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Hits of the day
Pitchers: Jason Schmidt Paul Wilson Pedro Borbon Terrell Wade Brad Woodall Mets batters: Alex Ochoa Rey Ordonez Tim Bogar Kevin Flora Braves batters: Jerome Walton Chipper Jones Pablo Martinez The day's misses: Carl Everett Chris Nabholz Paul Byrd Ryan Klesko (a blip, who cares?) the city of West Palm Beach |
But while many of the names were familiar, these were teams in name only. It's early yet, and a lot of youngsters are getting a chance to show what they've got, and some fading veterans are getting a chance to show they haven't lost it. Still, it was -- at least in Palm Beach -- opening day.
There were ceremonies involving a color guard and a drill team of high-school-aged men and women who marched up and down the first base line. The stadium announcer said these young people, like the Atlanta Braves, were national champions, and when the century turned they would be serving their country in one of the armed forces. After the National Anthem, which was performed nicely by a local glee club, the game began. There was no traditional exchange of ceremonial gifts between the teams, and the Braves don't seem to have a team song. The music that played before the first pitch was Terry Cashman's "Willie, Mickey and the Duke."
They're going to Disney World!
Oh, I almost forgot. Before the game the mayor of Palm Beach gave an award to
a man who had worked as a volunteer each of the springs the Braves had been
in town, helping the team. I can't tell you exactly what he had done, but it
seemed that by helping the Braves the man had helped the city, and that had
gotten
him elected into the Palm Beach Hall of Fame. The award, and the mayor's
speech,
was bittersweet. This is the Braves penultimate season in Palm Beach. It was
announced this week that in 1998 they'll be moving into new spring quarters
at Disney World in Orlando. Maybe it's for this reason that the volunteer was
cheered heartily, and the mayor booed. I do know that everyone I talked to
seemed to feel that their facility here was just fine, and had been for more
than 30 years. They couldn't understand the Braves' decision to move on.
I'd say it smells like money. All of which felt like real baseball, even before the first pitch was thrown.
And then the umpire shouted, "Play ball!" and we began. Jason Schmidt, the phenom rookie pitcher for the Braves, delivered to Gary Thurman, the roto-useful but undraftable veteran outfielder trying to win a job with the Mets. Thurman, incredibly enough, in eight major league seasons has 792 at bats. He is useful because he's almost always available, doesn't get enough at-bats to hurt you (lifetime average: .244), and is always a threat to steal a base. He is a safe-haven replacement, which may well be why he was batting leadoff for the Mets this day.
Okay, enough suspense. Schmidt's first pitch, a curveball, was low and inside, a ball. Schmidt is tall and lanky, takes a big stride and, while his follow through isn't completely fluid, it does carry him all the way toward the plate. The next pitch was a fastball, very low, called a strike. Thurman looked back at the ump, as much in amazement as protest, it seemed. The next pitch, in much the same place, had Thurman flailing. Another fastball, above the waist, tied him up and struck him out.
When Rey Ordonez, the next batter, singled into right field, I was ready to make a snap judgment on Schmidt: Good fastball, but that isn't enough to get out major league hitters. Especially when you pitch in the strike zone; the old strike zone, at least. Ordonez didn't do anything but get wood on the ball. And that was enough for a solid hit.
Carl Everett, who would appear at this point to be the Mets starting right fielder, was completely overpowered in his at-bat. He quickly fell behind, swinging at two pitches no higher than his shoelaces, but he then battled back, fouling a few off and taking some others, to work the count full. The next pitch was low, not unlike the first two, and Everett again could not resist. He swung, missed, and Javy Lopez threw Ordonez, who was running on the pitch, out at second. End of inning.
Schmidt struck out the side in the second, Butch Huskey, Chris Jones and Alex Ochoa going down. This is not the middle of the lineup Dallas Green will be offering during the season, at least he hopes not, but the young pitcher's final line is impressive nonetheless: 2 IP, 0 Runs, 1 Hit, 5 K, 0 BB. The Braves need someone to fill the fifth-starter slot vacated by the departed Kent Mercker. Word this winter is that the job is either Schmidt's or Terrell Wade's. Schmidt got off to a quick start.
Wade weighs in
Wade pitched the third and fourth innings for the Braves. He is two
inches shorter than Schmidt and 20 pounds heavier. Most of that weight
seems to have settled in the middle of his frame. I'd say he looks a little
overweight, but that could just be his build. In any case, he offered a nice
contrast to Schmidt, not so much in pitching style -- he, too, has a good
fastball -- but in demeanor. Wade has a kind of loopy gait, as if he's used
to wearing big shoes and walking in thick dirt. He fretted a bit on the mound,
circled a little, but that may be just because he struggled more than
Schmidt.
Wade retired Edgardo Alfonso, Brent Mayne and pinch-hitter Paul Gomez in the third, but in the fourth ran into a bit of trouble. It's hard to say it was his fault: an infield single, a single through the hole created on the hit and run, a passed ball, and a legit single from Huskey, and two runs were in. Everett, Jones and Ochoa made the outs, and didn't look good in doing so. It didn't seem Wade pitched that badly; still, the Mets were up 2-0 after three-and-a-half.
What does this mean? Impossible to say. Off these performances Schmidt gets the job on my team, his confidence as much a factor as the strikeouts. But there's a good chance these performances don't mean anything. Both Schmidt and Wade are 23-years old, and both are strikeout pitchers with powerful arms. Schmidt pitches with his right, Wade with his left. In Macon in 1993, Wade fanned 121 in 83 1/3 innings! In 1992 in Macon, Schmidt struck out 33 in 24 innings. Maybe it's the background there, but it would seem that either of them could make it, and surely either of them could fail. One of them will come out of the spring as Atlanta's fifth starter. Schmidt is supposed to have the edge, but that could change. That's what the exhibition season is for.
Baby boom
The pitching fireworks on this opening day didn't all come from the Braves
side. The starter for the Mets was Paul Wilson, another big guy with a hard
fastball. Wilson, by many accounts, may be the best of the Mets baby corps of
starters, which includes Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher. But chances
are you already know that. There is something about the Mets and young
pitchers that screams "fit!" Maybe it's the hurler-friendly design of Shea Stadium, or the incredible, practically supernatural effect a group of young starters had in 1969. Whatever, I was excited to see Wilson.
And to tell the truth, I was left with little impression. He retired Jerome Walton, Mark Lemke reached on a throwing error by Rey Ordonez (but it looked like the umpire blew the call) and Chipper Jones hit a flat liner to Edgardo Alfonso at second base, who doubled-off Lemke. In the second, Fred McGriff hit a very high fly to left that Alex Ochoa ran down easily, Ryan Klesko grounded out, and Dwight Smith struck out. It was all very routine.
Which probably means Wilson is as good as advertised. Great fastball with exceptional control, it is said. What's not to like?
There were some other pitching performances of note. Brad Woodall, who could be the dark horse in the fifth starter race in Atlanta, was very effective. A couple of years ago he was being touted as the Braves closer of the future. He had a great year starting in Richmond in 1994, and bad ERAs both there and in Atlanta last year. He's 27 and only 6-feet tall. A dark horse.
Joe Borowski came to Atlanta in the Mercker deal. He's 25, has an impressive minor league resume as a reliever, and did not impress, though he didn't really do anything wrong. He, too, is a hard-thrower. And then there's Pedro Borbon, who throws the ball very hard. Jerry Browne led off the ninth with a double off Borbon, but didn't score. Ochoa, Alberto Castillo and Kevin Flora were overpowered. Browne may have been lucky.
The Mets pitching was spottier. Chris Nabholz came in after Wilson. When he's right he has a fall-off-the-table curve, but he hasn't been right for a couple of years. A few years ago, when he was with Montreal, I saw him pitch a game just before the All-Star break. His record to that point was terrible, but he looked very impressive, so I convinced my roto-partner to let us take him. He had a great second half and we won our league that year. The next year he again started out slowly, but again came on strong in the second half. Somewhere in there he had a long winning streak if you only considered the games his mother came to see him pitch. Either mom doesn't get out to the ballyard much any more, or Nabz hasn't recovered from his arm problems. I wish he were throwing better, but he isn't.
Nothing bad happened to the Mets when Jerry DiPoto was pitching. DiPoto was throwing hard, apparently recovered from his bout with cancer. But it took some good defense, especially a fine stop by Tim Bogar at first. DiPoto didn't look like he was in charge, but it's worth keeping an eye on him. If he gets his confidence and command back, he could be very effective.
And then there is Butch Huskey. He is not a pitcher, but rather a prospect, or a project, or at least was. A weight problem and bad attitude nearly ended his career. He looks trimmer than he did two years ago, when I last saw him, and he's saying the right things about working hard and helping the team. He will forever be linked in my mind to Jose Oliva, who looked great the other day at the Cardinals camp, for reasons I described then and won't repeat. Huskey doesn't look that great, he struggled a little at third, made an error, struck out against Schmidt, but did single hard off Wade. He may well make the Mets, and at some point he could turn into one of those monstrously productive bargains you sometimes luck in to. Or he could remain a sodden disappointment. It's hard not to think that a lot of it is up to him.
Finally, keep an eye out for Wonderful Monds, who played left field for the Braves. I don't know why, exactly, though he did look just fine striking out. I don't know much about biology, but I just wanted to type his name.
Good pitching, bad pitching, more substitutions than a basketball game, it was the opening day of spring training. Some besotted fans behind third base got a little ugly, but the dogs were hot and the beer cold -- maybe that's why. Lots of fans got souvenirs, and many scored autographs. It was a nice day.
Look for other picks and pans in the Hits and Misses section each day. These guys did good stuff, or bad stuff, that should be noted. Hope it helps.
Peter Kreutzer, a fantasy/Rotisserie game player since 1982, computes the predictions for Peter Golenbock's "How to Win at Rotisserie Baseball." He is also the writer of the ESPN home video, "Let's Play Baseball with Ozzie Smith."
