Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 23, 1993 TAG: 9305230139
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Gordon Edes
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
With the 1993 Mets in lockstep with the '62 Mets - each was 12-24 through 36 games - it may be too late to salvage this season.
But how's this for a little historical irony? The last time the Philadelphia Phillies were 24-10 was 1979. The Phillies not only didn't win the National League East that season, their manager, Danny Ozark, was replaced by . . . Dallas Green.
Unlike Torborg, a nice man and a fine manager thrust into a setting beyond his control, Dallas Green will not need his own radio show to be heard. This big man's booming voice will ring through the Mets' clubhouse and reverberate off the walls of Shea Stadium, especially if this team continues to play as badly as it did under Torborg.
Mets vice president Al Harazin said that when he called Green to offer him the job, Green told him his wife had just left on a monthlong trip to Tibet.
"I wondered which one was entering more dangerous territory," Harazin said.
A former manager of the Yankees, Green is returning to familiar terrain, and he isn't about to be knocked off his feet. The third manager the Mets have hired in the past 36 months - Torborg and Buddy Harrelson preceded him - Green also has been battle-tested in Philadelphia and Chicago, and he won in both places.
At 58, he's secure enough and has accomplished enough to demand a better performance from a clubhouse filled with underachievers. He will do it by intimidation and by the force of his oversized personality.
The Mets weren't about to try another untested person. Clint Hurdle, the highly respected manager of the Mets' Triple-A farm team, may join Green's staff as a coach if Atlanta Braves scout Bobby Wine refuses Green's invitation to come aboard.
"Either I'm on hold for a couple of days," said Hurdle, a former Mets player, "or I'm hold for 2 1/2 years."
Green inherits the 2 1/2 years left on Torborg's contract, which means he's committed to managing until 1995.
Torborg deserved better, of course.
"My lowest point in baseball . . . a painful day," Harazin said upon firing Torborg. "Jeff is one of the most decent people I've ever worked with. His dignity, work ethic and loyalty are outstanding."
High character did not translate into an elevated place in the standings for the Mets. Bobby Bonilla hit a winning, 10th-inning home run in Torborg's first game as Mets manager. Bonilla hit a winning, 10th-inning home run in Torborg's last game, too.
A few more games like that from Bonilla in between, and Torborg might still have his job. But Bonilla, like so many of his teammates, simply did not produce.
Said Mets utilityman Dave Gallagher after a recent loss: "I'm sure everybody in this room feels the way I do. Every night I want to puke."
Maybe under Torborg, they were allowed to be too comfortable in their failure.
That won't happen under Dallas Green.
\ A CROCK FROM KRUK: Phillies first baseman John Kruk, given a chance to be a guest columnist by Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News, volunteered his list of the Top 10 ways he'd change baseball.
10. No batting practice. "You get 15 swings against a coach throwing 65 mph, then you have to adjust to some guy throwing 90."
9. No infield practice. "The only thing more exciting is signing boxes of baseballs in the clubhouse."
8. No base stealing. "No wonder a pitcher can't throw a strike when a guy with both feet on the carpet is over at first base, wiggling his fingers."
7. Shorten spring training to one day. "The general manager introduces the new players acquired over the winter, you go over the signs, and the next day you fly to your first game."
6. No doubleheaders or day games.
5. No mascots. "Shoot anything that looks like it's from `Sesame Street.' "
4. Limit Mitch Williams to one appearance a week. "Bring in Mitch only when all else fails."
3. Players have the right to hit a reporter if he writes something stupid.
2. Shorten the season to 50 games. "That way I last the whole season."
1. One major rule change: "If you're playing first base and there's a runner on second, if a ball is thrown in the dirt and hits you in a [delicate area], you have the right to collect yourself before the runner can advance."
\ FASHION PLATE: Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens unveiled a new haircut, a modified Mohawk similar to the one Charlie Sheen wore in the movie "Major League." Clemens goes to a Boston stylist by the name of Santini, who thought the look would make Clemens appear more intimidating.
"I think he enjoys doing my hair because I'll come in and try anything," Clemens said. "But I like this. I can wear a pair of sunglasses and this lid right here, go out and not get recognized.
"Some of the guys [on the Red Sox] don't have anything to cut, and other guys are just too scared to make a change. Look at Frankie [Viola]. He's had the same hairstyle since his high school prom day."
Said Mike Greenwell, one of the Red Sox with a receding hairline: "Even if I had that much hair I wouldn't cut it like that. I think it looks funny."
Clemens' sons - Koby, 6, and Kory, 4 - sport the same haircut as their father.
\ CONTROL FREAK: St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Tewksbury has more RBI (five) than he has allowed bases on balls (two). Tewksbury did not go to a three-ball count in seven innings against the Chicago Cubs in Thursday night's 6-3 win in St. Louis. Tewksbury has walked two in 55 innings this season.
\ SETTLING IN: The Oakland Athletics have been in last place in the American League West for 20 consecutive days, their longest stretch in the cellar since they spent 25 days in last place from June 29 to July 22, 1986.
\ RIGHT ON TRACK: Toronto's Joe Carter is a virtual lock for his seventh 100-RBI season in the past eight years. With 37 RBI in his first 40 games, Carter is on pace to drive in 150 runs.
\ STANDING BY WITH STANTON: Mike Stanton's 16 saves have set an Atlanta club record for left-handers, easily breaking the record of 11 set by Tom House, now the Texas Rangers' roving pitching instructor, in 1974. Stanton, who has converted all 16 of his save opportunities, is in line to break Gene Garber's club record for saves (30).
One of these days, the Braves might even admit that Stanton is their closer.
"We don't use that word around here," said pitching coach Leo Mazzone. "But he's certainly put up those type numbers."
\ A RIP ON CAL: It has yet to explode into a full-fledged controversy, but the Baltimore Orioles' model citizen, Cal Ripken Jr., allegedly has become the target of internal sniping.
Ripken reportedly has drawn the ire of teammates for occasionally eschewing the team bus to ride limousines from the airport and for staying at hotels other than the ones where the ballclub stays.
Ripken may be just trying to avoid the crush of autograph-seekers that dog him on the road, but something else may be involved in his purported fall from grace. Cal Jr. has hit just six home runs in his past 522 at-bats dating to last season.
\ MORE THAN AN AFTERTHOUGHT: Dwight Smith of the Cubs figured to be no better than the team's fifth outfielder at the start of this season, but his .393 batting average has earned him considerably more playing time than the original blueprint had intended.
The Cubs didn't bother to protect Smith through all three rounds of the expansion draft last November.
Asked if he would have liked to have been selected, Smith said: "I kind of wanted to be picked. But when I saw the guys they were taking were guys hitting .174 and .220 in Winston-Salem, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a part of that group. When I was in the minors, I hit .330, .340. Just because a guy is 29 doesn't mean he's over the hill."
\ NO RESPECT: Cincinnati Reds rookie pitcher John Roper intended no harm, but he may be in for a rough time if the Colorado Rockies get another shot at him. Roper was called up from the minors to fill in for injured starter Tim Belcher, held the Rockies to one run in six innings and then was sent back down to the minors after the game.
"Yeah, I've seen lineups better than that," Roper said of the Rockies. "For instance, Buffalo and the Nashville Sounds. You can make a mistake with those guys and they can hurt you.
"I made a few mistakes today and got away with them."
\ HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD: Reds relief pitcher Steve Foster was a guest on "The Tonight Show" during Cincinnati's visit to Los Angeles. Host Jay Leno was looking for a ballplayer for his "Man vs. Machine" show. He had Foster compete against a pitching machine in trying to knock milk bottles off a barrel top.
Foster did it on his third try but was mortified when Leno pulled a scantily dressed woman out of the audience and thrust her into the pitcher's arms. "I'm dead," said Foster, who ran off the stage carrying the woman. "I've got to call my wife."
Gordon Edes is a columnist and baseball writer for the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel.
by CNB