Short hops, quick pops and backhand stops:
• There's a pandemic sweeping baseball, and it ain't the Swine Flu: Six weeks in, one of the developing characteristics of 2009 is the number of managers desperately seeking cures for bullpen viruses.
The combined ERA of American League bullpens was 4.67 at midweek, higher than it has been for any season through this point since 2000 (4.91). The NL bullpen ERA of 4.43 was the most inflated it's been since 2006 (4.48).
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| It's been a frustrating year for Mike Scioscia and the Angels, who have the worst bullpen in the majors. (AP) |
Three major league clubs had bullpen ERAs over 6.00 (Nationals, Yankees, Angels), nine owned bullpen ERAs of 5.00 or higher (add the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Cleveland, Minnesota, Baltimore and Texas to the aforementioned three) and 14 owned 'pen ERAs of 4.50 or higher (add the Rockies, Astros, Pirates, Padres and Tigers to the list).
Televised shots of managers scowling in the dugout as games turn tense have become the norm. Cleveland was supposed to contend this season, but the Indians are last in the AL Central largely because whatever relief lever manager Eric Wedge pulls usually is the wrong one. Problem is, there are no right ones, as general manager Mark Shapiro admitted this week. The Indians surrendered a record 12 runs to Boston in the sixth inning on May 7 before obtaining an out.
"If there's any one component of the team that's been the most crippling to the way Eric has managed the team, to the residual relationship with the starting rotation, to the psyche of the team, it's been the 'pen," said Shapiro, whose set-up tag-team of youngsters Jensen Lewis and Rafael Perez hasn't worked as planned (as such, the Indians signed veteran journeyman Luis Vizcaino on Wednesday). "You've seen where we've made changes and we'll continue to make changes [in the] 'pen."
The Yankees' 6.02 bullpen ERA was tied for second-worst in the game with the Nationals. Closer Mariano Rivera already has given up four home runs -- he hasn't allowed five or more in a season since 2001.
"It's not any fun, that's for sure," manager Joe Girardi said earlier this month. "It's frustrating. ... People have to step up."
In Chicago, the Cubs are going to have to pop for a new couch in beleaguered manager Lou Piniella's office soon. Because if he suffers through many more games such as the April 29 contest against Arizona in which Cubs relievers issued three bases-loaded walks, he's going to need some serious therapy. The Cubs' 5.23 bullpen ERA ranks 15th in the NL, and their 65 walks were the most in the majors.
"I've changed closers twice and neither had blown a save at the time of the change," says Colorado skipper Clint Hurdle, who opened the season with Huston Street as closer, switched to Manuel Corpas and then went back to Street. "I don't know if that's ever happened. But I did it because of what your eyes are telling you and what the bats are telling you."
Opposing bats are telling a lot right now, and the most glaring example in baseball right now is that of the Los Angeles Angels. Solid late-innings relief has been the hallmark of Mike Scioscia's teams for most of this decade, but a club that ranked fourth in the AL last year with a 3.69 'pen ERA now owns the majors' worst ERA at 6.90.
"It's not one magic pill," Scioscia says. "Just about everyone has had one struggle or another."
• Bullpen struggles are a problem the Angels rarely had to deal with a year ago, when then-closer Francisco Rodriguez was racking up a major league record 62 saves and set-up men Scot Shields and Jose Arredondo were nails. With new closer Brian Fuentes (5.90 ERA, nine saves in 11 opportunities), the worry-free days of K-Rod are but a fond memory. That was predictable. The struggles of others, not so much. Shields, for example, led the AL in holds in each of the past three seasons but right now owns a 7.82 ERA.
"I know how he prepares in spring training, and it's not necessarily innings pitched, it's bullpen sessions," Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher says. "I think with him it was the World Baseball Classic. It takes away natural progression of during spring training. Our communication with Marcel Lachemann (Team USA pitching coach) was good as far as relaying messages, but it's not the same.
"[Shields] might get seven outings during spring training, but he'll get a boatload of bullpens while he's getting where he needs to be."
Arredondo is in his second season and, according to Butcher, has figured out that perhaps he needs to do a little more work in the offseason so he can be ready to go earlier. Frustration level for Justin Speier (8.82 ERA)? He has appeared in nine games and has been ejected twice.
• The San Diego Padres are considering releasing right fielder Brian Giles, eating the remainder of the $9 million they owe him this year. What once was looking like a slow start is beginning to resemble the end for Giles, who was dropped to seventh in the batting order Wednesday night in Chicago.
• Toronto manager Cito Gaston says Blue Jays second baseman Aaron Hill is as good defensively as Roberto Alomar was.
• Roger Clemens denying steroids, saying it would be "suicidal" because of the history of heart problems in his family, including his brother and stepfather? That's some family tree if there's heredity between Clemens and his stepfather.
• Will Manny Ramirez emerge from the shadows and address his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in Florida this weekend? The club thinks yes. He might be "distraught," as sources close to him say, but the sooner he begins to repair the damage, the better it's going to be for what's left of his career. The thing Ramirez has going for him that Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro and others don't: He's charismatic and likeable.
• Arizona is 1-5 since new manager A.J. Hinch replaced Bob Melvin. And sources close to the Diamondbacks say it is one unhappy clubhouse.
• Best records in baseball since April 19: Milwaukee (17-6, .739), Boston (16-7, .696), Texas (15-7, .681) and San Francisco (15-7, .681).
• The especially shocking part about Texas being included in the above list is that the Rangers are actually honest-to-gosh pitching. Through midweek, the Rangers owned an AL-best 3.03 ERA in May, a month in which they had gone 8-3 to start. The Texas rotation -- Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy, Matt Harrison and Scott Feldman -- posted a 2.94 ERA through the first 11 games in May. Big test this weekend in Arlington against the Los Angeles Angels, who will activate ace John Lackey from the disabled list for Saturday's game.
• One veteran scout after watching the Blue Jays' Roy Halladay dominate the Yankees (and beat ex-teammate A.J. Burnett) in a complete-game, 5-1 victory in Toronto on Tuesday night: "He's great," one scout in attendance marveled. "He's as good as ever. When he's on, he's the best. He can pitch inside with the cutter as well as anybody. Nobody pitches inside as good as Halladay. Don't get me wrong -- he can pitch outside. He must have broken at least five bats tonight."
• Great moments in Ozzie Guillen: After the White Sox were shut out Wednesday in Cleveland for the sixth time in 33 games, the South Side skipper summarized his club's plight thusly: "Game on the line, we strike out. People on base, we strike out. Lead off an inning, we strike out. We have to cut that. That's a big part of the game. You put the ball in play, you have a better chance. We really strike out too much, even the guys who strike out. We have people who strike out more than Jimmy [Thome].
"That's a little embarrassing, you strike out more than Jim Thome. Because Jim has one way. He's not going to be on base 300 times [with] 150 strikeouts, 150 walks. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. Some guys aren't going to be Hall of Famers. They strike out too much and they have to be better."
• Don't forget to cover your eyes and duck if you're watching Washington (other than Ryan Zimmerman, that is). That Nationals outfield -- Josh Willingham, Adam Dunn, Elijah Dukes -- is the worst I've seen in a long, long time.
• Odd, but Barry Zito is looking like Barry Zito. At least, like the old Zito. Over his past five starts, including Wednesday's 6-3 loss to Washington, Zito has turned in a 1.67 ERA.
• Planning your summer vacations and looking for scoop on some stadiums you haven't visited yet? Check out the Wise Guides here (www.wiseguidesonline.com). These guys do a great job.
• Those of you in the Detroit area, keep an eye out this summer for the Fox Sports Detroit special Tigers Weekly retrospective of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. Very well done. Though it has already been broadcast, it's expected to pop up from time to time this summer (especially during rain delays).
