pretty good idea as to what he is going to say anyway.

“The question is whether Billy should keep throwing a curve or go to a slider.”  

Biggio seemed curious about this, so I explained to him how the ball comes out of Billy’s hand: the low release point; the necessity that he throw the curve up for it to come down in the strike zone; the suspicion that this effect gives the hitters a “read” on his breaking ball that they would not get with a slider.            

Bidge seemed satisfied. He bounded down the tunnel to the dugout as I shook my head in disbelief.

How in the world did Biggio find out that Nolan was coming to see Billy? I asked myself. I told Vern about it, and he did a little snooping and learned that Coleman was the leak. Because I didn’t tell Gene not to tell him, I could only blame myself. It’s not a big deal, but it just shows how careful you have to be in this business.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nolan talked to him about moving hitters back off the plate, as well. If you throw 98 MPH and you are a little wild, it can be effective to be a little wild inside from time to time.

           

The game went the way I expected it would. It could have gone either way, but I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be much scoring. With two control pitchers — Shane and Tommy Glavine — and a wide-strike-zone umpire, Bob Davidson, I figured it would be hell on hitters — and it was.

The Braves scored their first run when a splitter bounced erratically away from Brad. It was a strikeout, and it would have been the third out; instead, Mark Lemke scooted home while Michael Tucker raced to first.

Their second run came on a solo homer by Javy Lopez.

The final Braves tally came when Glavine dropped a perfect squeeze bunt with two strikes in the count and the bases loaded. It was a great clutch effort by one of the best pitchers in the game.

We scored off Chad Fox in the eighth, when Biggio walked and immediately stole second base. Derek drove him in with a single. We gave Derek the green light, but he chose not to go.

On the fourth pitch, Bagwell hit a screamer down the third-base line. Chipper Jones made a nifty pickup and turned it into a double play. If Derek had stolen second, Jones wouldn’t have been able to play so deep, and he might not have made the catch.

Of course, Derek might have been thrown out trying to steal second base, but it was worth a try because Fox was slow to the plate and Lopez has a sore arm.

Mark Wohlers came on in the ninth, and Spiers greeted him with a double. But that was all she wrote. The next three hitters went down meekly, which is nothing to be ashamed of with Wohlers on the mound.

 

The press contingent wanted to address the weakness of the end of our lineup. This has been a concern to me too, but until recently, we have been scoring plenty of runs. I knew that this would play out eventually.

Gonzo is hitting cleanup, with seven home runs on the year. None of the next five hitters has more than three. This is bound to catch up with you sooner or later.

The question is whether we can convince Derek to move down to fourth and be happy. I asked Tom McCraw to talk to him about it tomorrow.