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Sunday, September 02, 2001

One respected dot.com writer went so far this week as to predict the September about to play out before us promises to be the greatest pennant race of all time. At least in the National League, anyway.

Greatest? Well ...

Interesting. Captivating. Perhaps even enthralling. But greatest?

Remember the 1965 movie "The Greatest Story Ever Told"? Max Von Sydow. Charlton Heston. Even John Wayne, who in one of the more inspired casting moves in film history was given the immortal line, "This truly was ... the son of God ... Pil-l-l-gr'm." Right before the immortal shootout with the Clanton Gang on Calvary.

Of course, we now know that this was not the greatest story ever told. Not after hearing the latest Al Martin revelation.

By the way, did you know that The Guy In The Stands served as Hemingway's rewrite man on "The Old Man And The Sea"? To thank him, Papa wanted to call it "The Old Guy And The Sea" but The Guy in his eminent wisdom chose a personally autographed photo of Mariel instead.

And well, the rest is history. Which brings us back to this season's final month and a full calendar of games and series just waiting to tell the postseason story. "April, May and June are mostly boring," says Los Angeles outfielder Gary Sheffield, whose Dodgers were 2 1/2 games back in the NL wild card going into yesterday's games. "I want the last two months."

Just be wary if Uncle Al is doing the spinning. Otherwise, we might one day discover that Leroy Hoard homered three times on the final day of the season to send the Devil Rays into the World Series against Danny Almonte and his Rolando Paulino "Little Bombers."

Tuesday-Thursday: The NL West-leading Diamondbacks and second-place Giants meet for the final three times. What was a 1 1/2-game Arizona lead just last Saturday could turn into a commanding edge for the Diamondbacks unless the Giants take care of business at Pac Bell. And oh, by the way, Barry Bonds (57 HRs) and Luis Gonzalez (51 HRs) meet for the final three times, too.

Friday-Sept. 10: Boston, eight behind the Yankees in the AL East and 7 1/2 back of the Athletics in the AL wild card, concludes a 13-game stretch against the Indians and Yankees with four in New York. The series could seal the part of their fate that Nomar Garciaparra's disabling Wednesday did not, Pedro or no Pedro. Going into Thursday, they had dropped the first two.

Sept. 11-13: While the unbalanced schedule creates more games within the division in September, it still has its quirks. The Giants and Astros play three at Enron, then three more the next week at Pac Bell. Giants Manager Dusty Baker must love the schedule maker. Remember: The Giants, one of five teams within two games of each other in the NL wild-card race, had to play a home-and-home with "natural rival" Oakland in June. Arizona, meanwhile, with no natural rival, got to fatten up on the Royals and Tigers, winning four of six. Now this.

Sept. 13-16: Oakland, the AL wild-card leader and 35-13 since the All-Star break, plays its first games against a team with a winning record (Anaheim) since Aug. 23. By the time the lights go on at "The Big E" the 13th they could be just about out for Boston, Minnesota and Anaheim.

Sept. 17-20: The Braves visit The Vet in Philadelphia to conclude a stretch of seven games in 10 days between the NL East contenders. Edge Phillies? Hardly. As of yesterday, the Braves were 33-38 at home. They figure to be the only contender to find that playing 17 of its final 28 games on the road is a plus. FYI: No team has won a division title with a losing record at home.

Sept. 21-23: Oakland can make a disastrous April in which it lost six of seven to Seattle seem about as meaningful as an answer from Gary Condit. The A's and Mariners play three times in Oakland, then finish with three in Seattle (Sept. 28-30). With October only days away, it's possible we might have to rethink the notion that the best team in baseball has Ichiro in right field.

Sept. 25-27: The New York Mets visit Stade Olympique to provide opposition for the Expos' final series in Montreal. Ever. And, in the echoes of an empty stadium, we're left to wonder what might have been had the work stoppage of 1994 not made meaningless a 74-40 record and ultimately the franchise itself.

Sept. 27-30: Astros at Cubs. Wrigley Field. Imagine the possibilities: The NL Central title, the wild card, the home run title (Sammy Sosa), the RBI title (Sosa), the batting title (Moises Alou), the MVP (Sosa?) and rookie of the year (Roy Oswalt?) could all be decided in these four days.

Rock off

Has John Rocker worn out his welcome in Cleveland already? Grady Little, subbing for Indians Manager Charlie Manuel, joked that Rocker's final "pitch" Tuesday vs. the Red Sox might have been his best. Rocker walked three, struck out two and threw two wild pitches before being lifted in the eighth inning, at which time he slammed the ball into Little's hand before leaving the mound. "It might have been the best fastball he threw," Little said. "It was good to see because he hit the target."

NL stretch runnings

Notes, quotes and anecdotes from the National League postseason races. ... With the Ken Caminiti experiment failing, the Braves have decided to give rookie Wes Helms (.219, 8 HRs, 32 RBIs) the majority of playing time at first base. Helms responded Wednesday with a homer and three RBIs in a 5-3 win vs. Montreal. ... According to Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle, Houston Manager Larry Dierker toyed with -- and discarded -- the idea of giving Orlando Merced an occasional start at third to take advantage of his left-handed bat vs. right-handers. Apparently, it didn't matter that Merced has never played third. ... The Dodgers seemingly have adjusted their sights onto the wild card rather than the NL West title. Manager Jim Tracy fiddled with his rotation so that Kevin Brown and Chan Ho Park will start four of the six games remaining against the Giants.

AL stretch runnings

Notes, quotes and anecdotes from the American League postseason races. ... In taking two of three in Tampa this week, the Mariners broke the 1906-07 Cubs' record of going unbeaten in 26 consecutive road series. Seattle's stood at 27 going into Baltimore. ... For those Indians fans who have obsessed over the Twins, don't look now but the White Sox -- who are in the midst of playing Cleveland eight times in 11 days -- are lurking in the shadows. They were 68-65 going into yesterday, 7 1/2 games back of the Indians and are the first team since 1991 to get back over .500 after being 15 games under. ... Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia (14-4) is the first Indians rookie to win 14 games since Dick Tidrow in 1972.

Shot and a jeer

Shot: Golfer Phil Mickelson took batting practice with the Giants Wednesday night. Wrote Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News: "Mickelson has much in common with Barry Bonds. Each went to Arizona State. Each has a fluid, left-handed stroke. And each has won everything except a major championship."

Jeer: The Guy can see it now ... Seattle fans wake up from a long, deep sleep Oct. 1 to discover that the Mariners' improbable 2001 season was all the product of Al Martin's fertile imagination.

Box score lines of the week:

A huge night? The one time the Cardinals got him out, the ball still traveled an estimated 400 feet.

Says a lot about the sort of August he had when he can suffer this foolish line and still be hitting .443 (47 for 106) for the month.

Thought Jimmy Anderson fans might like to see how the competition in the Brian Kingman Derby is doing. Jones dropped to 8-16.