Pitchers’ Message: On the Inside, Look Out!

The fastballs kept hissing closer and closer, and yet the batter just stood still. Even when Pedro Martinez whizzed one right under the chin, the hitter did not flinch.

Of course, this was no ordinary batter. It was a mannequin, dressed up in a baseball uniform, and Martinez was using it to practice pitching inside.

The real hitters Martinez has faced this season, though, have been no dummies. And when the Montreal pitcher has come too close, they haven’t been so tolerant.

Derek Bell and Reggie Sanders both charged the mound to get back at Martinez. But Martinez, who already has hit six players this season, has this message: Batters, beware!

“I don’t care if I hit 1,000 batters,” Martinez barked. “I’m going to keep pitching inside.”

So are a lot of other pitchers, apparently, especially if the home-run rate continues to rise at a record level. One month into the season, the number of HBPs is up 15% over last year.

All that has led to an alarming increase of basebrawls. More than a half-dozen bench-clearing fights have broken out, so many that new NL president Len Coleman and the baseball players’ union have agreed to meet and talk about the trouble.

“Pushing people off the plate has been around forever,” four-time NL batting champion Tony Gwynn said. “You’ve got to be aggressive with it, but you’ve got to be in control with it because, as we’ve seen in the last couple of days, when it gets away from you--whether they try to or not--it just looks bad.”

Gwynn’s San Diego Padres were involved in brushback incidents in three straight games against Philadelphia. But after Gwynn was hit by Curt Schilling, he decided to do something about it.

Rather than charge Schilling, he spoke to Coleman, who said he would investigate the growing problem.

Coleman could’ve had a first-hand look last Wednesday in New York. Barry Bonds homered off Eric Hillman early, then was hit in the elbow by Hillman in his next at-bat and left the game.

“The way I look at it, if a guy hits a home run off you and the next time he comes up you drill him, it would be the same as me throwing the bat at him for striking me out,” five-time AL batting champion Wade Boggs said.

“The only way to stop it is with fines and suspensions,” he said. “And if they’re harsh enough, then they sort of take a second look on whether or not to do it.”

Same goes for batters rushing the mound. Coleman surprised some by suspending Sanders for five games for charging Martinez, a penalty more severe than for similar incidents in the past. Sanders is appealing.

Jerald Clark, who played for Colorado last season, recently found out how Japanese baseball officials punish such conduct. He was suspended for seven games from the Yakult Swallows after tackling a pitcher following a knockdown.

Colorado manager Don Baylor, hit by pitches a major league record 267 times, understands the dilemma.

“There’s nothing wrong with going inside for a strike. That’s the way you have to pitch,” he said. “As for guys charging the mound, there are way too many guys charging the mound. It tells me one thing: Guys don’t like the ball inside.”

That’s a trend Jeff Reardon has noticed during his 16 seasons.

“I mean, sometimes they’ll glare at you on a pitch that almost hits the inside corner. And you look back at them like, ‘What the hell is wrong with that?”’ the New York Yankees reliever said.

It used to be understood in baseball that it was OK to throw inside, as long as it was below the shoulders. That, though, seems to have changed.

“My dad and I talk about it,” said New York Mets catcher Todd Hundley, whose dad, Randy, caught for the Cubs 25 years ago. “In his day, the plate was the pitcher’s plate. Now, it’s like the plate is the hitter’s plate.”

That means hitters feel comfortable--maybe too comfortable--in leaning over the plate to drive outside pitches. Home runs in April were up 41% over last April’s pace, and a lot of those were hit to the opposite field.

“I think the pitchers are tired of letting guys drill the ball out of the ballpark,” said Baltimore relief ace Lee Smith. “A lot of guys that I’ve seen get hit, the ball wouldn’t have hit the guys if they weren’t diving and trying to yank the ball over the fence.”

There is a psychological edge, admitted Padres rookie A.J. Sager.

“It’s not so much to make the hitter uncomfortable--it is a little bit that--but it’s just the idea that the plate is 17 inches wide or whatever and you have to use all of it,” he said.

It’s been that way for years, the eternal battle between pitcher and hitter. Only now it seems that the days when Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale ruled might be coming back.

“When I grew up and my dad played, that’s the way it was then,” said Danny Tartabull, whose learned from his father, Jose. “If a pitcher wants to brush you back, that’s fair game. But I have a problem with pitchers throwing around the head.”

While Tartabull talked in the Yankees’ clubhouse, pitcher Terry Mulholland listened from the next locker.

“Aw, you have a batting helmet,” Mulholland said with a sly grin.