Trying to Handle Family Matters

Todd Stottlemyre was asked what the dinner conversation would be like Monday night when the Texas Ranger right-hander sat down to break bread with his father, Mel Stottlemyre, the New York Yankees’ pitching coach.

“We’re going on a hunting trip in November, making plans for Christmas, I’m in the market for a boat and he’s a big fisherman . . .” said Stottlemyre, who will oppose left-hander David Wells in Game 1 of the American League division series tonight at Yankee Stadium.

“Those aren’t the answers you’re looking for.”

No, Stottlemyre didn’t have to major in journalism to figure that out. Opening the playoffs against a team that won 114 games and is considered one of the best in baseball history would be enough pressure for any pitcher.

But what about having your own father, a former major leaguer who taught you almost everything you know about pitching, the guy you shagged balls with as a kid during batting practice in Yankee Stadium, the one who brought Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer on family fishing trips and to barbecues, in the other dugout?

“Man, it’s going to be a little goofy--I get goose bumps just thinking about it,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said. “What must be going through their minds? Mel must be proud, but he’s got to have mixed emotions with Todd on the mound. And we all like to impress our dads.”

If it were his son pitching for the Yankees tonight, could Oates root against him?

“I don’t know if you can do that,” Oates said. “If I’m Mel, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Maybe Todd can pitch well and we win.’ I loved the way [Yankee Manager] Joe Torre handled it last time, when he reminded Mel to tell Todd’s mom where the paychecks are coming from.”

Last time didn’t go too well for father or son. Todd Stottlemyre gave up five runs on nine hits and walked six in six innings in New York on Aug. 15, but the Rangers bombed the Yankees, 16-5, and he got the win.

“That was an emotional day, the first time we’ve shared a professional field,” Todd said. “I felt a little awkward because so much of the focus was on our family day instead of the real task at hand, the Rangers fighting for the West title.

“It was a special moment that I will cherish forever, but I’m glad we cleared that hurdle and I’m ready move on.”

So is his father, who treated the topic Monday like a vicious liner heading straight for his head--he just wanted to deflect it. “I’ll talk about anything but Todd,” Mel Stottlemyre said. “We went through all that before. You might as well turn the page.”

Chapter 1 caused much heartbreak for Mel Stottlemyre.

“It’s a day I should have just stayed home,” he told reporters after that game Aug. 15. “Watching my son struggle and our guys struggle was really difficult. It was a tough day on me overall.”

That entire month was a struggle for Todd Stottlemyre, who went 3-3 with a 6.53 earned-run average in his first six starts for Texas after being traded by St. Louis on July 31.

But Stottlemyre found a groove when the Rangers needed it most, giving up one run on 12 hits in 15 innings of two critical victories over the Angels on Sept. 16 and 21, leading Texas to the division title.

“Todd is mentally tough, and he pitches well in big games,” Yankee right fielder Paul O’Neill said. “I’m sure he got a lot of that growing up with Mel.”

He will have his work cut out for him tonight against a balanced lineup that has no weakness--Scott Brosius, New York’s No. 9 hitter, batted .300 with 19 homers and 98 RBIs this season, and four other players, O’Neill, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez, will probably all get most valuable player votes.

The Yankees finished with the best record in American League history but won’t be satisfied unless they push their victory total to 125.

Could there be added pressure, knowing that anything short of a World Series championship would be considered a disappointment? The 1906 Chicago Cubs won a record 116 games, and the 1954 Cleveland Indians won 111 games, but neither won the World Series.

“Sometimes you’re defined by the postseason, and you have to do well in the playoffs to be remembered,” Yankee pitcher David Cone said. “ . . . But we expect to go to the World Series in spring training, regardless of how many games we win. There’s always pressure here. We want to finish it off.”

There has also been speculation that because New York clinched the East Division title so early--it was Sept. 9--and ran virtually unopposed all season, the Yankees may have trouble adjusting to a pressure-packed playoff atmosphere. But a seven-game winning streak to end the season might have allayed those fears. “What are you supposed to do, not win games so you don’t clinch until the last week?” Torre said. “I don’t buy into that. The more wins you have, the more confidence you have that you’re going to win more.”

Another theory: The Yankees may be more vulnerable in a five-game series.

“A short series is Russian roulette, but it is for the other team, too,” Torre said. “Just because we’re favored doesn’t mean the Rangers don’t expect to win. We were underdogs in 1996, and we won the World Series.”