Baseball / Ross Newhan : Reds’ GM Thinks His Team Should Run Away in Weak Division

The Cincinnati Reds have been in first place in the National League’s Western Division since May 29, but it isn’t enough to satisfy General Manager Bill Bergesch, who believes his club should be dominating a division in which no one has played at or better than .500 since April 30, the Reds being the closest at 39-41.

“Disappointed. Concerned. Upset.” Bergesch said, when asked about his team’s recent play. “Anybody who is not concerned is not serious about what we’re trying to do. This team has got to be jacked up.

“The most we’ve won is four in a row (which is also the most they’ve lost in a row). Is that championship baseball? The National League West is the worst division in baseball. I feel it’s a crime that we haven’t mastered the division.”

Manager Pete Rose apparently agrees. He held a clubhouse meeting and said he told the players: “This is called a division race, a pennant drive. Some of you don’t understand what we’re into.”

The Reds’ season-long quest for pitching help led to talks last week with the San Diego Padres regarding Eric Show, but Cincinnati’s offer of Nick Esasky was unacceptable to the Padres, whose bid for Barry Larkin or Kurt Stillwell was unacceptable to the Reds.

Meanwhile, the San Diego situation continues to deteriorate amid the latest blowup by Manager Larry Bowa and the latest controversy involving Show. It started during a 15-5 loss to the Reds Tuesday night. Show was trailing, 4-0, in the third inning. He was scheduled to be the second hitter and asked Bowa if he planned to pinch-hit for him. Bowa took it to mean that Show wanted out and later said, “I’ve always considered Show one of the top 10 pitchers in the National League, but there comes a time when you’ve got to bear down and grab a little extra.”

He went on to question his team’s intensity and held a clubhouse meeting in which he said he told the players: “There’s 20 of you who would go through a wall for me, but there’s three or four of you who can get the hell out anytime you want.”

Responded Show: “I haven’t said anything to all his inconsistent remarks this year. Then all of a sudden . . . I find that he thinks I want out of games. I didn’t know that. I’m actually surprised that he was that creative and could come up with something that farfetched.”

Show refused to say if he has asked to be traded, but Bowa indicated that he has given General Manager Jack McKeon a list of the three or four players who should be traded.

In addition to Show, Bowa is also believed to be down on recently acquired third baseman Chris Brown, who has resurrected the malingering reputation he carried in San Francisco by playing in only 10 of his first 21 games with the Padres because of a wrist injury.

The Kansas City Royals’ slump has put Manager Billy Gardner on the hot seat. Gardner could be fired by the end of August if the Royals, 45-35 on July 1, fail to shake the lethargy that had seen them lose 18 of 22 games through Friday.

The Royals continue to get solid pitching from their starters, but the bullpen has gone 22 games without a save, blowing seven chances in the process. The middle of the batting order has been silent. George Brett has no homers and three runs batted in since the All-Star break. Danny Tartabull has no homers and one RBI.

Then there’s Bo Jackson, who has 20 homers but has contributed to three recent defeats by dropping or misjudging fly balls. Jackson angered Gardner Tuesday night in New York by bunting with nobody on and two out in the sixth inning of a game the Royals were losing by a run. Angel Salazar and Mike Macfarlane were the next two hitters.

“Yeah,” Gardner said, “Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.”

There was also the distracting aspect of Jackson’s decision to join the Raiders, but the Royals had already had lost four straight when that developed.

Said second baseman Frank White: “Everyone knows the situation we’re in. All the teams in our division are playing badly, but someone is going to start playing good. If we don’t do it ourselves, we’ll be out of it before the month of August is over. We can’t keep waking up and saying, ‘Boy, Minnesota lost again, isn’t that great?’ ”

Added Dan Quisenberry: “This is pretty awful. We’re not a team full of confidence right now.”

So Steve Carlton goes from the Philadelphia Phillies to the San Francisco Giants to the Chicago White Sox to a spring tryout with the Phillies to the Cleveland Indians and now to the Minnesota Twins and a Tuesday night start against the Angels in the heat of the pennant race.

Such is the state of pitching in 1987.

Carlton was 5-9 with a 5.37 earned-run average with the Indians. The Twins’ other options, after sending Mike Smithson to the minors, were said to be a trade for the Indians’ Phil Niekro, who is 7-10 with a 6.12 ERA and an average of 14.9 baserunners per nine innings, or the recall of Mark Portugal, one of their original starters this year, who is 0-6 at Portland.

Twin General Manager Andy MacPhail insisted that Carlton doesn’t represent panic. The Twins, he said, are simply looking for an edge, something a little better than Smithson.

The latter, 13-14 last season and a 15-game winner each of the two previous years, had won only 1 of his last 14 starts and was 4-6 with a 6.16 ERA.

“The numbers were stacked against him,” Manager Tom Kelly said. “We’re in a dogfight for the pennant. We have to get down to business.”

Said MacPhail: “Nobody has great pitching. Ours is no better or no worse than anybody else. It’s no great crisis. It (the Twins pitching) stacks up comparable to what everyone else in the division has.”

That may be stretching it. The American League West leaders opened a weekend series in Oakland with Frank Viola having compiled a 4-0 record in the team’s last 20 games, while the rest of the rotation--Bert Blyleven, Joe Niekro, Les Straker and Smithson--was a combined 2-8.

Carlton aside, Minnesota’s most realistic hope is that it can survive the current trip that ends with Wednesday night’s series finale against the Angels. Then the Twins return to the elixir that is the Metrodome, playing 32 of their final 53 games there. They are 33-16 at home.

Minnesota’s failure to sign Bill Buckner by guaranteeing his salary for 1988 didn’t disturb some of the Twins.

“If he gets on base, you have to run for him if the game is close,” outfielder Dan Gladden said. “If he was a horse, you’d have to put him out to pasture for stud service.”

Having recently made 24 roster moves in 24 days, the New York Yankees have now employed 17 players who have performed in both New York and Columbus this year.

The latest move came Saturday when Rickey Henderson went on the disabled list for a second time with a hamstring injury. Owner George Steinbrenner reportedly opposed the move, hoping Henderson could contribute in some measure during the weekend series with Detroit. Steinbrenner’s manager, Lou Piniella, has been urging the move, seeking the recall of a healthy and dedicated player.

Piniella and a number of unnamed Yankees have been growling about Henderson’s absence from the lineup, suggesting to New York reporters that he is not really injured.

Henderson has missed 33 games through Saturday and has batted .250 with one home run and one stolen base since coming off the disabled list June 29. He has been surly and uncommunicative with the media, and his continued absence forced the Yankees to use five leadoff hitters in a six-day span last week.

The latest was rookie Roberto Kelly, a Henderson prototype, who was just up from Columbus, where he had 48 stolen bases, batted .300 and hit 10 home runs. Will the Henderson hamstring become the Yankees’ Achilles’ heel? This much is clear:

“Rickey wants out of here,” close friend Claudell Washington said, citing the mistrust. “He’s really mad at everybody. He’s not talking to anybody--the media, the manager or his teammates.”

But before Friday’s game against Detroit, Henderson indicated that his concerns have been dealt with and that he does not want out of New York.

“Lou and I had a good talk,” Henderson said. “He said, ‘When you get healthy, you come tell me.’ He gave me that right, and I respect that. I know I want to play. I know if I wasn’t hurt, I would be out there playing.”

The surprisingly strong play of the Montreal Expos and the New York Mets’ three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals have revived the race in the National League East.

“The critical thing was to take two of three,” Met Manager Davey Johnson said of the sweep. “We’re back in it. After everything that’s happened to us this season, I really like our chances.”

The activation of John Tudor and the imminent return of Danny Cox from the disabled list could stabilize the Cardinal skid. The key during the final two months may rest with the No. 5 hitter, Willie McGee, who went 1 for 13 with no RBIs in the Met series. Opposing teams are pitching around cleanup hitter Jack Clark with increased frequency. Clark has 103 walks and a shot at the National League record of 148, shared by Eddie Stanky and Jimmy Wynn. The major league mark is 170, set by Babe Ruth in 1923.

San Francisco Giants President Al Rosen, responding to the 37th home run by the A’s Mark McGwire, tying his American League record for rookies: “My only regret is that he doesn’t play for us.”

Manager Hal Lanier of the Houston Astros responded with restraint to the club’s acquisition of shortstop Buddy Biancalana from the Royals.

“Well,” Lanier said, “he doesn’t look like much, but I guess he’ll help.”