Day 2: McGwire is going to have to talk about the past

INDIANAPOLIS—Tony LaRussa was in the media room on Tuesday afternoon for his shift in front of the media and for the most part things went rather smoothly. LaRussa has a pretty keen baseball mind whether or not his methodology jibes with you.

Give credit where it’s due, the folks like to say.

But there was one topic that the Cardinals’ manager had to discuss for longer than he probably cared to during Tuesday’s session in the media room. Needless to say, LaRussa likely knew it was going to be a hot topic when he decided to give the hitting coach gig to Mark McGwire.

And clearly LaRussa knows there is many more coming.

For those who merely halfway followed baseball during the past few years, ex-slugger Mark McGwire went from national hero during the Summer of ’98 to pariah following his embarrassing testimony in front of the congressional House Government Reform Committee. Since then when McGwire repeatedly stated that he was not there “to talk about the past,” he has not given a single interview and has largely stayed out of the public eye.

There’s good reason, too. Though he has admitted to using androstenedione during his playing career, a steroid that was once sold over the counter in the U.S., McGwire has also been tied to more explicit steroid use during his playing days. Not only has Jose Canseco chronicled his steroid use with McGwire, but also the ex-Cardinals’ star was named in the infamous Mitchell Report.

However, hitting coaches in the Major Leagues talk to the press. In fact, it’s nearly unavoidable for them not to have many interactions with the media during a typical day at the ballpark. In a story that came out yesterday, newly-elected Hall-of-Fame manager, Whitey Herzog stated that he believes McGwire may quit his job because dealing with the press and the questions might not be worth it.

“He's going to be asked questions about steroids, he's going to be asked so many things, and he's got to be open and he's got to answer,” Herzog said. “And Tony can't get mad about it. He's got to put up with it.”

Yes, Tony knows this. Moreover, he says he would not have put McGwire in the position of being a distraction if the old slugger wasn’t up for the job.

“I know how seriously I've personally considered it before I presented it to our owner and general manager and our coaching staff, and I know the seriousness of my conversation with Mark, and I know how seriously he thought about it before he accepted,” La Russa said. “I think it's going to work, and I think he has demonstrated to some of us that he has a lot to offer as a hitting coach.”

McGwire worked privately with several Major League hitters privately from his home base in Southern California, but has no other coaching experience. Meanwhile, LaRussa said that McGwire will address the media regarding his new job and whatever other questions the press may have for him sometime in the near future.

So far that hasn’t happened because LaRussa says no one wanted to steal the spotlight from the World Series, awards season or winter meetings.

“I talk to him a lot,” La Russa said. “I talk to him about hitting. He's already had conversations with some of our guys. He's worked with guys over the winter in the past. He's studying tape. I mean, I'm the beneficiary of those conversations. I know what he has to offer and how excited he is about it.”

He might not be as excited to talk about the past, though.

Tacky stuff

Baseball players are very literal. At least they are that way about the rules. If the book doesn’t say one can’t use a chainsaw to aid a pitcher’s grip on a ball, then why not?

Pine tar, dirt, spit, Vaseline, frankincense? Anything to make the ball avoid a bat better.

In fact, most pitchers think like former Phillie Larry Andersen, who told the Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury that he is sympathetic to Tigers’ pitcher Kenny Rogers and the brewing controversy over what the unhittable lefty had on his hand during Game 2 of the World Series. Some speculate that it was pine tar. Others believe it was something more sinister. Rogers says it was just dirt mixed with rosin and sweat.

“Honestly, pine tar is really common with pitchers,” Andersen told Salisbury. “Technically, you could say he was cheating because you're not supposed to use a foreign substance. But I don't look at it that way. He wasn't changing the flight of the ball.”

Former Phillie Todd Jones, now the closer for the Tigers, was equally dismissive when he talked to Salisbury.

“It's one of those unwritten rules,” Jones said in the paper. “You don't check if it's not creating an advantage. Everyone is making a big deal of it. This is something that has been going on for years. Other teams have pitchers that are doing it, too.”

In baseball there is no “spirit of the rules” like there is in track & field and distance running. But even in those sports, the spirit of the rules idea is more about drug doping than actual competition.

If baseball were track or running, the controversy with Rogers would fall under the spirit of the rules category. He might not have broken the rules, technically, but he was definitely bending them.

So what did Rogers have on his hand during Game 2 of the World Series? Why it was Gum Benjamin, of course. You didn’t know?

No, we aren’t certain that it was Gum Benjamin Rogers had on his hand – he isn’t saying. But according to a few experts, the substance on Rogers’ hand looked exactly like Gum Benjamin.

Actually, Gum Benjamin is benzoin, which is resin obtained from certain tropical Asian trees and used in making perfume and medicine. Sometimes Gum Benjamin is used on cuts or abrasions when a band-aid isn’t big enough, but mostly it’s used by musicians – specifically guitar players or harpists – as a tacky, grippy protection. It’s also used in treating skin irritation, looks like iodine and it stays sticky even after it’s washed off.

Though Rogers says his hands were just dirty, something is amiss.

“I don’t believe it was dirt,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

But La Russa also didn’t rat out Rogers. Perhaps it goes back to the “no-big-deal” code baseball players’ hold.

“There's a line that I think that defines the competition. And you can sneak over the line, because we're all fighting for the edge. I always think, does it go to the point of abuse? And that's where you start snapping,” La Russa said. “I also know that pitchers -- I was going to say routinely, that may be too strong, because I don't know enough -- pitchers use some sticky stuff to get a better grip from the first throw in Spring Training to the last side they're going to throw in the World Series. Just because there's a little something that they're using to get a better grip, that doesn't cross the line, you know. To me what got my attention was guys that came down and said, man, this thing is real obvious on his hand. I didn't see it. But I did watch video of the other postseason games, so I had an idea of what it looked like, and I said, let's get rid of it and keep playing.

“That's the attitude I took. If he didn't get rid of it, I would have challenged it. But I do think it's a little bit part of the game at times and don't go crazy.”

Yes, I see the irony in what La Russa said. I wonder what he thought in 1998 and 1999 when Mark McGwire was hitting all of those home runs?

Andersen had a better thought in Salisbury’s story.

“You'd think he'd be a little more discreet," Andersen said. "That was such a big spot. Come on.”

Haven't we seen this before?

It looks as if Tony La Russa figured out what to do with Scott Rolen, which makes one wonder if he read a few of the previous entries here… hey, it could happen. I know a player or two who said they read this blog.

Then again, I haven't been punched in the face by a player yet, so I guess they were just blowing smoke.

Anyway, Rolen batted sixth and played his typical third base in Saturday’s Game 3 rout which put the Cardinals and their 83-regular season victories just two more wins from the World Series and a rematch of the 1968 Series. Scott Spiezio, Rolen's replacement at third base in two post-season games also started (left field) and contrubted with his second, two-run triple in as many games.

But Rolen snapping his big, post-season slump with a walk and a single mixed in with his Brooks-Robinson-and-Mike-Schmidt-all-rolled-into-one defense isn’t even half the story. Apparently, as I assumed (yeah, there’s that pronoun again. Hey, it’s my blog!) Rolen and La Russa may need some counseling.

Gee, no one saw that coming.

Jim Salisbury, for my money (what there is of it) the most interesting baseball writer out there, rightly analyzed the rift in the Inquirer today and even asked Rolen if he would be interested in a return to Philadelphia. If there is anyone who can offer an astute read on the situation it’s Salisbury since he’s seen it all before. Plus, there are very few writers that I have come across who the players respect more than Salisbury.

But enough of that… let’s get back to Rolen.

Next to Randy Wolf and Doug Glanville, Rolen is the smartest ballplayer I’ve met. However, he’s also the most sensitive. As Salisbury points out, Rolen is high-maintenance. He needs to be kept in the loop and also needs self-assurance and what he deems as fairness. I recall a time where Rolen and Larry Bowa had a long, pre-game meeting because Bowa, looking for a spark, moved Rolen to the No. 2 spot in the batting order. At the same time, Bowa shifted Bobby Abreu over to center field, but with Abreu all the manager did was walk over to his locker and ask him if he was OK with playing center field.

With Rolen, it took a closed-door meeting for a batting order shift.

As one Phillie management type once told me: “Scotty worries about everything. He cares about how the cars are parked in the parking lot… ”

The Phillies, not exactly the most astute in reading situations, placating feelings or being sensitive to others, weren’t too far off here.

Because of that Rolen, like any classic high achieving, high-maintenance person, not only expects a lot out of himself, but he also has high standards for others.

Pardon the dime store psychiatry, but as someone with similar traits – excluding the high achieving part, of course – it’s easy to understand that Rolen needs a lot of understanding. Perhaps that’s why he is the most entertaining player out there. His neurosis is on display constantly from his habits in the batter's box to how he takes the field and his human cannonball style. What makes all that more than shtick is that he can actually play.

I can’t think of a player I’ve ever enjoyed watching more.

But through the neurosis, stubbornness and sensitivity, Rolen has to know he can’t win a battle against La Russa. Come on… he’s smarter than that. It’s not about leverage or public opinion or anything like that. It’s that La Russa is right. Sure, La Russa has an ego as large as every successful baseball man, but he isn’t Larry Bowa. It might be wise for Rolen to get past his natural tendencies and all of that other stuff and try to iron it out with La Russa.

Besides, the Cardinals won both of the playoff games where La Russa benched Rolen.

It's the playoffs!
It may be a knee-jerk reaction, but the Cardinals might have the Mets right where they want them. This series might not be going back to Shea.

Reason? To borrow and paraphrase a political campaign mantra, it’s the pitching, stupid.

When Steve Traschel is your team’s Game 3 starter, there’s trouble. When reliever Darren Oliver gets two (two!) at-bats, there’s trouble. When Oliver is pitching six innings in one game, there’s trouble. When Endy Chavez… well, you get the idea.

The fact of the matter is the Mets’ injuries are just too much to overcome. If they can comeback and win the series, I’ll sing New York’s hosannas, but I just don’t see it happening.

At the same time, I don’t see the Tigers losing the World Series. In that regard, here’s the question I posed a couple of the Phillies writers:

How can the Tigers go from losing 119 games to winning the World Series and the Phillies can only make the playoffs once in the last 23 years?

Anyone?

Apropos...
... of nothing, is it tacky for a media member to dial up other media outlets to "volunteer" his "expertise" on their airwaves? I think so.

It's the playoffs!

So, do I get credit for predicting Billy Wagner’s blown game in Game 2 of the NLCS? Well, I didn’t actually predict it, but I admitted that I rooted for Wagner to blow the save it in Game 1. I can’t figure out why, either, since Billy was always fair to me though I know he was annoyed by me asking him about throwing his slider?

I can’t figure out why he won the Philadelphia chapter of the BBWAA’s “Good Guy” award in 2005, either.

Wait… yeah I can. Never mind.

Nevertheless, Wagner entered last night’s game in the ninth with the score tied and promptly gave up the game-winning home run to So Taguchi. Actually, it wasn’t so prompt. Taguchi failed off four pitches before knocking one into the seats to wreck Wagner and the Mets’ evening. Interestingly, I made a note to myself during that at-bat that Taguchi was right on Wagner’s high fastball and that if he could get his bat out a fraction of a fraction of a second quicker, it was bye-bye Billy.

I’m not making that up – I made a note of it.

I wonder if anyone asked Wagner about his slider last night?

Wagner, as mentioned, was brought into the ninth inning of a tie game – a tactic that a lot of managers use with their closer. Larry Bowa used to do it with Wagner, and so did Charlie Manuel. In fact, Manuel says he views a four-run lead as a save situation even though the criteria for a save indicates otherwise.

I’m on the fence about the closer-in-the-ninth-of-a-tie-game theory. It’s hard to say it’s a good idea or a bad one unless every situation is pored over. However, in the layoffs, it’s always all hands on deck. My guess is that manager Willie Randolph would have used Wagner for a second inning if he would have slipped through the ninth unscathed. Instead, he had to get Wagner out of there so he didn’t rack up the pitches with three more games looming in St. Louis.

Plus, with the Mets’ pitching in the shape its in with all of those injuries, Wagner should be ready to go to work. He’s going to be busy with the five-playoff games in five days.

Meanwhile, on the American League side, it looks like Detroit is going to be able to be able to rest up and set their pitching rotation for the World Series while the two beat-up National League clubs beat up on each other some more.

Speaking of beat up, I guess I don’t know what goes on inside of the mind of manager Tony La Russa. Maybe that guy knows a thing or two about baseball?

Previously, I wrote that it would make more sense for La Russa to slide down struggling All-Star Scott Rolen in the batting order, a la Joe Torre and A-Rod, because Rolen’s glove at third base is just too valuable.

Shows you what I know.

La Russa benched Rolen and used him as a late-inning defensive replacement while Scott Spiezio batted fifth and went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including a clutch, two-run triple.

When Rolen came in the game to play third in the ninth inning, the first hitter smacked one destined for left field until the six-time gold glover dived to his left – on his bum shoulder, no less – to make a spectacular play to get the out.

So who is going to play La Russa in the movie? Didn’t Tim Robbins play Albert Einstein?

Needless to say, Rolen is pretty peeved. Stubborn, sensitive and proud, it’s unlikely he’s going to get over the snub any time soon. I’ve heard of him to hold long-time grudges for less. However, if Rolen was good enough for La Russa to play every day during the stretch run when the third baseman says his shoulder wasn’t as healthy as it is now, maybe the manager should stand by his man.

About the situation, Rolen told the Post-Dispatch: "This isn't the time or the place to have a personal issue between a player and a manager. I'm going to get ready to play tonight, keep an eye on the game and if I get a chance try to make a difference."

La Russa doesn't think it will be a problem, either.

"I'm not going to create a problem. I can't believe he's going to create the problem. So where's the problem, except he's worried about playing?" he said to the St. Louis paper. "I'm just trying to win the game, buddy."

Then again, Spiezio has a history of getting big hits in big playoff games. Ask the Dusty Baker and the Giants about that.

They really count now

Phil Garner managed his rear off on Monday night at the Bank, showing how to use nine pitchers in nine innings because his scheduled started decided to pitch the night before on national TV. As a result, the Astros have climbed to within 1 1/2 games of the Cardinals in the NL Central, which is kind of amazing. Actually, it's 1964 Phillies-type of amazing. The Astros, seemingly ready to shut it down, have made up seven games in seven days against the free-falling Cardinals. That's unheard of. The '64 Phillies didn't choke up seven games in seven days, did they? They certainly didn't have a "genius" manager like Tony LaRussa guiding the ship, either.

Nonetheless, the Cardinals, without their closer and half of their pitching rotation, are in a dogfight now. It may be better not to go to the playoffs where they will surely lose in the first round.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, manager Grady Little has re-arranged his pitching rotation so that Greg Maddux and Derek Lowe will pitch in the last two games of the season on short rest. Maddux pitched in last night's victory in Denver, while Lowe is scheduled to go tonight. That means both pitchers will work on just three days rest in San Francisco in attempting to get the Dodgers into the playoffs.

Will Manuel -- who beat out Little for the Phillies managing job -- try the same thing this weekend in Miami with his two best pitchers?

"I'm sure we'll do some talking about that. I don't know what we'll do, but we'll definitely discuss a lot of things," he said before Tuesday night's game.

The idea would be to bump up Brett Myers, who pitched well despite Tuesday night's loss, as well as Wednesday night's starter Cole Hamels, who has never pitched on short rest ever.

On another note, former Phillies GM Ed Wade, now a scout for the Padres, was at RFK on Tuesday night watching the Phillies for the second night in a row. Though Wade has some insider knowledge on the Phillies, I'm not so sure he's the right guy to scout his old team. Seriously, Wade gave Pat Burrell a $50 million contract with a no-trade clause...

Speaking of Burrell, here's a fun stat: 14 of his 27 homers have come with no one on base and only three of them have come with runners in scoring position.