OPEN MIKE

Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, confirming views that had been merely speculated about previously, said his team’s cultural diversity makes relationships more difficult, creates ethnic grouping and affects performance on the field.

Piazza, batting .355 as he continues a career that may eclipse the statistical accomplishments of the 11 catchers in the Hall of Fame, said a lack of execution has had more to do with Dodger inconsistency than any lack of camaraderie or leadership among the players, but the diversity has definitely has an impact on performance.

“Without a doubt, because you really don’t know what guys’ agendas are,” Piazza said. “You would like to think everybody has that same common goal to win, but there may be guys just interested in staying here, guys just interested in putting certain numbers up, and that’s natural.

“Everybody has personal goals, but it seems like the championship teams find a way to combine their personal goals with an underlying desire to win.”

Piazza also said he has no interest in accepting a role as the team’s clubhouse leader, even while becoming the first Dodger to bring the issue of players’ relationships to the forefront.

“The way the backgrounds are so different on this team,” he said. “Well, we’ve found ways to win with that and we’re capable of doing it again, but that whole concept of chemistry and leadership is something we’ve heard a lot about the last couple years, and all you have to do is look at the way the team is set up. . . .

“I mean, you’ve got [Hideo] Nomo from Japan, Chan Ho [Park] from Korea. You’ve got guys from the Dominican Republic and Mexico . . . so what do people expect? That all of a sudden we’re going to be one big happy family? Of course not. Guys are going to have their groups that they’re going to hang out with.

“Obviously I’m going to gravitate to Eric [Karros] and [Todd] Zeile. Brett [Butler] is going to hang out with his group, and the Mexicans are going to hang out together and the Dominicans are going to hang out together.

“Sure, I hang out with [Raul Mondesi] once in a while, but for the most part, you’re going to gravitate to the guy you have most in common with, so I don’t see how anyone can expect this to be a great big happy family, and I don’t think there’s anything anybody can do or say to change those cultural or background differences.”

Piazza wouldn’t say the Dodgers are fractionalized, but said the cultural differences tend to underscore the differences in communication and relations--in the clubhouse, dugout and away from the stadium--and tend to complicate the task of getting 25 players on the same page.

Asked then if owner Peter O’Malley, a pioneer in baseball’s global expansion, and Executive Vice President Fred Claire should be more cognizant of roster composition, Piazza said it wasn’t his job to say, although that’s what he seemed to be doing.

“As a player, I’m paid to give as much as I can on the field,” he said. “Of course, I have an opinion as to the direction the team should go, who is best for us and who isn’t, but I think it looks bad when a player says we should do this or that, or that Peter just doesn’t know, or that there’s a distraction because of so much Japanese and foreign media, or to question if a Chan Ho was ready to win when he joined the team in ’94 [at a point when similarly experienced players may have still been receiving more seasoning in the minors] or was he just trying to hang on and learn on the job, which is a difficult process at this level?

“It’s not my job to say, but I have my opinion, and I have to say that’s where not only Peter but the fans should realize that because of the [diversity] there’s going to be problems just as far as guys being able to relate to each other on a daily basis.

“If it’s Peter’s agenda to bring a guy from Taiwan next year and he’s good enough to play here, we have to accept that. We have to find a way to extract the most talent out of him.

“It seems like that’s the way Peter’s direction has been the last couple years but, hey, we’ve also been blessed. Nomo’s been outstanding, one of baseball’s best pitchers, for example. But again, it can be hit or miss, and it’s not for me to say.”

Given the global communication tentacles of Rupert Murdoch, the prospective owner, the Dodgers will probably maintain the O’Malley direction, providing the sale is approved. Eventually, Hollywood may consider a sequel to the movie, “Separate Tables.” Observing the Dodgers eating their postgame clubhouse meals on the road, American players are at one table, Caribbean players at another and Mexican players at another.

Frustration with team and individual performances--and, perhaps, that communication and cultural uncertainty about the 25 players being on the same page--certainly contributed to the Karros-Ismael Valdes confrontation and the dugout incidents involving Manager Bill Russell and Valdes and Pedro Astacio.

By any measure, national baseball writers traveling in and out of Los Angeles to do stories on an underachieving team are feeding on an angle of trouble in paradise.

“All of this comes from not winning consistently, from struggling,” Russell said. “There’s a lot of diversity here, but it’s not a case of people disliking each other. They all understand English, but the bottom line is you have to go out and perform, and we’ve been too inconsistent in our execution. The Cubs opened the season by losing 14 in a row. Did they have a lack of chemistry, or did they fail to execute?”

Said Claire: “It’s like all other phases of life. You have to work at it. There’s no question the language and cultural differences make the task tougher, but that just means the manager, coaches, players and everyone in the organization has to work harder at reinforcing the objective, which is a winning team. I mean, Hideo Nomo wanted to play for a championship team and wouldn’t have signed with us unless we convinced him that was the objective. And though we didn’t go as far as we wanted [in the last two postseasons], there were a hell of a lot of teams sitting home, a lot of teams that weren’t there.”

The goal, of course, is to take it beyond the opening playoff round, but the Dodgers may not even qualify unless they develop the confidence and consistency, Piazza said. Chemistry? An elusive concept.

“It’s very vague,” he said. “I have a hard time trying to figure out myself what chemistry is and how it fits into this team or any team. Does it mean you hang out together, have picnics after games?

“Look at the Mets of the ‘80s and the Dodgers and A’s in the ‘70s. They had differences in the clubhouse but still managed to win. I fail to see how chemistry can be a reason for not winning. I think it comes down to knowing what your job is and executing it with confidence, and we haven’t done that.

“Take the Braves. They go on the field thinking they have a chance to win every game. We haven’t developed that for some reason. We have weak spots, but we also have the talent, the ability to win, but we have to find a way to be more consistent. It takes more than 25 guys just showing up every night.”

But a leader? Piazza isn’t sure that’s what it takes. He is sure he isn’t the guy, that at 27, in his fifth full season, his leadership behind the plate and in the batter’s box should be enough.

“I can’t be someone I’m not,” he said. “The guys know me, they know my personality.

“I’m not shying away, but I have a tremendous responsibility with the pitching staff on the field and as a steady presence in the lineup. Isn’t leading by example enough? If guys don’t respond to that, I don’t know what more I can do or what more anyone can do given the cultural differences.

“I mean, what more is needed at this level? We’re supposed to be men. We’re supposed to be professionals. We’re supposed to know what the job is.

“Why do you need a guy in the clubhouse delegating, standing up guys, saying you’re not doing this and you’re not doing that?

“Usually, those guys get mocked anyway.”

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There is one area in which Piazza is an undisputed leader. He is the National League’s runaway vote leader for the July 8 All-Star game in Cleveland, having been the game’s most valuable player last year in his hometown of Philadelphia.

He has also caught the attention of Seymour Siwoff, head of the Elias Sports Bureau, which maintains baseball’s statistics and records.

“We may be seeing the start of a new generation of catchers who can handle the challenges and physical burden of their position and still hit consistently, and Piazza is the leader of that group,” said Siwoff, who also mentioned Sandy Alomar Jr., Ivan Rodriguez and Todd Hundley.

“We think of [Yogi] Berra and [Johnny] Bench as great clutch hitters in the World Series and guys who hit home runs, but we don’t think of catchers necessarily as great hitters in a context of running well enough and surviving the burden of their position to hit .300 consistently.

“If you look at the catchers who are in the Hall of Fame and guys like Carlton Fisk and Gary Carter, who might get in, no one approaches Piazza’s batting averages, and he should exceed them all in home runs, barring injury.”

The highest lifetime average among the 11 catchers in the Hall is Mickey Cochrane’s .320. Berra hit .285, Bench .267 and Roy Campanella .276.

For the last two seasons, Piazza has threatened to become the first catcher since Ernie Lombardi in 1942 to win a batting title. In 1995, he batted .346 and finished second to Tony Gwynn. Last year he hit .336 and was third behind Gwynn and Ellis Burks. He went to work Wednesday having boosted his ’96 average another 19 points. He was again third in the NL race behind Larry Walker and Gwynn.

It is rare for a player to consistently raise his career average once he is a few years into his major league career, but Piazza has batted .343 over the last 2 1/2 years to raise his career mark to .329.

His pace for home runs (12) and runs batted in (37) is down from his 36 and 105 totals of last year, but Piazza said he refuses to become the type of power hitter who accepts a .250 average and 120 strikeouts for the sake of hitting 35 to 40 home runs.

“I want to be known as a complete hitter, a guy who can do a lot of things with the bat,” he said. “That’s what I pride myself on. Hitting with power is obviously an important part of my game, and I’m disappointed my home runs are down, but I think it’d be fruitless to go up there with nobody on base 90% of the time and try to [hit a home run].

“In those situations I think I’m doing more for the club by trying to create an inning, getting on base for Eric.”

Piazza’s point is that there has been a lack of regularity to the Dodger lineup, a lack of consistency from the top two hitters, and he often bats with two out and nobody on base or leads off an inning.

“You’re only as good as the guys hitting in front of you and behind you, and the last two years I just haven’t had an enormous amount of opportunities to drive in runs night after night [and as a spinoff of the team’s offensive struggle may be trying to do too much when the opportunity is there since he is batting only .278 with runners in scoring position].

“I mean, I’m not complaining or making excuses. It’s a matter of trying to make the most of the tools you have, accepting and adjusting to the situation.

“Some guys don’t care if they hit .250, but I can’t accept that. I’m terrible when I go up there thinking only about hitting a home run. With two strikes or two outs or leading off an inning, I’ll take my single to right.”

Piazza calls it gravitating to the Ted Williams’ school of hitting: knowing the strike zone, knowing what pitches you can drive, accepting walks and what the pitcher is giving you.

“I’d be the first to admit that I’d love to win a batting title because it would be unique to the position I play, but it’s extremely difficult with Tony Gwynn out there and [Colorado outfielder] Larry Walker having the type year he is in the type lineup he’s in,” Piazza said.

There’s also the drain of his position.

Although Tom Prince provides a reliable defensive alternative and interleague games give Piazza a chance to rest some as a designated hitter, he is still piling up at-bats at a faster rate than most catchers.

“It’s a very physical position, there’s no question about it,” he said. “Every day there’s a new ache and pain, and there’s always the mental strain of being second-guessed on your pitch selection.

“I’ve tended to run out of gas in late August each of the last two years, but I’m also kind of flabbergasted that I’ve been able to hit as well as I have considering the number of games I’ve caught.

“We’ve gone down to the last week in each of those years and I was hoping we’d be able to clinch early enough this year to get some rest before the playoffs, but right now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.”

Clinch early or clinch at all? Piazza didn’t say.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Destination Cooperstown

How Mike Piazza compares to some notable catchers at comparable points in their careers:

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Player AB HR RBI AVG OB% SLG% Piazza 2002 128 409 .326 .388 .559 Johnny Bench 2349 114 387 .271 .323 .476 Yogi Berra 2343 102 459 .299 .347 .498 Roy Campanella 2125 117 421 .287 .370 .510 Gary Carter 1896 75 268 .263 .341 .432 Mickey Cochrane 2204 43 334 .314 .398 .459 Bill Dickey 2206 50 391 .322 .368 .476 Carlton Fisk 1955 88 274 .277 .349 .480 Ted Simmons 2024 39 291 .296 .349 .424 Joe Torre 2253 76 328 .296 .356 .458

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