A year ago, Morgan Ensberg was the game’s most mysterious Punch-and-Judy.
He did have one home run through July 1. A right-handed-hitting third baseman who had hit 25 homers for the Astros the previous year, who played his home games at the ridiculously short left-field porch at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, and then nothing.
No homers through 205 at-bats.
This year, the power zapped back into his smooth swing, Ensberg had 21 homers through July 1, 23 entering Friday.
“I think if you look specifically at my year, experience is huge,” Ensberg said. “And specifically last year, I was hurt. Luckily we had the type team last year where you could hide me offensively. This year, health was probably 60 percent of it and experience is 40 percent. I learned a lot last year.”
Flexor tendinitis in his right arm especially bothered Ensberg last season, as did a small crack in his backbone that affected a nerve.
“You can’t shake it,” Ensberg said. “It’s in every single thing you do. I couldn’t ever get it warm to where I couldn’t feel it.”
Healthy this season, Ensberg has become the biggest snub from the All-Star Game. He was pushed out because the fans selected popular St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen, who missed 36 games to injury, to start for the National League and the players chose Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs as a reserve.
That leaves Ensberg, who entered play Saturday with more homers than any American League hitter and is third only to Andruw Jones and Derrek Lee in the NL, with no choice but to find contentment in filling the power void in an Astros lineup otherwise decimated by the offseason departures of Jeff Kent and Carlos Beltran, and early-season injuries to Lance Berkman and Jeff Bagwell.
“I’m sure some guys might say, ‘Yeah, I stepped up because I knew the team really needed me,”‘ Ensberg said. “But I think what we’re dealing with here is another year of experience and being healthy. To say anything else would be trying to glorify something’s that not really there.”
Leyland, Reds good fit
It has been nearly six years since Jim Leyland resigned as Rockies manager and though he vowed then to never hold such a job again, time has a way of changing everything but a man’s blood.
Leyland sought the Philadelphia Phillies’ managerial opening last October in part because the city is a car drive from his Pittsburgh-area home, but mostly because the managing fever has recycled through Leyland’s veins.
That job instead went to Charlie Manuel, who inherited the no-win task of leading a team that looks good on paper but is dysfunctional on the field. Leyland, meanwhile, is back scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals but is otherwise available to other underachieving teams, most notably the boom-or bust-hitting Cincinnati Reds.
After firing Dave Miley last month, the Reds named Jerry Narron as interim manager. Narron has managed previously, just enough for the Reds to know he’s probably not their man.
“I won’t comment on any team that currently has a manager,” said Leyland, who turns 61 in December. “That wouldn’t be fair to the manager or the team. I’m not looking to take anybody’s job. But if a team does have an opening for a big-league manager, I would be interested. I miss it. And my family wants me to get back into it.”
Two more years?
Rockies owners Charlie and Dick Monfort say they will stick with general manager Dan O’Dowd and manager Clint Hurdle the rest of this season and into next. And before it becomes an issue this winter as O’Dowd and Hurdle enter the final year of their contracts in 2006, the Monforts will consider extending them through 2007.
“They will be here in 2006,” Charlie Monfort said. “I think Dan’s done a great job when you look at the young players we have up. I know we’re going to get that question all offseason because they’ll be in their last year. We may deal with that earlier, or we may see how it works out.”
Footnotes
Yes, Curt Schilling would be an excellent closer, just as John Smoltz was in three previous seasons. But that’s like saying a Gold Glove shortstop would make a good first baseman. It’s a waste of talent to move a No. 1 starter to any other role. … Here’s an odd stat: By going 17-for-37 with runners in scoring position, the Rockies’ Aaron Miles has a .459 batting average that leads the majors. Yet Miles has only 18 RBIs overall. When a guy has 17 hits with runners in scoring position and 18 RBIs for the season, that says a lot of runners on second must be stopping at third after his hits. … It’s still there, and it still doesn’t make sense. The Rockies, the only team that plays home games 5,280 feet above sea level, have the second-highest groundball-to-flyball ratio (1.52) in the majors. Only the Twins, who play on speedy artificial turf, hit more grounders (1.55) per fly. … Reds followers were baffled this week when the team promoted Anderson Machado ahead of Austin Kearns from Triple-A Louisville. Not only does Machado become the Reds’ fourth shortstop, but he was batting .138 with two doubles and no homers in 80 at-bats, while Kearns was hitting .324 with 11 doubles and four homers in 71 at-bats. Reds GM Dan O’Brien said he called up Machado rather than exposing him to waivers, where he was expected to be claimed, perhaps by the Rockies.
