They Can’t Win One With the Bipper

After much deliberation, Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove decided to stick with regular starter Bip Roberts at second base for Game 1, leaving American League championship series hero Tony Fernandez on the bench.

Asked if he was surprised, Fernandez said, “No, nothing surprises me after that last game.”

Fernandez homered in the 11th inning to lift Cleveland to a 1-0 victory over Baltimore in the pennant clincher Wednesday, but he was in the lineup only because he hit a batting-practice line drive off Roberts’ left thumb, injuring him enough that he could not start.

“Bip is not a defensive liability . . . but I’ve got him in there because of his offensive capabilities,” Hargrove said. “If I don’t have Bip in the lineup, we don’t have a true leadoff hitter. That’s the reason we acquired Bip [from Kansas City] in the first place.”

Roberts hit only .150 in the league championship series, but he rewarded Hargrove with doubles in his first two at-bats Saturday, scoring the Indians’ first run in the first inning.

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Cleveland right-hander Jaret Wright, who won two division series games, will have a reduced role in the World Series.

Hargrove said Wright, who was bombed for five runs and six hits in three innings of Game 4 in the league championship series, will start Game 4 against the Marlins, following Chad Ogea in Game 2 and Charles Nagy in Game 3.

“We designed it this way because we’re not sure how much Jaret has left in his tank,” Hargrove said. “This is the longest he’s pitched in his career, the most innings he’s pitched, the first time he’s pitched in the postseason. . . .

“We feel this gives us the best possible people to pitch late in the series.”

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John Seidler, a 27-year-old from Riverside who was working as an intern for the baseball commissioner’s office, was killed when he fell from a 12th-floor hotel balcony in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It was the second World Series-related death in two days.

Police told the Associated Press it appeared Seidler’s death was an accident, but an investigation continues.

Seidler, who worked in baseball’s special events office, was a graduate student at Springfield (Mass.) College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from UC Riverside, and on his employment application, he wrote that it was his “lifelong dream to be in baseball.”

On Friday, a man who wanted to display a “Go Marlins” banner was killed when a driverless car rolled into him on a downtown Miami railroad loop.

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Marlin Manager Jim Leyland has paid his dues, spending 18 years in the minor leagues as a player, coach and manager.

Leyland, considered among the game’s best strategists, said his time in the minors helped him to become the manager he is today.

“That’s where you find out what the game is about,” Leyland said. “That’s where you learn how to handle different situations and you find out what you’re made of.”

Leyland said that his career should provide inspiration to every minor league manager toiling in Smalltown U.S.A.

“This is for all those managers riding buses all over the place,” Leyland said of his appearance in the World Series. “This is for all those guys that are bouncing around the instructional leagues or are in winter ball. This should show them all that they have a chance to make it too.”

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Leyland’s home will be packed with relatives and friends during the games played in Miami.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know who the hell is staying at my house,” Leyland joked. “All I know is that my wife went out and rented eight beds the other day.

“The doorbell has been ringing nonstop for the past few days. I guess my home is going to be like a dormitory, but it’s going to be coed.”

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Marlin third baseman Bobby Bonilla said he had been inspired by a phone call from longtime friend and former teammate Barry Bonds.

“B.B. called me and he was screaming,” Bonilla said of Bonds.

“He told me it was about time I [reached the World Series], and we talked about a lot of things. I guess I’m going to have to get him a real nice wedding gift now.”