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player ready...The idea of spring training, after all, is to simulate regular-season predicaments. So why wait until next year, or even the next inning?
Only five minutes into their Cactus League opener Friday at HoHoKam Park, there were the Cubs, hard at work trapping a Seattle runner between third base and home. Just three batters later, there was Frank Castillo dealing from the stretch position, and the Mariners had ’em loaded.
Basics and fundamentals. What you practice in March you can apply in September, if it matters.
So far, there’s no reason to reach for that V-Chip. The Cubs survived that early annoyance to romp 12-6 and remain undefeated. Sammy Sosa clubbed a home run that looked like an infield pop.
“Strong,” he said, flexing.
And the ballclub?
“Strong,” he said, smiling. “Lot of new people.”
Among them is Ryne Sandberg, whose double off a supermarket sign in left-center was one of the most noticeable of 15 Cub hits. This was his first game, exhibition or meaningful, since June 10, 1994.
“I admit it, I was bitter at Ryno when he retired the way he did,” said Mark Grace. “I felt at the time that he quit on us in the middle of the season. I went through my own divorce the year before, in 1993, and I kept playing. My home life was so brutal, baseball became a release.
“Ryno was so miserable, I guess it affected him the opposite way. He didn’t want to come to the ballpark. I didn’t understand then. I didn’t have kids, either. I understand now, though, and it’s great to have him back.”
The ovation accorded Sandberg was second only to the delirious reception for Harry Caray on his birthday. The book has him at age 76, though Harry admits to 77.
“It’s a leap year,” he explained.
Ed Lynch, the Cubs’ general manager, recognizes that his squad’s bullpen concerns just about everyone except opposing teams in the National League Central. Since Randy Myers departed to Baltimore, Lynch is operating on the hope that another closer can be identified to secure all those conquests in the ninth inning.
So are his starters wishing. Castillo has been projected by pitching coach Ferguson Jenkins as one of five in the rotation capable of winning 15 games. Jenkins might be thinking with his heart, but so goes spring training.
“Oh, that’s 75 wins right there,” said Castillo. “That’s a lot, but it’s possible. Without Randy, there is that element of doubt. Subconsciously, I probably went out last year thinking that if I give them six or seven good innings, Randy will come in and finish it. Who knows? Maybe not having Randy will make us concentrate harder.”
Doug Jones, a wide body employed last year by the Orioles, has the job until he loses it, which is a nice way to welcome a free agent into the family. The fear among Cub fans who know fear so well is that Jones isn’t the type of power pitcher they would prefer to see in a pressure situation at a smallish ballpark such as Wrigley Field.
Jones surrendered a home run Friday to Doug Strange, a former Cub, but Lynch maintains Jones wasn’t hired because his specialty is yielding loud flyballs. The notion that he’ll be dangerous to the beloved ivy therefore could be a scare tactic perpetuated by environmentalists more concerned about saving the planet than precious ballgames.
“Look at this,” said Lynch, chart in hand. “Last season, Jones’ ratio of groundballs to flyballs was 1.46, better than the American League average of 1.04.”
Then again, the Colorado Rockies led the National League with a 1.33 ratio but brought up the rear with a 4.97 earned-run average. Weird things do occur in the thin air of Denver, however. The Cubs not only scored 26 runs in a game there last year, they won.
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