Baseball : When Losses Got Honeycutt Down, He Called Up Psychologist

How frustrated and depressed was Rick Honeycutt during his 11- game losing streak with the Dodgers? Enough to begin visiting Saul Miller, local sports psychologist.

Honeycutt said he was so eager for help that he scheduled the first appointment over Dodger Stadium’s bullpen phone the very night that then-teammate Matt Young recommended Miller. Honeycutt said he got up at 6 the next morning to keep the appointment.

“This season has been about as frustrating as anything I’ve ever been though,” the Oakland A’s new left-hander said the other day. “I slowly lost everything. I lost my mechanics, I lost my confidence. It snowballed to the point where I was going out there expecting bad things to happen.”

Miller, according to Honeycutt, stressed creative visualization, but Honeycutt has had a tough time changing reels. In his first appearance with the A’s Wednesday night, he might have thought he was back with the Dodgers.

Called on in the 10th inning of a tie game at Yankee Stadium, he struck out the first batter, Don Mattingly, only to have Mattingly reach base when catcher Mickey Tettleton allowed the third strike to get past him.

Mike Pagliarulo then bunted, and Tettleton threw the ball wildly to first, allowing Mattingly to take third. Jerry Royster promply singled through a drawn-in infield, driving in the winning run.

Honeycutt had failed to get an out in a potential three-up, three-down inning. It was not what he had visualized.

“I guess it just isn’t my year,” he acknowledged later.

Storm Davis, acquired from the San Diego Padres, was in a similar frame of mind as he joined the A’s. He arrived with a 2-7 record, a 6.14 earned-run average and the disconcerting memory of a series of run-ins with San Diego Manager Larry Bowa, who said of Davis: “He thinks the S and D on our uniform stands for Storm Davis.”

Said Davis in reflection: “The guy only knew me for four or five months, I was having a tough year and he did nothing to help. He just made things worse. I mean, I have nothing against him except I think he talks off the top of his head too much.

“He’s got a lot of kids there with talent but he’d better learn how to deal with them or it won’t work. He’d get on players in front of the whole team. That’s not good for players, especially younger ones.”

It has been a year of universally poor pitching and widespread parity--or is it parody?

Detroit Tiger pitcher Jack Morris seemed to capture the feeling when he reflected on his own team’s September lead in the American League’s Eastern Division and said:

“I’m not saying we’re terrible, I’m not saying we’re great. When you consider everyone else, we’re where we deserve to be.”

Why aren’t more minor league players recalled when the roster limit is removed Sept. 1? A matter of dollars and sense. With the major league minimum now $62,500, it costs $11,676 for every rookie recalled in September.

Chicago baseball writers are keeping a September death watch, certain that both Jim Fregosi, the White Sox manager, and Gene Michael, the Cub manager, will be fired when the season ends.

The Cubs have assigned batting coach and new Hall of Famer Billy Williams to manage one of their two teams in the Arizona Instructional League, and some believe it’s the first step in what may be a rapid indoctrination for Williams, who said:

“I know it’s about as low on the totem pole as you can get, but it’s a start in the direction I might want to go.”

Michael was not surprised when the Houston Astros’ Billy Hatcher was discovered using a corked bat belonging to teammate Dave Smith.

Michael contends that Smith, the Astros’ relief ace, also sandpapers the ball.

“I sure don’t want to get him in a card game,” Michael said. “He’d pull five aces on you.”

The Astros were among the first to claim that New York Mets third baseman Howard Johnson employed a corked bat. Said Met Manager Davey Johnson, in response to the Hatcher incident: “Generally, those who accuse one of using one have first-hand experience. That it happened to them is apropos.”

Cub Andre Dawson has the best numbers and will be disappointed if he isn’t chosen the National League’s Most Valuable Player, but not angry.

“I’ve been runner-up twice,” he said. “It would be nice to win it for a change, but I probably won’t. It usually goes to someone whose team wins. Jack Clark has been the big weapon in the St. Louis lineup all year, so I won’t keep my fingers crossed. There’s just not much I can do about it.”

The Toronto Blue Jays’ George Bell seems to have a lock on the American League award. The failure of the Boston Red Sox to repeat has cost Dwight Evans a shot, even though Evans has had one of the best seasons in either league.

Now a first baseman, Evans is among the league’s top five in eight offensive categories. Has anyone noticed? Teammate Roger Clemens has.

“I wish we were playing like we were last year,” Clemens said. “If we were, Dwight would have a chance at MVP. He’s having an MVP year, but we’re short-changing him.”

Will the Dodgers attempt the obvious, which would be to trade Mike Marshall, or the more daring and potentially rewarding, which would be to trade Pedro Guerrero?

Iron Mike’s market value now seems to be nil. And Guerrero, at 31, may soon be a physical liability himself, having had a pair of injury riddled seasons. He now has a suspect knee that restricts his defensive effectiveness.

Branch Rickey advanced the theory that it is better to trade a player too soon than too late. The American League, with its designated hitter, would seem to represent a haven for the still-productive Guerrero. A trade might net the talent-depleted Dodgers a couple of younger, more durable players. It might even net Rickey Henderson.

Fred Claire has said he wants to build on pitching, speed and defense. The three-run homer is no longer a staple. What are his chances of convincing any club that Marshall is?

President Bill Giles of the Philadelphia Phillies is known as the human weather vane because of his tendency to shift with the wind. Last Thursday, for instance, Giles retracted his decision to fine pitcher Kevin Gross $23,000 in salary, on top of the 10-day suspension Gross was assessed by the National League, for affixing sandpaper to his glove.

Giles did not explain his change of heart, but even before the Aug. 10 incident that resulted in Gross’ suspension, the club had floated the possibility that he would be one of their top lures in the winter trading market.

With that as a consideration, the Phillies didn’t want to run the risk of a union grievance that could have made Gross a free agent or produced lengthy litigation, complicating the possibility of a trade.

The Kansas City Royals continue to lead the American League in earned-run average, but John Wathan’s appointment as manager has failed to revitalize the offense.

The Royals have been shut out 16 times, two shy of the club record. Until scoring 10 runs in their last two games, the Royals had produced just 7 runs and 14 hits in 37 innings. Nothing changes, in the view of veteran catcher Jamie Quirk.

“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but we’re just not a very good offensive club,” he said. “It’s been that way for 15 years here. If the pitchers want to moan, it’s not going to change.”

Wathan has given Willie Wilson, Frank White and Lonnie Smith the green light on the bases, as well as using the hit and run and other plays, but there’s an adage about old dogs and new tricks.

“When you haven’t done it for three or four years, it’s hard to turn it on in three or four days,” White said. “I never even used to look at the third base coach. We haven’t done this stuff since Whitey (Herzog) was here.”

The addition of submariner Gene Garber, soon to be 40, is another indication of what the Royals think of their own submariner, Dan Quisenberry, who is six years younger. Quiz has pitched only 45 innings and insists he can’t maintain effectiveness that way.

“I have anger. I have hurt. I have embarrassment,” he said in a Kansas City Times interview.

Responded General Manager John Schuerholz: “This is a bottom-line business. People don’t sit around and say, ‘Who do we give this opportunity to?’ It’s, ‘Who do we have who can help us win a game?’ ”

Six Baltimore Orioles are scheduled to leave Nov. 13 on a promotional cruise to the Caribbean. Three may have to cancel: Cal Ripken Jr., now planning to be married on that date; Mike Flanagan, since traded to Toronto, and Alan Wiggins, suspended indefinitely because of a positive drug test.

Wiggins was guaranteed another $942,000 in salary at the time of his suspension, but contractually forfeits one-third, $314,000, because of the test result. He will forfeit the rest if he doesn’t enter a counseling program, which he had not done as of Friday.