BASEBALL : Pitching Enters the Age of the Specialist

At the rate most major-league managers are progressing, baseball could soon see the day when a pitching staff will have more specialists than starters.

It’s enough to make you wonder how Roger Clemens, and more recently Jack McDowell, slipped through the cracks -- and who will be the workhorses to take their place.

You may have noticed that there seems to be an unwritten code that says if a save situation exists (which is a heavy majority of the time), make sure the opportunity is presented. If the ace closer doesn’t get the ball every time there’s a three-run lead in the ninth inning it’s as though his manhood is being questioned. It’s as though the “code” says, whenever possible, get a win and a save.

More and more pitchers are being geared toward six-inning “quality starts,” as though somebody decided to invoke Little League rules. Pitch limits seem to max out at 100, which makes you wonder how these arms are ever supposed to be “stretched out,” to borrow a popular term.

My personal favorite example is California’s Jim Abbott, whose managers may have unwittingly conspired to cost him this year’s American League Cy Young Award. Four times in the last seven weeks, the Angels’ left-hander has been involved in games that were either scoreless or 1-0 after nine innings.

The two times that Abbott held the lead, he was removed after the sixth and seventh innings. When he was losing 1-0 and in a scoreless tie he was allowed to finish the game, losing the most recent on a three-run homer in the 10th inning.

How come he was good enough to pitch complete games and lose, but not allowed to hang around while he was pitching a shutout? Don’t give up any runs and you come out; give up one and go to the finish line. You figure it out.

Toronto’s Jimmy Key gave up three hits and two runs (on a Ken Griffey Jr. home run) in the first inning in Seattle last week. He gave up two more hits and no runs in the next four innings. As soon as he qualified for the win (five innings), Key left with a 3-2 lead. Would he have come out trailing 2-1? That game incidentally began the stretch that took a tremendous toll on Toronto’s heralded bullpen, and nearly cost the Blue Jays dearly.

The other night Kansas City Manager Hal McRae pulled starter Kevin Appier with a 5-1 lead after six innings. One inning and two pitchers later the score was 5-4 and closer Jeff Montgomery pitched two innings instead of the customary one.

You can find similar games in the box scores virtually every day. If this keeps up a pitching staff will be broken down to four categories and will have even more “official” statistics, just what we need.

The modern version of a perfect game might go something like this: the starter leaves after five innings with the lead, the hold man comes on for two, the setup man for one, followed by the saver.

And, naturally, we’ll need right- and left-handed holders, setups and savers. Starters could then be primed to go 75 pitches or less. Then the players association could lobby for rule changes requiring three innings to qualify for a win and recognition for holds and setups in addition to saves. And agents could specialize in the four categories.

Thank goodness it’s only a game.

The Yankees win this week’s award for statistic of the week. They had two runners picked off base, two more thrown out at home plate, and allowed the go-ahead run to score on a passed ball.

All of this took place in a game they won. Do you think the Red Sox, who lost the game, will remember this one if they pull up one game short?

You’ve heard about the $6 million man, but what about a $3 million baby. Tom Brunansky has a clause in his contract that calls for an automatic renewal (at $3 million) for 1993 if he plays 145 games either this year or next.

When he wasn’t used in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader, Brunansky was mathematically eliminated this year. The veteran outfielder needed to play the final 12 games to reach 145. What makes this situation even more interesting is the fact that Brunansky missed the three-game series against the Orioles last week in Boston so he could be with his wife in California when she gave birth to their second son.

The kid’s college education might not be riding on the outcome, but Brunansky, who is hitting only .227, might have a tougher time playing 145 games next year than this year. Which means that trip to the West Coast could cost Brunansky a mil or two, especially if he’s still hitting .227.

Don’t you love it when a player on a team chasing the division leader indicates he’d rather be in that spot than first place?

“I still think the pressure is on them (the Toronto Blue Jays) more than us,” Red Sox reliever Jeff Reardon said earlier in the week. “We have a lot of veterans on this team who have been through this before.”

Given his choice, do you really believe Reardon would rather be in second place -- or dealing with the pressure in first place? The next guy who can offer a convincing argument that it’s better to be in second place than first, at any time, will be a first.

Tom Glavine (19), Steve Avery (17) and Charlie Liebrandt (15) give the Atlanta Braves three left-handers with at least 15 wins.

The 1917 New York Giants were the last National League team to have a lefty trio win 15 or more. Check the attic for trading cards for Ferdie Schupp (21), Slim Sallee (18) and Rube Benton (15).

Texas’ Ivan Rodriguez, who won’t be 20 until Nov. 30, already has caught more major-league games (81) than any teen-ager in baseball history.

In case someone asks, Del Crandall caught 63 games for the Boston Braves in 1949, before he turned 20.

No, the Orioles have not shut down Glenn Davis for the season. The first baseman probably will reappear in the lineup this weekend in Detroit.

The Orioles and Red Sox participated in a rarity Thursday -- a doubleheader without an error by either team. The Orioles thus played 13 straight errorless games. That’s a club record, one game short of the American League record and two games shy of the major-league record.

Jack Clark is the second player in history (Bobby Bonds was the first) to hit 25 home runs for five different teams.

Jim Lefevbre will finish the season with the most wins and the best percentage of all Seattle managers -- and might not be invited back.

Howard Johnson leads the National League in home runs and runs batted in. He would be the first switch-hitter to lead the NL in home runs since Rip Collins did it in 1934. No switch-hitter has ever led the NL in RBIs.