COMMENTARY : Two Managers Didn’t Deserve Same Penalty

Baltimore Manager Frank Robinson has a heated argument with an umpire, calls him a “no-good human being” and gets suspended for three games.

Boston Manager Joe Morgan promotes the most violent act possible in his sport, cackles over its success and gets suspended for three games.

Whoa there, Bobby Brown.

Is this baseball or hockey?

The beef here is not over Robinson’s suspension, which came as no surprise. The beef is with a league president who doles out the same punishment for dramatically different crimes.

It is one thing to make physical contact with an umpire, abuse him verbally and condemn him to the media. It is quite another to condone physical harm to an opposing player and then boast about it.

This all started when Cleveland reliever Doug Jones hit Tony Pena with a pitch Saturday night. Boston starter Roger Clemens responded the next day by plunking Stan Jefferson in the elbow.

Surprise! The benches cleared.

“I loved it,” Morgan said. “We got ‘em, didn’t we? We voted 34-0 as a team that it would be such.”

Who is this guy, Charles Bronson?

Incitement to riot, aggravated assault ... a three-game suspension.

Robinson, meanwhile, still insists he didn’t bump umpire Drew Coble, with whom he has a long-running feud. It’s not known whether Coble was disciplined for his conduct; the American League keeps such things a secret.

One manager engages in a border skirmish.

The other orders a nuclear strike.

You’re right, Bobby.

Three games each.

Who else but the Yankees? Poor Stump Merrill inherited a team that was last in the American League in runs with the lowest on-base percentage in either league. The latter feat was especially remarkable, considering that pitchers hit in the National League.

Owner George Steinbrenner has made 18 manager changes since purchasing the team in 1973. Los Angeles gave Manager Tom Lasorda a two-year contract extension this week after a rumor surfaced he might be headed to New York. Steinbrenner tried to hire him once before, in 1983.

Here’s the telling contrast: If Lasorda stays through 1992, the Dodgers will have had just two managers in 39 years. Meanwhile, catcher Matt Nokes had more managers his first two days with the Yankees than he had in 3 1/2 years under Sparky Anderson in Detroit.

NICE WEEK: The Houston Astros sure have had fun on the West Coast.

Last Friday, they took a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning in San Francisco, but lost in 11. Last Saturday, they took a 3-0 lead into the ninth, only to have the Giants tie the score, only to take a one-run lead in the 10th, only to have the Giants score twice.

Sunday, they lost again to the Giants, 7-3. Monday, they lost 10-2 in San Diego. Tuesday, they lost 11-2 in San Diego. Wednesday, they took a 2-0 lead into the ninth.

You know what happened.

Padres, 3-2.

TRY SOMETHING ELSE: Toronto Manager Cito Gaston made a productive lineup change last Saturday, but it didn’t do his team any good. The Blue Jays scored 25 runs the next four games but went only 2-2.

Poor pitching aside, the Cito Shuffle might reap long-term benefits. Tony Fernandez, a .216 hitter in May, went 10-for-17 after being dropped from first to second in the order. Junior Felix is now batting first, Mookie Wilson ninth.

Problem is, the Blue Jays are starting to look like the American League’s answer to the New York Mets. They hit 70 homers their first 53 games, a 51 percent increase. Problem is, the homers have accounted for 45 percent of their runs. Last year they accounted for only 25 percent.

CECIL, CECIL: Indians left-hander Greg Swindell allowed all three of Cecil Fielder’s home runs Wednesday night, including a 470-foot blast to center. “Where did that one land? The lake?” Swindell said. “Maybe the waves will bring it back.”

Fielder again has the same number of homers as Kansas City (22). He is the ninth player in major-league history to produce two three-homer games the same season. He also hit three in a game in spring training. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” he said.

The overlooked aspect of Fielder’s season is that he continues to rank among the American League’s leading hitters with a .328 average. He is proof of the success a hitter can attain when he uses all fields: None of the six homers in his three-homer games was pulled.

LENNY, LENNY: Philadelphia center fielder Lenny Dykstra is so hot, he can go 0-for-72 and still be batting .300. Dykstra currently is batting .414 (79-for-191). He has hit safely in 20 straight games, 30 of 31 and 41 of 46. But the big news, he bears a striking resemblance to Bart Simpson.

“Put a load of tobacco in Bart’s mouth and they’re twins,” Phillies reliever Roger McDowell said. Dykstra made the cover of Sports Illustrated the same week Bart made the cover of Rolling Stone. Maybe they’ll start their own sit-com.

HEATING UP: Kansas City right-hander Mark Gubicza was 2-5 with a 5.28 earned run average through May, but it should have come as no surprise when he beat Oakland in his first June start Sunday.

Gubicza was the American League Pitcher of the Month for June each of the past two seasons. “I’ve got the April blues and May showers out of my system by then,” he said. “I feel comfortable in June.”

DRAFT PICK OF THE WEEK: Tom Nevers, a shortstop from Edina, Minn., showed some major-league confidence after being selected in the first round by Houston.

“This is the one thing I was hoping for,” Nevers said, “to go to a team with an elderly shortstop and nobody in the minors.”

The elderly shortstop is Rafael Ramirez, 31.

AROUND THE HORN: Orioles reliever Mark Williamson blew two one-run leads Wednesday and earned a victory. Philadelphia reliever Roger McDowell blew two two-run leads Wednesday, but wasn’t as fortunate. The Phillies fell to St. Louis, 12-11, in 10 innings.

Revenge: Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley has walked only three in 82 2/3 innings since issuing one to Mike Davis in front of Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the ’88 World Series. He has pitched 25 innings without allowing a walk this season, converting all 18 of his save tries.

Here’s another reason the Brewers looked so awful losing three of four to the Orioles: The three pitchers they recalled this week (Tom Edens, Mike Capel, Randy Vares) all had earned run averages above 5.00 at Triple A Denver.

Cleveland rookie Sandy Alomar Jr. currently leads American League catchers in the All-Star voting. Alomar is bidding to become the first Indian to start an All-Star Game since Manny Trillo in 1983, and the first Indians catcher since Joe Azcue in 1968.

Kirby Puckett was batting .247 on May 6, but since then he has (46) hits in (107) at-bats (.430). Minnesota’s bullpen is 15-2, including 7-1 by John Candelaria. Two of the Candy Man’s wins have come when Mark Guthrie failed to last five innings in games the Twins won 16-4 and 12-5.