BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Losses Began Piling Up for White Sox in Off-Season

Let’s see: Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf chooses not to retain Jack McDowell, Julio Franco or Darrin Jackson and then makes a scapegoat of Manager Gene Lamont when the White Sox come stumbling out of the gate. A year ago, with a complete team, Lamont was leading the Cleveland Indians by a game when the strike started. A year before that, he led the White Sox to the AL’s Western Division title.

“To lose the players we lost and come back to where we were, that’s not going to happen,” Frank Thomas said. “There are holes in this lineup we’ve been unable to patch all season. We’re not the same team as last year, and people should know that. The Indians have had the same team basically for five years, and right now they’re better than we are. Right now they’re kicking our butts.”

They did it in a four-game sweep last week that led to Lamont’s firing and left Chicago 11 games back in the Central Division.

Thomas acknowledged that the White Sox have been underachieving, and new Manager Terry Bevington might bring a new intensity.

“Gene expected guys to prepare themselves,” Thomas said. “Bev will be there to make sure they do.”

Nevertheless, there are holes.

A pitching staff devoid of McDowell is next to last in the league in earned-run average. Thomas, who walked 109 or more times in each of his first four seasons, is paying a price for the absence of Franco and Jackson, who combined to hit 30 home runs and drive in 149 runs last season.

The White Sox have tried the now departed Chris Sabo, Warren Newson and the woefully out-of-shape John Kruk in Franco’s fourth spot behind Thomas, but it remains a void. The Indians walked Thomas six times in four games. In Game 3, of the first 18 pitches he saw, 16 were balls. He has walked 43 times in 33 games, which projects to 188 over a 144-game season, breaking Babe Ruth’s full-season record of 170 set in 1923.

HAIR OF THE DOG

Owner Marge Schott may credit it for the remarkable turnaround of her Cincinnati Reds, but pitching coach Don Gullett thinks there is a more realistic explanation. The Reds opened 1-8, then won 20 of 25 games.

They set a franchise record for May with a 20-6 record. Every previous Cincinnati team that won 18 or more games in May--the 1970, ’72 and ’76 editions of the Big Red Machine--went on to play in the World Series.

Could there be a greater tribute to the late and lamented Schottzie? The owner’s first St. Bernard died in 1992, and Schott retained a bag of Schottzie’s hair.

It will be recalled that she sent it to Manager Davey Johnson during that staggering start and recommended he rub it on his players’ chests for luck.

Johnson acknowledged that his team seemed to be going to the dogs but politely refused. The Reds found other ways to shake their slump.

It was only a matter of time, said Gullett, citing the strike-shortened spring training as the reason his staff of power pitchers was not ready.

Check the stats, he suggested.

During the 1-8 start, the starters were 0-4 with a 6.86 earned-run average and the relievers were 1-4 with a 4.81 ERA and a blown save.

Over the next 23 games, the starters were 12-4 with a 3.32 ERA and the bullpen was 7-0 with eight saves in eight opportunities and a 3.09 ERA.

“Three weeks of spring training were not enough to get our staff ready,” Gullett said. “I know the [Chicago] Cubs started fast with good pitching, but that’s a staff of mostly finesse pitchers.

“We have power pitchers who use a lot of velocity, and it takes longer for power arms to build up the strength necessary to reach that velocity.”

Nine Cincinnati pitchers consistently crack 90 m.p.h. on the speed gun, with reliever Hector Carrasco generally between 94 m.p.h. and 97 m.p.h. In a recent appearance against the St. Louis Cardinals, Carrasco struck out Brian Jordan on three pitches, the last registering 99 m.p.h.

Prime examples of Gullett’s theory are Jose Rijo and Pete Schourek. Rijo’s ERA for his first four starts was 6.55 and he was 1-2. He had a 1.42 ERA in his next three starts, all of them victories. Schourek’s ERA was 12.27 after two starts, but he was 3-0 in four starts during May--the Reds won all four--with a 1.19 ERA.

Closer Jeff Brantley, four for four in save opportunities, cited injuries to key position players--along with Rijo, who was put on the disabled list Saturday because of elbow tendinitis--and said the Reds haven’t hit full stride.

“We’ve been playing very average ball for this club,” he said. “I think we can play a lot better, and we will. We’re still making mistakes we shouldn’t make--mental mistakes on the bases, on defense and in the batter’s box.”

How much can a dead dog do?

LABOR MOVEMENT?

The unresolved labor negotiations continue to cloud the 1995 season. Owners will meet in Minneapolis starting Tuesday to review the situation.

The back-channel talks that quietly produced a pension agreement, ensuring that the All-Star game will be played, have continued in search of an interim resolution guaranteeing completion of the season.

Searching for ways to brighten the players’ image, union activist and Toronto Blue Jay pitcher David Cone has talked with officials on both sides about a postseason tournament matching international dream teams.

“We’re on a really dangerous cliff,” Cone said.

“I think the fans are waiting for the players to prove themselves, prove they’re worthy of being trusted and admired again.

“A World Cup of baseball would help re-establish that.”

Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Japan would all be strong entries, he said.

GLOBAL GAME

In the year of Hideo Nomo, the international impact continued when the Oakland Athletics, drafting fifth in the first round, selected pitcher Ariel Prieto, formerly of the Cuban national team. Many scouts think Prieto could be pitching for the A’s before the end of the season, but General Manager Sandy Alderson said that wasn’t a primary consideration.

“We simply felt he was far more advanced and that his talent level exceeded any other pitcher in the draft,” Alderson said.

Alderson said his “working assumption” is that Prieto, currently with the Palm Springs Suns of the independent Western League, is 28, although he “staunchly insists” he’s 25.

“Prieto is a gamble in the sense that we don’t have his full medical history and we would like to have seen him over a longer period of time,” Alderson said. “However, we’ve seen enough to know he throws hard and has great command. He obviously has a wealth of international experience and success.”

NAMES AND NUMBERS

--Former Angel Joe Grahe, still recovering from shoulder surgery and ineffective in the bullpen because of warm-up demands, has been moved into the Colorado Rockies’ beleaguered rotation, replacing Omar Olivares (1-2, 6.41 ERA). The Rockies’ rotation starting a weekend series with the Pittsburgh Pirates was 8-9 with a 6.59 ERA and had created a major workload for the bullpen.

In addition, the high-priced Bill Swift has allowed 69 baserunners in 36 innings, is 1-1 with an 8.75 ERA through seven starts and was skipped Friday night as Manager Don Baylor tried to defuse his “mental and physical struggle.”

--Terry Mulholland, who was 6-7 with a 6.49 ERA with the New York Yankees last year and Swift’s replacement in the San Francisco Giant rotation, is experiencing a similar struggle. He’s 2-5 with a 6.65 ERA, opponents are batting .355, and Manager Dusty Baker thinks Mulholland is still trying to be something he’s not anymore, a power pitcher.

“What he did two or three years ago doesn’t apply anymore,” Baker said. “He’s got a good off-speed pitch, and I wish he’d trust it. Sometimes a power pitcher has to hit a wall before he’ll change. Terry needs to realize he’s at the wall.”

--When the San Diego Padres blew a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s game with the New York Mets, it kept Andy Benes winless at 0-5. Benes, 6-14 last year and winless in his last five decisions in ‘93, is 6-24 for his last 30 decisions and 8-29 for his last 37. He’s seeking $4.4 million in arbitration, up from $3 million.

--Mike Morgan, on the Cubs’ disabled list three times last season and on it again until last week, has given up only one earned run in the 12 innings of his first two starts, beating the Braves on Wednesday for his first victory since July 16.

The Philadelphia Phillies and several other clubs have shown interest in Morgan, but the Cubs would have to pick up much of his $3.4-million salary if he is traded, and that probably won’t happen with Jim Bullinger now on the disabled list because of elbow problems.

“I’ve been on seven clubs, so this is nothing new,” former Dodger Morgan said of the trade rumors. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be 100% physically again, but my elbow, shoulder and back are well enough now that I can take the ball every five days.”

--Ken Hill is 4-0 in his return to St. Louis, but the other Cardinal starters had won only three of 33 starts, and Danny Jackson is an 0-6, $3.6-million bust.

--Not only has Jose Mesa responded to the Cleveland Indians’ closer needs--he is 11 for 11 in save opportunities, and the Indians are 16-0 in games in which he had appeared--but Gregg Olson seems to be regaining his Baltimore Orioles’ closer form at Buffalo, the Indians’ triple-A affiliate.

After struggling with Atlanta last year in his comeback from elbow troubles, Olson is again heating it up at 88 m.p.h. to 91 m.p.h., farm director Mark Shapiro said. He had a 1.29 ERA with seven saves through 14 innings of 12 appearances and 15 strikeouts against only four walks.