Hawaii No Vacation For Weary Cardinals

Most people look forward to a trip to Hawaii. That feeling wasn’t universal among the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres, who play the first ever big-league games on the Islands this week.

“When I went to Israel, I was on a plane for 13 hours,” Cardinal reliever Tony Fossas said. “It takes you about two days to get used to it because your body goes off schedule.”

The Cardinals, who lost Thursday at Florida, and San Diego, which was off Thursday and Friday, had to journey through six time zones for tonight’s doubleheader and Sunday night’s game at Honolulu.

San Diego arrived from Pittsburgh early Thursday morning and Manager Bruce Bochy gave his players a day off.

Some players visited children’s hospitals and military bases Friday before a late- afternoon workout at Aloha Stadium.

The cross-country trip was worse for the Cardinals, who had to make an 11-hour, all-night flight after Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Florida Marlins.

The road trip won’t end for the Cardinals after the Honolulu series. They fly to Los Angeles for two games against the Dodgers before finally returning to St. Louis. By that time, they will have covered 10,200 air miles in a span of nine days.

“I’m a traditionalist, but I’m also a realist,” San Diego coach Tim Flannery said. “If baseball is to continue to grow and pay these salaries, it will have to expand, especially internationally.

“And our ownership, with Larry Lucchino, is on the cutting edge of these new ideas. I was against interleague play at first, but you have to keep the game up and running for the fans and make some adjustments.”

Hawaii could be a steppingstone for baseball’s effort to expand its international reach, said Mike Dee, the Padres’ director of corporate development.

Japanese baseball officials met this week in New York with NL President Len Coleman, AL President Gene Budig and union head Donald Fehr.

One of the topics discussed was a World Cup-type tournament, possibly following the 1999 season.