Wild, Crazy Goal: Fix the Phillies

They were teammates during the formative years of the Los Angeles-California Angels, often wild and crazy guys now teamed again in a bid to restore respectability to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Cynics would call that a wild and crazy goal, considering Philadelphia’s 5-11 start and the club’s suspect talent, but neither Lee Thomas nor Jim Fregosi has promised a 1991 miracle.

Thomas, the general manager, hired Fregosi, his longtime pal, as manager Tuesday after firing Nick Levya, whose picture adorns the cover of 75,000 scorecards the Phillies are still trying to sell.

“We had an atrocious start, and I didn’t want to risk blowing the entire season this early,” Thomas said. “I don’t mean that I expect us to win the division or a certain number of games, but I do think we can be competitive. We can be better than last year, and I didn’t see that happening the way they were playing.”

Levya went out firing a salvo at Thomas, saying the Phillies had fired the wrong man.

Said Thomas: “I gave Nick a chance to manage in the majors and it didn’t work out. If he wants to trash me that’s his prerogative, but I’m not going to lower myself. There were things lacking, but I’m not going to get into it.

“I think Jimmy will provide a certain amount of needed discipline. He’s a people person, a hands-on type, and the club will benefit from that.”

Close observers of the Phillies say Thomas was disturbed by:

--A breakdown in communication and discipline under Levya.

--His frequent public criticism of the players.

--His refusal to open the season with rookie second baseman Mickey Morandini, who was recalled on the day Levya was fired.

--What were perceived to be displays of insecurity as Levya created an aura of unrest by predicting his firing as early as spring training, even though he had received a two-year extension in August.

Fregosi comes in with no illusions. His hope?

“The same thing you always hope for, that when you’re fired you’ll leave the team in better shape than when you were hired,” he said.

“It’s a tough situation. There’s no sense kidding anyone. We have a lot of young pitchers, a lot of young players. They’re going to get an ample opportunity, and as the manager, I’ll try to take as much heat off them as I can.”

A four-time All-Star during his 10 years as the Angel shortstop, Fregosi returned to manage the team to its first division title in 1979, went out for further managerial seasoning with the St. Louis Cardinals’ triple-A affiliate after being fired by the Angels in ‘81, managed the Chicago White Sox in ’87 and ‘88--laying much of the groundwork on which Jeff Torborg has built--and was a TV analyst and first lieutenant under Thomas when Levya was fired.

Thomas, the former Angel outfielder, known as “Mad Dog” because of his temper, gained respect as a minor league manager and personnel director for Whitey Herzog with the Cardinals, then became the Phillies’ general manager in 1988.

Faced with a complete rebuilding project when the farm system went to seed after the departures of Paul Owen and Dallas Green, architects of the Philadelphia powerhouses of the ‘70s and early 80s, Thomas repeatedly has said it will take time.

He has tried to hasten the process with generally successful trades for Lenny Dykstra, Dale Murphy, Roger McDowell, John Kruk, Ken Howell, Charlie Hayes, Terry Mulholland, Darrell Akerfelds and prospects such as Jose DeJesus and Wes Chamberlain, but the Phillies remain short in almost every area. That’s an indication of the task that confronted Thomas, who has chosen to rebuild the farm system with high school products, rather than college players whose development might be quicker.

In the city of unbrotherly love, he has taken heat for that, as well as the Levya firing. That decision demonstrated his authority but also linked him with former teammate Fregosi in such a way that their security is intertwined. If one goes, the other probably will as well.

“If that’s the way it’s looked at, so be it,” Thomas said. “I don’t care if you’re talking about the manager, the general manager, the farm director or any other key position, your head is always going to be on the guillotine, no matter what. But as long as I have the job, I’m going to make the decisions that I feel have to be made.”

THE ROCKET

Commissioner Fay Vincent faced a potential mutiny by the umpires had he modified or thrown out the five-day suspension and $10,000 fine Roger Clemens got for his behavior and threats after his ejection from Game 4 of the American League playoffs last fall.

Vincent acknowledged that there were inaccuracies in umpire Terry Cooney’s report of the incident, but not even Clemens denies threatening to “get” Cooney. And a five-day suspension for shoving umpire Jim Evans is modest contrasted to the 30 days handed Pete Rose, then manager of the Cincinnati Reds, for shoving an umpire in 1988.

Clemens had been scheduled to serve the suspension at the start of the 1991 season, but the delay while his appeal was heard allowed him to start the season by pitching his Boston Red Sox to two victories over their chief division rival, the Toronto Blue Jays, against whom Clemens is 7-0 in his last nine starts.

It is amazing that some clubs didn’t consider drafting Clemens when he was at the University of Texas because they felt he lacked mental toughness.

Clemens’ 4-0 start--he is 12-2 with an 0.84 earned-run average since the All-Star break--again illustrates that he has that and more. He disregarded the pressure inherent in his new contract and the distraction of his appeal to convert 11 runs of support into a 3-0 record, winning twice by 1-0 scores. Then he shook off the flu and pitched seven shutout innings in a 3-0 victory over the Blue Jays Tuesday.

SECRET WEAPON

Without fanfare, Seattle Mariner third baseman Edgar Martinez has emerged as one of the American League’s top contact hitters, a candidate for the batting title, Manager Jim Lefebvre believes.

“He has a great eye, discipline and a high-average stroke in that he uses the whole field,” Lefebvre said, adding that he is not worried about an absence of power at a position generally associated with it.

Martinez, 28, batted .302 with 11 home runs last year. He left Anaheim on Wednesday with a .432 average and two home runs as Seattle’s cleanup hitter.

“As managers, we sometimes outsmart ourselves, looking for things that aren’t there,” Lefebvre said. “Maybe we could go find a third baseman that would hit 30 home runs and get 120 or more strikeouts along with it.

“I put Edgar in the fourth spot and told him not to change a thing. We’re not a home run-hitting team. I told him to make contact, make things happen for us.”

In his first full season with the Mariners, Martinez’s lack of power wasn’t as conspicuous as his shortcomings in the field. He made 29 errors, high among major league third baseman, but it wasn’t until September that the Mariners discovered he had played the entire summer with torn cartilage in his right knee. He had surgery in October.

“He didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his position,” Lefebvre said. “I mean, for two straight years he felt he had played well enough to win a job, but nobody gave it to him, and he wasn’t going to risk losing it after finally getting it. He was a one-legged third baseman.”

STADIUM STALEMATE

In Cleveland, where the Indians are last in the American League in team batting, runs and home runs, a shortfall of another kind threatens the downtown development known as the Gateway Center, a $400-million project that is to include a stadium for the Indians and an arena for the NBA’s Cavaliers.

Although voters have approved a tax on alcohol and cigarettes and the owners of the Indians have pledged $70 million from the sale of luxury boxes at the new stadium, developers say they are $40 million shy of the necessary funding, and the project is in limbo.

If the stadium, scheduled to open in 1994, falls through, there is speculation that Richard and David Jacobs, owners of the Indians, will sell to out-of-town interests and allow the team to be moved. They are already cutting corners with a roster that includes seven rookies.

The Indians scored three or fewer runs in 10 of their first 13 games and one or fewer in eight of the 13. Veteran outfielder Chris James contends too much is being written about it.

“When a team is going this bad and is this young, they read the papers and starting thinking about it, and everyone knows the less you think in this game, the better off you are,” he said.