The World Series moved here Monday to the shores of Lake Erie and home of the new headquarters of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Hall of Fame, but the most urgent question centered on the feeding and care of Albert Belle, the slumping Cleveland slugger.
Belle, who had 50 home runs and 52 doubles during the regular season, has been held to a lonesome single in six Series at-bats, a .167 average. Most of his teammates have also been struggling offensively, which is why the Indians are down 0-2 to the Atlanta Braves in this best-of-7 matchup for the North American baseball championship.
“Albert’s frustrated, but not as frustrated as I’d like him to be,” teammate Kenny Lofton said at a ballpark press conference late Monday afternoon. Lofton went on to say he is waiting for “Albert to do something” and maybe he should relieve “his frustration by breaking a bat.”
To hasten Belle’s recovery, Lofton said that in Atlanta Sunday night he tried to break a bat “but it didn’t work.”
Omar Vizquel, the Indians’ star shortstop, took it a step further and revealed he has seen Belle vent his anger by kicking the water cooler, breaking a telephone, “or throwing cookies all over the place.”
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Belle is such a perfectionist, according to Vizquel, he can go 3 for 3 but if he pops up the fourth time he is terribly dissatisfied. “Instead of taking the three hits and be satisfied, he throws cookies around the clubhouse,” said Vizquel.
Vizquel was asked if, prior to the dissemination, Belle takes a bite out of a cookie.
“Yes,” replied Vizquel, “I have seen him eat cookies.”
The press seemed grateful for these small strips of information because Belle rarely speaks to sportswriters. He is, in a sense, baseball’s Greta Garbo, the reclusive silent screen star.
Most sportswriters are willing to oblige and give him plenty of room. An example of that was seen last week during the American League playoffs. About 100 reporters had gathered in front of the third-base Cleveland dugout two hours before game time.
Belle suddenly appeared and walked toward left field without interruption. Davey Nelson, the Indians’ first-base coach, witnessed the event with amusement. “Only Albert could get through that crowd without someone talking to him,” Nelson observed.
Mike Hargrove, the Cleveland manager who has been outmanaged by Bobby Cox, his Atlanta counterpart, refused to acknowledge that Belle is in a Series slump. To some extent I agree with Hargrove. Only two Series games have been played; six at-bats isn’t enough to chew on. But Belle was also ineffective during both rounds of the AL playoffs.
An amateur lexicographer, Hargrove tried to define “slump.”
“If a slump is not getting hits,” Hargrove said, “then Albert is in a slump. But if a slump is defined by not hitting the ball hard, than he’s not in a slump.”
Whatever, Belle isn’t the only player who is or is not in a “slump.” Eddie Murray is also hitting .167. The number is the same for Jim Thome. Even Lofton, who always seems to be on base, is hitting only .222.
The Atlanta pitchers have held the Indians to a collective .125 average. Whether the Tribe will go down without a whimper or break out here at Jacobs Field when play resumes Tuesday night is not known.
The Game 3 starters, as expected, will be Charles Nagy for the Indians and John Smoltz for the Braves. Ordinarily, the Game 1 starter returns for Game 4, but Cox revealed he will start Steve Avery in the fourth game instead of Greg Maddux who, as a result of this move, will be pitching with his usual four days of rest. This also means Maddux will not be available to start the seventh game if the Series goes the limit.
Cox was asked if he had any anxieties about the possibility the Braves would lose their 2-0 lead.
“I don’t think about losing,” Cox replied. “I don’t worry about that. I talk about winning.”
The odds are with the Braves. This is the 43rd time in Series history a team won the first two games; 32, or 76.2 percent, went on to win the title.
Hargrove didn’t seem impressed with the numbers. “We have a very resilient team,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons we have played so well. Our players believe in each other.”
One other comforting note to Chicago fans:
During this postseason there have been several occasions when the Indians’ Vizquel has been characterized as the best defensive shortstop in diamond history. There is no question Vizquel is excellent in the field, but it would be heresy to put him in the same class with Luis Aparicio, the one-time White Sox star.
Vizquel, when asked to rate himself, wisely said he doubted he was as skillful as the Cardinals’ Ozzie Smith and also revealed he has a healthy respect for Ozzie Guillen, the current White Sox shortstop. As for Aparicio, Vizquel never saw him play.