Baseball / Ross Newhan : Surprising Uprising in Cleveland Goes Back to Previous Chiefs

It is still doubtful that the Cleveland Indians have enough pitching to sustain the miracle by the lake.

But the attack? No problem. The Indians can muster one of the American League’s strongest war parties.

And much of the credit belongs to the previous administration of Gabe Paul and Phil Seghi, whose essential purpose in trading Rick Sutcliffe to the Chicago Cubs and Len Barker to the Atlanta Braves was to rid the financial ledgers of two potential free agents.

Neither, however, was simply given away.

Barker brought center fielder Brett Butler and third baseman Brook Jacoby. Sutcliffe brought outfielders Joe Carter and Mel Hall, plus pitcher Don Schulze.

With the 1986 arrival of rookie catcher Andy Allanson, the Indians now have a bona fide offensive threat at every position--and a few who rank among the league’s all-around best in Butler, Jacoby, shortstop Julio Franco and designated hitter Andre Thornton.

Last season, with Thornton batting just .236 and Hall appearing in only 23 games after suffering multiple injuries in a car accident, the Indians still had a team average of .265, the American League’s fourth best.

This season, averaging 4.96 runs overall and 6.3 runs through a 10-game winning streak that ended Friday, the Indians lead the league in hitting at .276.

The surprise has been the pitching.

The Indians, through the streak, were third in the league in team earned-run average at 3.36, their bullpen ranking first in saves with nine and second in wins with nine.

Ernie Camacho, who has returned from two elbow operations to convert six of seven save opportunities and win the only game he failed to save, has found a reliable set-up man in rookie left-hander Scott Bailes, who is 4-3.

The Indians were last in the league in saves and team ERA last season. Is there now enough relief to compensate for a rotation that includes a 302-game winner in Phil Niekro and four pitchers--Tom Candiotti, Ken Schrom, Neal Heaton and Schulze--who are a combined 76-95?

Time will tell, but outfielder Hall has been trying to motivate his teammates by reminding them that most were traded or released by their previous teams.

Only pitcher Heaton and catchers Allanson and Chris Bando, among the 24 Indians, are products of the farm system.

“We’re the misfits,” Hall said. “We’re the players nobody wanted.”

The 1986 All-Star ballot, expanded from 144 to 208 names in an effort to avoid oversights, still ignores the American League’s designated hitters.

Reggie Jackson, listed for a 17th straight year as a tribute to his career accomplishments, is the only regular DH on the ballot. Jackson is found among the outfielders. George Hendrick, an Angel teammate, was dropped from the outfield list so Jackson could be included.

Designated hitter stars such as Don Baylor, Hal McRae, Dave Kingman, Larry Parrish and Thornton are not on the ballot.

The problem, of course, is that there is no DH in a game made for one. Seldom does a pitcher bat in the All-Star game.

“All of those people should still be on the ballot as either a first baseman or an outfielder,” Jackson said.

“If the fans are going to select the players, the DHs should be among the players they can vote for.”

After 16 years of sponsorship by Gillette, the All-Star balloting is now being administered by the commissioner’s office. Gillette, it is believed, refused to accede to Commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s demand that all corporations with contractual ties to baseball now make similar commitments to charity.

The 208 names on the ballot were selected on the basis of opening-day lineups with certain adjustments, and although the ballot includes the names of 10 rookies, an all-time high, there are the inevitable oversights, besides the designated hitters.

For example: Rick Burleson, who missed almost all of the last four seasons, is not listed, even though he was the Angels’ starting shortstop on opening night and would have to be an All-Star selection, judging from his .320 average through Wednesday.

“We just couldn’t be sure how much Burleson was going to play,” a commissioner’s spokesman said.

Thus, Dick Schofield is listed as the Angel shortstop and Bobby Grich as the second baseman.

Burleson said he is neither surprised nor disappointed, that he didn’t expect to be on the ballot because his return couldn’t have been anticipated.

“It’s enough for me to be here (with the Angels) and contributing the way I do,” he said. “To me, it would have been wrong to put me on there.”

Days off and rainouts have contributed to the surprising start of the Houston Astros, allowing Manager Hal Lanier to use a three-man rotation of Bob Knepper, Nolan Ryan and Mike Scott.

Of the Astros’ 27 games, Ryan (3-4), Knepper (5-1) and Scott (3-2) each had started eight times.

The other three starts belonged to Jim Deshaies and Mike Madden.

Former Astro Enos Cabell, now with the Dodgers, thinks Lanier will eventually pay a price. Or that the 39-year-old Ryan will.

“He’ll wear that guy out,” Cabell said. “I give him another month and he’ll be on the DL (disabled list). He just can’t pitch on a three-man rotation.”

The bill, perhaps, has already come due.

The Astros had lost four in a row before winning Friday night, with Ryan and Knepper each a victim and with the bullpen losing games started by Ryan and Scott.

Many of the details surrounding the clubhouse blowup that eventually led to Rick Sutcliffe’s departure from the Dodgers after the ’81 season have been chronicled, but Sutcliffe was even more specific in a recent edition of the Chicago Cubs’ publication, “Cubs Vine Line.”

Sutcliffe said he did more than clear the top of Tom Lasorda’s desk while exchanging words with the manager.

He said that when Lasorda told him he wasn’t good enough to pitch in the big leagues, “ . . . I picked him up by the uniform collar. I wasn’t exactly choking him but I guess my hands were around his neck. I held him in the air and said, ‘If you weren’t 50 years old, I’d kick your. . . . ‘ “

Lasorda called the article “a pack of lies,” saying that Sutcliffe never touched him. The one thing he can’t dispute is that Sutcliffe’s 60-37 record since leaving the Dodgers definitely brings a lump to his throat.

Dwight Gooden, on daytime baseball: “Day games don’t feel like real games. It’s like spring training. It’s like they don’t count.”

The Phillies reportedly will allow Steve Carlton two more starts before deciding whether he will stay with the team. The 41-year-old left-hander, 1-8 while fighting a rotator problem last season, is 1-5 with a 6.69 ERA this season, having allowed 45 hits and 25 walks in 36 innings. The club is in for $1.2 million this year but can buy out the ensuing years of a perpetuating contract for $400,000.

Philadelphia’s problems extend beyond Carlton. Consider the outfield, going into the weekend:

--Von Hayes was 16 for 80 (.200) with 1 homer and 8 RBIs.

--Milt Thompson was 18 for 88 (.205) with 2 homers and 7 RBIs.

--Glenn Wilson was 11 for 79 (.139) with no homers and 7 RBIs.

Said Hayes, who opened the season at first base but was moved to the outfield to replace the injured Gary Redus: “You come to the ballpark. You’re feeling good. You’re ready to play. Then you have the whole outfield (fans) burying you before you step to the plate.

“These fans (in Philadelphia) are the greatest when you’re going good. But I’ll be honest with you. They have to be the worst when you’re struggling.”

In the first 12 games after Detroit lost Kirk Gibson, the Tiger outfield hit a combined .151 with 5 RBIs, the team average falling from .278 to .243. . . . Agent Tom Reich, convinced that there will be another free agent freeze-out next winter, has been trying to sell other agents on the concept of a third major league, citing the considerable number of cities bidding for teams and the list of quality players who will be eligible for free agency when the season ends. The list includes Lance Parrish, Jack Morris, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Jack Clark, Bob Horner and Gary Ward. . . . General Manager Syd Thrift, whose Pirates have the No. 1 pick in the June draft and who is convinced that Bo Jackson will elect to play football, is expected to select either Texas pitcher Greg Swindell or Arkansas third baseman Jeffrey King, who has broken the Razorback home run records held by Kevin McReynolds.

Steve Kemp, released by the Pirates, said he would be willing to go to Triple-A. “I want to prove to myself I can’t play,” he said. “I don’t want to be told by someone else.” . . . The Atlanta Braves have a $375,000 infield at Triple-A Richmond in Gerald Perry, $125,000; Brad Komminsk, $110,000; Paul Zuvella, $80,000, and Paul Runge, $60,000. The San Francisco Giants are paying their major league infield only $15,000 more. Rookies Will Clark and Rob Thompson earn the major league minimum of $60,000. Sophomores Chris Brown and Jose Uribe earn $155,000 and $115,000, respectively.