Phoenix – Watching major-league baseball sickens Goose Gossage.
He loves the game, but can’t stand what it has become. And it goes well beyond steroids, though Gossage wants commissioner Bud Selig to launch an investigation into Barry Bonds’ alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. What bothers Gossage is how pitchers have become complicit in the game’s offensive manipulation.
Hitters of this era have every advantage: smaller parks, a livelier ball, a shrunken strike zone and expansion-diluted pitching. And most salient, explained Gossage, they have no fear.
“I have been saying for years you could just take the pitcher off the mound and save owners millions of dollars and put up a tee, because that’s what they are playing,” said Gossage, one of the game’s all-time great closers. “Today, the last thing a hitter thinks of is getting knocked down.”
Don’t confuse Gossage’s message as machismo. He’s right. Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, and a few other stragglers, have become raiders of a lost art – intimidation.
Their common thread: making batters uncomfortable with purpose pitches. Not head-hunting, but space-clearing, territory-marking heaters that rock hitters onto their heels. That opens up the outside corner, giving them a chance to make a lucrative living.
All teams emphasize establishing the fastball on the inner half of the plate, including the Rockies, but too many young pitchers are nibblers.
Yes, steroids were a problem and human growth hormone lurks as baseball’s next Pandora’s box in the batter’s box. But it’s time for those in the game – see: pitchers – to help save it, to restore meaning to offensive statistics Selig is reluctant, if not powerless, to review.
“Perfect example: When (Mark) Mc- Gwire and (Sammy) Sosa were going through their home run chase, it was like guys were afraid to go inside. Those two were taking batting practice,” Gossage said. “My teammates wouldn’t have allowed that. It’s just gotten to the point, with the way guys pitch and the steroid issue, that a home run doesn’t mean anything. That needs to change.”
Fogg hurt, Day draws interest
The Mets have expressed interest in Rockies’ starter Zach Day – whom GM Omar Minaya had in Montreal – but Colorado won’t consider moving one of its fifth starter candidates until the end of spring. Why? Injury and uncertainty. Josh Fogg will be scratched from Monday’s game with a strained right groin. And Sunny Kim has not pitched as much as expected in the World Baseball Classic. The Rockies will exercise patience with Fogg’s injury, particularly given how well Jose Acevedo and Miguel Asencio have performed.
In an attempt to address the pain in catcher Yorvit Torrealba’s shoulder, the Rockies are working on increasing his mobility and flexibility. Miguel Ojeda and JD Closser give Colorado protection in the unlikely event Torrealba opens on the disabled list.
Rocket recruiters
Clemens’ next career move was accidentally previewed by the title of buddy Matthew McConaughey’s new movie, “Failure to Launch.” The Rocket has told friends in the game he plans to evaluate whether to play for the Astros after the World Baseball Classic. If Houston’s offense shows life, and there is a promise by management to add more pieces at the trading deadline, Clemens’ chance of returning will increase exponentially.
While there’s no doubt he could still perform, Clemens is not eager to pitch under last season’s duress, when every pitch mattered. He went 13-8 with a baseball-best 1.87 ERA, but the Astros were shut out eight times in his starts.
In other words, Preston Wilson, their main free-agent acquisition, and a healthy Lance Berkman are quietly recruiting Clemens without even knowing it.
Bonds away
Idiocy removed Rafael Palmeiro from baseball – he failed an IQ test as much as a drug test last summer. A lost swing ushered out Sosa.
Baseball’s private solution to Bonds? That his thrice-surgically repaired right knee gives out. With no positive steroids test, which would leave any suspension easily overturned by an arbiter, it will likely take a crippling injury – not the commissioner – to remove Bonds.
Bonds faces his toughest test running the bases and playing outfield, where sudden starts after minutes of standing around send pain up his leg. Make no mistake, Bonds doesn’t want to quit. He talked proudly of reaching 3,000 hits so he could talk smack to Tony Gwynn, who reached the milestone without power. Bonds sits 248 hits shy.
“That’s something I would like to do,” Bonds said. “We will see if I get 248 pitches to hit.”
Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
