Piazza Gives All-Star Muscles a Break Today

Mike Piazza doesn’t ask for any days off, and doesn’t get many, but the Dodger catcher and National League’s leading hitter will skip today’s home run-hitting contest involving baseball’s all-stars after making an all-night trip to Philadelphia.

“I’m not feeling too well,” Piazza says. “Got a lot of nagging little things right now, so I’ll just take care of whatever I have to do, and then shut it down.”

Bobby Cox, the National League’s manager, wouldn’t ask Piazza to catch all nine innings Tuesday, would he?

“Nothing doing,” Piazza assures you.

With only one Phillie (pitcher Ricky Bottalico) in the game at Veterans Stadium, and a non-starter at that, it is Piazza who will be the hometown attraction at this particular circus of the stars. He’s the Pennsylvania boy whose popularity has grown and grown.

The leading vote-getter of all the National League’s stars, Piazza is off to his fourth consecutive midsummer classic. He would rather be appearing in his first Fall Classic, but until that day, this’ll do.

Tommy Lasorda originally was going to tag along with “Michael”--that’s all Lasorda ever calls him--to coach third base for the National League. Tommy, though, is getting an involuntary rest.

Piazza could use one. Sunday’s start behind the plate was his 78th in 89 games, for a team that plays a lot of its games in very warm weather. With all that gear he wears, Piazza will never need to endorse Ultra Slim-Fast. He’s lucky he doesn’t melt.

His two-for-four day at the plate in a 3-0 defeat to the Colorado Rockies marked the 36th multi-hit game of the season for Piazza, who is wearing NL pitchers out.

Piazza hit .370 in April, .375 in May, .322 in June and .440 so far for July.

With Eric Karros and Raul Mondesi behind him, Piazza doesn’t get pitched around, either. He sees decent pitches.

“I hear those three names in my sleep,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor says.

The thing about Piazza is, he is so smart a hitter that it wouldn’t much matter if Hideo Nomo batted cleanup behind him.

A fine for-instance came in Sunday’s eighth inning. The first two pitches Piazza saw from Colorado starter Kevin Ritz were strikes. Piazza was deep in the hole, with a teammate on base and the Dodgers in dire need of a rally.

Observant as he is, Piazza paid attention in the sixth inning when Mike Blowers of the Dodgers got caught looking at a third strike. Ritz had sneaked it across the plate at a time when most pitchers would waste a pitch.

When Ritz tried to do the same thing to Piazza, his 0-2 pitch was hit into left field for a single.

The Dodgers didn’t score, but that was hardly Piazza’s fault. He doesn’t have many faults, and the ones he has deserve asterisks next to them.

For example, base-stealers are running wild on the Dodgers this season--100 of 115 successfully--but it doesn’t help Piazza any that there isn’t a left-handed pitcher in L.A.’s rotation. Runners are getting tremendous jumps.

This is one of many issues the Dodger manager--Lasorda, Bill Russell, whichever--must address after the All-Star break. With the Dodgers only five games over .500, while the Atlanta Braves sit 21 games over .500, there are certain things keeping the Dodgers from being one of the league’s best teams. Right now, they are no better than Houston or St. Louis.

“It’s going to be a tough, grueling, long summer,” Piazza says. “There’s still a lot of baseball to be played, and there’s some things we need to work on.

“You try to do what’s necessary. Try to win every series, keep our goals realistic. The serious part of the baseball season is coming up soon. That’s when teams either turn it up or turn it off. It’s like 99% of the basketball games you see, that aren’t decided until the final 10 minutes.”

Lasorda or Russell could manage the National League’s all-stars next summer, should the Dodgers enjoy this season’s final 10 minutes.

To do that, they had better keep Piazza strong.

“Who’s the second catcher?” Russell asked about the NL squad, not coming up with the names Todd Hundley or Jason Kendall off the top of his head. “Do you know?”