Baseball / Ross Newhan : The Only Race Left This September Is for Good Playoff Tickets

Baseball’s September song this year is a one-note samba.

There are no showdowns because there are no races.

The only excitement is in Anaheim, Boston, Houston and New York, where the battle for playoff tickets has begun.

For the first time since the American and National leagues adopted the division format in 1969, all four titles may be won before the final week.

There was something similar only in 1970, when the Baltimore Orioles won in the American League East by 15 games, the Minnesota Twins won in the West by 9 and the Cincinnati Reds won in the National League West by 14 1/2. But the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs kept interest alive in the National League East, with the Pirates finally winning by five games.

Of the 64 division races since 1969, excluding the strike-interrupted 1981 season, 43 have been won by seven or fewer games. That’s 67%.

A total of 25, or almost 40%, have been won by three or fewer games.

Only 12, or 19%, of the 64 have been won by 10 or more games.

An interview that Larry King recently conducted on his radio talk show with owner Edward Bennett Williams of the Orioles reportedly convinced Earl Weaver that he should follow his instincts and retire again.

Williams told King that he wanted a manager who wanted to manage for more than just “ego and money.” Weaver, who will make $1 million for the 300-plus days that he was back on the job, is said to have taken the remark personally.

In the meantime, the choice of a successor could lead to trouble for Williams. The owner reportedly favors a high-profile, big-name personality. His players and front office personnel lean toward third base coach Cal Ripken, who has spent all of his 30 professional seasons in the Oriole organization and whose son, Cal Ripken Jr., is the Baltimore shortstop.

It is being speculated, in fact, that Ripken Jr., eligible for free agency when the 1987 season ends, will definitely leave if his father fails to get the job.

It has also been reported that Eddie Murray will withdraw his trade request if Ripken is hired and that Jim Palmer would consider returning as pitching coach under Ripken.

“I look at him and I see no negatives,” Palmer said of Ripken. “You can’t say that about any other candidate. He knows every phase of the game. He’s managed at every level of the organization except rookie ball.”

Entering a weekend series at Detroit, the Orioles were 121-124 during Weaver’s second tenure as manager. They have a 9-25 record since getting within 2 1/2 games of Boston Aug. 5.

Some reasons Weaver is retiring:

Scott McGregor’s shutout against the Seattle Mariners last Sunday was the first by an individual member of the once-mighty Oriole pitching staff; relief ace Don Aase is 0-3 in his last five appearances; no Baltimore right-hander has won since Aug. 14; Murray has not hit a home run at home since June 22; Jim Traber, who was red-hot when recalled in midsummer, has only 7 hits in his last 60 at-bats; there have been 9 third basemen this season and 25 since Brooks Robinson retired, and Fred Lynn has missed 35 games, prompting the Washington Post’s Tom Boswell to write that firemen brave burning houses for $25,000 a year, but the Orioles can’t get Lynn on a baseball field for $2,500 a day.

A measure of the San Francisco Giants’ retreat from the National League West race was Manager Roger Craig’s visit to his team’s pharmaceutical department the other day for an extra-strength antacid pill from trainer Mark Lentendre, who used to work for the New York Yankees. Said Lentendre: “It was the kind we used to give Billy Martin. Yankee managers have time-tested it.”

Dwindling attendance at Candlestick Park led Chili Davis to break Craig’s gag rule on criticism of the stadium and fans.

Davis said the Giants have only 6,000 or so real fans. “The rest of them aren’t fans,” he said. “They’re (bleep) who come out to watch the other team beat us. As far as I’m concerned, they should pack up this team and get the hell out of this place and see how people like not having baseball here.”

Joaquin Andujar, having thrown three straight complete games, said he will ask the Oakland A’s to trade him unless they extend his contract, which is due to expire after the 1987 season, when he will earn $1.2 million.

As a player with a multiyear contract, Andujar can demand a trade after his first year with a new team and become a free agent March 15 if he is not traded by then.

“I don’t want to be traded, but if you want to win you have to pay,” he said. “I don’t want one more year, I want three or four years.”

This is the same Andujar who said on Aug. 22 that he would retire after the 1987 season because of an umpiring conspiracy against him. Nine days later, he said he had been kidding and just trying to give reporters something to write.

Bo Jackson has yet to display his muscle for the Kansas City Royals, but he has shown his speed. Scouts timed him at a remarkable 3.6 seconds to first base as he got three infield hits Thursday night against Seattle, one a routine grounder to third that he simply outran.

Teammates Willie Wilson and Lonnie Smith, both among baseball’s fastest runners, say Jackson gets to first faster than any other right-handed hitter they have seen.

Said Smith: “The amazing thing is that he doesn’t get out of the box well. Once he does, he really accelerates.”

Said Wilson: “If he was slapping and running, it would be one thing, but he’s taking a full hack and still getting down there. No wonder he won the Heisman.”

New York Mets Manager Dave Johnson would start Dwight Gooden, Bob Ojeda and Ron Darling in the first three games of the playoffs. The Houston Astros’ Hal Lanier would counter with Mike Scott, Bob Knepper and Nolan Ryan.

Lanier would like to go with just those three but doubts he can use Ryan on only three days’ rest because of the tear in Ryan’s elbow. Since leaving the disabled list June 24, Ryan has been restricted to 100 pitches a start.

His continued effectiveness has caused Chris Welsh and the Cincinnati Reds, his most recent victims, to complain that Ryan is now scuffing the ball, a la teammates Scott and Dave Smith.

Welsh, a good hitting pitcher, said the Reds could see Ryan grinding the ball in his mitt.

“I don’t want to be the one to accuse Nolan Ryan of cheating, but he already throws 100 m.p.h. and now they’re allowing him to scuff the ball,” Welsh said. “I couldn’t hit what he was throwing with a canoe paddle.”

Asked if he would have preferred clinching the title at home, the Mets’ Johnson reflected on the Shea Stadium zealots and said: “For the sake of our fans, I prefer doing it at home. For the sake of our ballpark and the livelihood of our players, I prefer doing it on the road.”

Happy about a weekend in Philadelphia? The Mets’ Darryl Strawberry was. He was hitting .292 on the road with 54 RBIs as of Friday, contrasted with .210 and 24 RBIs at home, where he is frequently booed. Strawberry, in fact, was 1 for 53 at Shea before he homered against the Montreal Expos Monday night and then refused to take a curtain call for the suddenly cheering fans.

“I go on the road and I’m relaxed,” he said. “I tighten up here because I try to do too much.”

Bob James, who saved 32 games for the Chicago White Sox last season, has been on the disabled list for two months with a strained triceps, but he has not been allowed to return to his Sunland home. Of the 230-pound James, Manager Jim Fregosi said: “If we sent him home, by Christmas he’d be able to play the Santa Claus role by himself.”