Baseball : Sparky’s Tigers Appear Solid in All Areas

It seems appropriate that Billy Martin was fired for a fifth time as the New York Yankees’ manager in the wake of a three-game sweep by the Detroit Tigers.

The Yankees under Martin and owner George Steinbrenner have always represented outrageous instability.

Sparky Anderson’s Tigers represent the opposite. Resiliency. Stability.

“I don’t know how Sparky makes these guys believe in themselves,” Yankee right fielder Dave Winfield said. “They must have a very supportive environment. I mean, after all the dust and turmoil (surrounding the Yankees) clears, you say, ‘Damn, what’s Detroit doing here?’ ”

Here is first place in the American League East.

It is where the Tigers finished last season, despite the loss of Lance Parrish. It is where they are now, despite the loss of Kirk Gibson.

How do the Tigers do it? There are several answers.

--They are a blue-collar team in a union town. Talk about work ethic. Whereas the Yankees have put 11 players on the disabled list this season--and two of those players twice--the Tigers have put only three players on the list. That’s the way it usually is in Detroit.

“It’s easy to make excuses, but the clubs that go out and win without making excuses are the good clubs,” Tiger veteran Tom Brookens said. “I don’t want to name names, but I see a lot of star players missing from lineups. We don’t have late scratches.”

--Although the loss of Parrish and Gibson has cut their power supply, the Tigers deliver the most consistent pitching in the division, even with Jack Morris struggling at 6-8. Jeff Robinson (8-2) has picked up that slack, and the development of Mike Henneman, who has 13 saves in 14 chances, combined with the comeback of Guillermo (Willie) Hernandez, who is 5-2 with 3 saves, has brought new depth to a bullpen that is 10-5 with 18 saves.

Tiger relief pitchers allowed 1 run in 11 innings in the sweep of the Yankees, whose relievers allowed 9 runs in 11 innings.

Said Tiger shortstop Alan Trammell: “This is the best bullpen we’ve had here. It was great in ’84 with Hernandez, but this is the best in terms of depth. I mean, it’s contagious. Once one guy gets hot, they all do.”

--Willing role players--Darrell Evans, Pat Sheridan, Larry Herndon, Luis Salazar, Jim Walewander and Brookens among them--bolster a lineup that includes only four real regulars: Chet Lemon, Lou Whitaker, Gary Pettis and Trammell. The Tigers seem genuinely fond of one another. They have been known to gather in hotel rooms to discuss the game, their lives, the day’s events.

“We support each other instead of alienating each other,” Evans said. “We appreciate what each other can do and don’t look down our nose at anybody. We don’t impose pressure on ourselves. The first priority is to have fun, but you’re almost embarrassed if you don’t play hard.”

--Then there’s the inimitable Sparky, stressing character, urging his players to forget about the loss of Gibson and Parrish, playing up the Yankees as division gorillas while his own team slips through the shadows, virtually overlooked again.

“I enjoy it when people say you’re nothing,” he said after the sweep. “I know the people we have and I know what effort I’ll get from them. I said it last year . . . I’ve never been around a better group.”

At the heart of Martin’s latest firing was his disruptive handling of the pitching staff.

Tommy John talked about it after Martin’s dismissal.

“It was hard under Billy knowing what your job was,” John said. “He treated me and my wife great, but he didn’t understand pitching.

“A baseball team is like a cake mix. Offense is part of it. Speed is. But a lot of what goes on is between the pitchers and catchers. And so much of that was unsettled with Billy.”

Lou Piniella, in succeeding Martin, said he will return Dave Righetti, who had become a set-up man for Cecilio Guante and was being used frequently in games the Yankees were losing, to the closer’s role.

Piniella said he hopes that Ron Guidry, 37, will soon be off the disabled list and back in a rotation that includes John Candelaria, 34; Rick Rhoden, 35; Richard Dotson, 29, and John, 45. Can a rotation that averages 36 years of age--Al Leiter, 22, is on the disabled list for the next three weeks--survive the heat of summer?

You could ask the pitching coach, but do it quickly.

Stan Williams, replacing Art Fowler under Piniella, knows there is nothing permanent about the assignment. He has had it twice before. Steinbrenner, in fact, has changed pitching coaches 26 times in his 16 years as owner. By contrast, he has employed “only” 11 general managers and made 15 managerial changes.

Jeff Torborg, former Dodger and Angel catcher, joined the Yankee coaching staff in August of 1979 and has survived 11 of the managerial changes.

Torborg is reportedly the first choice of Seattle Mariners’ President Chuck Armstrong to succeed the fired Dick Williams and his interim successor, Jimmy Snyder.

However, Mariner General Manager Dick Balderson reportedly favors San Diego Padres’ coach Greg Riddoch, which leaves owner George Argyros with the decisive vote and the possibility that neither Torborg nor Riddoch will get it.

Argyros reportedly wanted to hire Martin before his staff talked him into Williams, and now Billy is available again. Could Argyros be that cruel, exposing his players to Williams and Martin in succession?

Oakland A’s Manager Tony LaRussa ripped into his Texas Rangers’ counterpart, Bobby Valentine, the other day after Valentine claimed that the Athletics’ relief ace, Dennis Eckersley, was cutting and scuffing the ball.

“I could save 20 games if I cut balls like that,” Valentine said, having presented the umpires with several alleged examples of the evidence, which were sent to the league office, where the debate died.

“Knowing the tendency of Bobby Valentine to camouflage . . . , I credit the league for taking this with a grain of salt,” LaRussa said.

“He’s a great storyteller, but I don’t like gamesmanship or cheap shots. The next time we face Texas he’ll be saying (Jose) Canseco has a corked bat.”

LaRussa added that if anyone cheats, it’s Valentine. He said the Rangers use a center-field camera at Arlington Stadium to steal catchers’ signs.

Oakland first baseman Mark McGwire began a weekend series with the Minnesota Twins with a .194 June batting average and a .200 average since May 17, including 3 homers in 105 at-bats.

The American League’s rookie of the year in 1987, McGwire has been dropped as low as sixth and seventh in the Oakland batting order, pinch-hit for with his team trailing by only one run and benched twice in a four-day span. The sophomore jinx? Batting coach Jim Lefebvre thinks McGwire is pressing.

“The question with Mark is always how many?” Lefebvre said. “How many home runs can he hit or how many at-bats without a home run does he have. He’s never had to worry about numbers before. Now he goes 60 or 70 at-bats without a home run and everyone is asking him why, why?

“I can see he goes to the plate sometimes thinking, ‘Let me hit one right now and put the critics away.’ ”

He received five standing ovations in his first 10 games with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was mobbed by enthusiastic fans in a downtown shopping mall. A surprised and pleased Jeffrey Leonard, the former Hac Man of Candlestick Park, thinks he may have found a home at County Stadium and will leave the uncertainty of free agency to others next winter.

“I don’t want to be jumping from team to team,” he said before arriving in Anaheim this weekend. “I like what I see (in Milwaukee). I’m starting to feel comfortable. Why should I leave?”

Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs returned to his normal position of American League batting leader the other day, but no one noticed in Boston, where the daily headlines continued to focus on the palimony suit that has been brought against him.

“I made a mistake in my life,” Boggs told the Hartford Courant. “I had an affair with a lady for two years. Then I tried to end it for two years. Now my name is being dragged through the mud.”

He is not alone. Eight players, two wives and trainer Charlie Moss are expected to give depositions in the case.

Several Red Sox players exchanged words and shoves on the team bus in Cleveland Sunday night, with the unpleasantness continuing in a hotel lobby and elevator before police were called.

The Boggs case reportedly sparked the incident, but it was apparently compounded by a feeling among many of the Red Sox that veteran Dwight Evans has become too close to Manager John McNamara and is virtually running the club, creating divisiveness in the clubhouse.

Manager Lee Elia of the Philadelphia Phillies maintains that fired general manager Woody Woodward made a commitment to extend his contract, but it will not be immediately honored by successor Lee Thomas, the former personnel director of the St. Louis Cardinals.

“You can’t judge a manager until you see him and work with him on a daily basis,” Thomas said.

Elia was said to be fuming, but he showed restraint in his public comments, saying little more than there was nothing he could do about it.

The situation heated already warm rumors that Jim Fregosi will leave the White Sox to join Thomas, a longtime friend whom he played with during the Angels’ early years and later managed under in the Cardinal system.