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Sunday, August 04, 2002

By Steve Ziants, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Randy Johnson rang up the 180th double-digit strikeout game of his career Wednesday night. Curt Schilling carried as many wins (18) as walks (18) into his last start. Pedro Martinez has allowed only 14 hits in his past 34 1/3 innings. Twelve pitchers have earned run averages under 3.00 compared to only two last season. For the love of ElRoy Face, even Mark Wohlers recorded his first two saves since 1998 this week.

Yet the most noteworthy story of the week in this year of Pitcher’s Revenge might be Kansas City’s Paul Byrd. He went into his start against the Twins last night having thrown four consecutive complete games.

That’s consecutive. As in may the circle be unbroken. As in with not a middle man, a setup man, a mopup man, a closer nor that spawn-of-a-bottom-feeder, the (ugh!) left-handed specialist, getting in the way.

“The last time I did that was probably high school,” Byrd said upon finishing a 4-1, 98-pitch, 2-hour, 2-minute win against the Blue Jays Monday.

The Guy In The Stands isn’t so sure he wasn’t talking about when Grandpa Byrd was in high school.

Byrd’s recent effort is a throwback to a game time forgot. A dinosaur bone that happens to be buried beneath a pitcher’s mound.

Look at the box scores. It doesn’t seem to be in the makeup of too many arms not named Johnson, Schilling or Martinez to throw even one complete game anymore. Not with pitch counts, computer matchups, the six-inning quality start and, of course, that parasite of dirty shower shoes, the (ugh!) left-handed specialist, playing on the mind of a modern manager.

So four in a row in 2002 is Jim Traficant-on-the-cover-of-GQ rare.

No pitcher has thrown as many in a row since Schilling threw five for the Phillies in 1999. Beyond that, we might have to go back to Orel Hershiser’s streak of eight in 1988 that paralleled his record run of 59 consecutive scoreless innings.

Farther and longer? Bert Blyleven strung together 10 in 1985. That’s nearly two decades ago.

See a trend? The complete-game curve has been sliding downward for a lot longer than even a tech stock in a day-trader’s portfolio.

Continue on with The Guy in the Wayback Machine all the way to 1904. Jesse Orosco was a rookie, TV hadn’t yet been invented but players and owners were probably already haggling over how to split local revenues, and a pitcher by the name of Jack “Brakeman” Taylor set the modern major-league record by completing 39 consecutive games for the St. Louis Cardinals. Startling by today’s standards, but hardly the exception then. Consider: Pirates pitchers completed 133 games that year.

The 1904 season was only part of his legacy, though. In a run that began June 20, 1901, and didn’t end until Aug. 9, 1906, the Brakester hurled 187 consecutive complete games. Many of them while hung over, it should be noted, which makes it all that much more impressive.

Based on pure numbers, it makes Byrd’s four-game streak seem insignificant. Yet at the same time, it makes it extraordinarily significant. A reflection of how the species pitcher has mutated.

Byrd’s streak should be put on display at the Carnegie. Right next to the T-Rex, the bullpen golf cart and the latest Rolling Stones tour.

Makes The Guy sad to think that it likely will have ended by the time you read this, probably the victim of (ugh!) ... oh, a you-know-what.

Boss hog

At least Bruce Springsteen tried something different with his new CD. That other Boss, George Steinbrenner, just dusted off an oldie and found that it still doesn’t play.

After watching Roger Clemens allow three runs and five hits in five innings of a rehab start for Class A Tampa July 27, Steinbrenner wasn’t content that The Rocket (and his balky groin) emerged OK.

He couldn’t keep from taking to task the Tampa catcher nor the night’s home plate umpire, apparently brain-cramping when it came to remembering that this was Class A and not Yankee Stadium.

“It was tough [for Roger]. You had a second-string catcher -- which was a mistake -- a kid that didn’t belong catching him,” Steinbrenner said. “And you’ve got a female umpire, that’s a tough thing to cover. Nothing against females, but I mean for Roger, I think she was probably as excited as anybody in the stands.”

In a strange twist, the umpire -- Ria Cortesia -- had umpired Clemens’ children in Little League a few years ago.

“Is that right? Well, that’s good,” Steinbrenner said. “I guess she’ll go back there.”

Yow! Wonder if George W.’s recent promise to punish more corporate bosses applies here.

Rod-ree-go! Rod-ree-go!

The buzz you hear coming out of Baltimore these days goes by the name Rodrigo Lopez. Lopez, a 26-year-old right-hander, beat the Devil Rays Wednesday to complete a 6-0 July and bump his record to 12-3 for the quietly surprising Orioles (52-55). Not bad for a guy who once played for the Mexican League’s Culiacan Tomato Growers (yes, really) last year. Manager Mike Hargrove isn’t cutting in line to take credit for Lopez’ emergence, though. Says Hargrove: “I’m so smart, we had him in the bullpen to start the season.”

A first thought

Considering the hamstring strain that hampered him much of July and the fact that he turned 38 two weeks ago, the subject of Barry Bonds moving to first base came up this week in a rare interview of length and substance with Giants beat writers. At first Bonds was adamant. “I’ll never play first base,” he said. “The ball comes too fast for me. I can’t catch it, and I never wear a cup. ... It would be hard to play while I’m reaching down to protect myself every five minutes.” But by the end of the interview, Bonds was saying, “I’ll play wherever. ... If it’s something that’s in the works, somebody needs to tell me in advance so I can work at it.” He doesn’t wear a cup?

Ventura’s highway

Yankees third baseman Robin Ventura hit his 16th career grand slam in a 9-1 win against the Devil Rays Sunday, tying Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Dave Kingman for sixth place on the all-time list. Only Lou Gehrig (23), Eddie Murray (19), Willie McCovey (18), Jimmie Foxx (17) and Ted Williams (17) have hit more. When a reporter brought up the fact that everyone in that group is in the Hall of Fame except Kingman, Ventura paused to let the fact sink in, then replied, “So I can join Dave Kingman.”

Trade stories

Uniontown’s Terry Mulholland pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win in his first appearance with the Indians Monday after being traded from the Dodgers in an 8-6 victory in Oakland. “That’s a good way to make friends,” he said. ... For the record: his trade from the Dodgers to the Indians marks the sixth time Mulholland has been traded in midseason. ... Are you trying to figure out why the Giants couldn’t land a left-handed reliever by the deadline? As GM Brian Sabean explain to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle: “We were close on a lot of things that weren’t appealing and not close enough on things that weren’t appealing enough.” Guess you’re still trying. ... Oh those details. Kenny Lofton reportedly was so eager to join the Giants that he dropped a clause in his contract that pays him a bonus based on home attendance. The White Sox are 23rd in average attendance, the Giants third.

Wood you believe ...

Colleges won’t use them. High schools won’t use them. But a Little League team of 11- and 12-year-olds in Massachusetts -- Wellesley North -- turned to wood bats this season and reached the state finals for the first time.

Good, wild & ugly

Box score lines of the week:

Good: Geoff Blum, Astros, Tuesday: 6 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 5 RBIs in a 16-3 win vs. the Mets. A good night for Houston? Blum was the No. 8 hitter, and, in fact, anchored a 6-7-8 triumvirate that was a combined 11 for 18 with 2 HRs, 9 runs and 9 RBIs.

Wild: Derek Lowe, Red Sox, Friday: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 Ks in a 13-0 win vs. Rangers. To appreciate the beauty of this line is to know that in Texas’ previous two games it put up the following: 36 runs, 41 hits, 10 home runs.

Ugly: Dave Burba, Rangers, Sunday: 1/3 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 0 Ks in a 12-2 loss vs. the Athletics. In a week in which Saturo Komiyama, Kaz Ishii, John Burkett, Frank Castillo and even Mike Mussina got lit up, Burba still wins hands down. He was the only one to get released after getting bombed.

Series of the week

Braves (72-38) at Diamondbacks (67-43), Tuesday-Thursday. ... An NLCS preview? The Braves are 53-17 since May 15; the Diamondbacks are 16-7 since the All-Star break and have opened a 6-game lead in the NL West. ... Atlanta’s Greg Maddux (11-3) faces Arizona’s Curt Schilling (18-4) in the opener Tuesday (10:05 p.m., TBS).

This ’n’ that

A telling quote from White Sox Manager Jerry Manuel, whose club (52-59) went into last night 15 games back of the AL Central-leading Twins: “We’re trying to do everything we can to get ourselves back to mediocrity.” ... Bartolo Colon Trading Card Day went on as planned at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field July 27 even though Colon was, um, traded away in June. ... Not that he needed it, but Larry Walker’s 4-for-5 night vs. the Pirates Wednesday ensured that he would hit .400 in July (.438) and, with his .410 June, become the first player since Philadelphia’s Milt Thompson in 1987 to hit .400 in consecutive months (minimum 75 ABs). ...

Until the Pirates went into Minute Maid Park last weekend and were shut out three times, the Astros had not had three shutouts in a series since August 1974. ... Through last night’s 11-6 win against the Pirates, the Giants are 22-8 in games started by Jason Schmidt since he arrived from the Pirates at last year’s trading deadline. ... Any wonder Ben Sheets is 5-13. The Brewers have scored 19 runs in his 13 losses. ... A softball game set for Cinergy Field Sept. 23 -- the day after the Reds officially close the stadium -- sold out in 2 1/2 hours this week. The attraction: Members of the Big Red Machine headlined by The Banned One -- Pete Rose. And, oh yes, Rose bobbleheads. Since we don’t have to worry about what cap he’ll wear into Cooperstown, perhaps the question we should be asking: Will his bobble bust feature Spiky-haired Pete or Prince Valiant Pete?

Shot and a jeer

Shot: Even as the remarkable Barry Bonds: The Player closes in on his 600th home run, there have been more times than not that Barry Bonds: The Personality has refused to talk about his storied homers afterward. Perhaps our response when he does finally hit No. 600 should be to give him a standing ovation befitting his unique talent and achievement -- stand up ... but don’t clap.

Jeer: To Reds GM Jim Bowden. When it comes to public speaking, the analogy can be a powerful tool ... unless you don’t know your hammer from a foot in the mouth.

Steve Ziants can be reached at sziants@post-gazette.com.