Sax Knows the Throws of Agony

He is not a psychologist, but he has been there, done that, and Steve Sax knows what Chuck Knoblauch is experiencing.

“He’s going through exactly the same thing I went through,” the former Dodger second baseman was saying Friday about the New York Yankee second baseman. “It’s a classic case of a guy with a mental block and a loss of confidence.”

The World Series between the Yankees and Atlanta Braves opens tonight with Knoblauch in his customary role of leadoff hitter and second baseman, and Sax in his comparatively new role of TV reporter-commentator for Fox.

No one is more familiar with the infection that Knoblauch came down with this season. Just two years after winning the Gold Glove, symbolic of his fielding brilliance, Knoblauch made 26 errors, the most by a Yankee second baseman since George Stirnweiss made 29 in 1945. Most were on routine throws to first base, causing Sax, as an observer, to shudder.

It will be recalled--particularly by those unfortunate to have been sitting behind first base--that Sax made 30 errors in 1983, most on similarly routine throws. It was a siege that began without warning early that year and which he ultimately overcame, although not before he considered quitting.

“I remember walking into the clubhouse in San Diego, slamming my glove into the locker and seriously considering quitting at something for the only time in my life,” he said.

“I mean, it was almost like I was a prisoner to it. I’d wake up with it, go to bed with it and feel it in my stomach when I ate.

“Everybody made fun of me. I was the laughingstock of the league, but the tune changed when I led [American League second baseman] in fielding in two of the three years I was with the Yankees [whom he joined as a free agent in 1989].”

Knoblauch does not seem similarly burdened--or at least he is trying to put his best face on a problem that obviously concerns the Yankees.

After meeting with Knoblauch during the American League championship series in Boston, Manager Joe Torre used Luis Sojo for defensive purposes in the final two innings of the final game and indicated he would stick with that program in any World Series game that the Yankees led. However, Sojo’s father died Thursday in New Jersey, and the veteran utility man has left the team to help his family accompany the body to their homeland of Venezuela.

Both the Yankees and Braves have to submit their Series rosters before the start of tonight’s game. The Yankees were trying to determine Friday how many games Sojo might miss. If it’s only the opener, they will probably leave a spot open for him as Knoblauch’s late-inning replacement. If it appears he will miss two or more, however, they will replace him with another eligible player and “in all likelihood,” Torre said, stay with Knoblauch in the late innings.

“Chuck has made it easy to do what we have to do,” Torre said, applauding his second baseman’s attitude.

Said Knoblauch, “They could play [outfielder] Shane Spencer for me as long as we win the game. I have my pride and I’d like to be out there for nine innings, but there’s no way I can be insulted by Joe Torre. I mean, that’s how much respect I have for Joe Torre and for the Yankees.”

Torre decided on the Sojo strategy after watching Knoblauch make another throwing error in Game 3 of the ALCS.

The manager said Friday he does not see a “scared or nervous” player but continues to believe that Knoblauch--who is eight for 30 at the plate in postseason play--has a problem with his shoulder.

Knoblauch disputes that but isn’t burying his head. He acknowledges that his errant throws have become a problem that will have to be dealt with, probably when the season is over.

He is open to anything he said, suggesting, perhaps, hypnosis or counseling with a sports psychologist such as Harvey Dorfman, who has worked with several major league teams.

“We’re going to have to find something,” he said. “I don’t think you can just flip the switch and hope it goes away tomorrow. I mean, I go out there with confidence every night, hoping this is the night I work through it, but it hasn’t happened. It’s definitely not physical, so it has to be mental. Hopefully, we can correct it so that I can come back next year and it doesn’t come up again.”

That Knoblauch recognizes the problem and is prepared to do something about it is paramount, said Sax, putting it this way:

“The worst thing anyone can do is to say, ‘Let it run its course.’ That’s not the answer. You have to admit there’s a problem and work at it.”

For Sax, one error led to another, and “before I knew it I was on my way.” Fans wrote to suggest everything from snake oil to throwing the ball away on purpose as a means of exorcising the demons. The Dodgers brought him out in midafternoon, blindfolded him with a sanitary sock, and had him throw to first base.

“I was 10 for 10 blindfolded, then the game would start and I’d start missing again,” he said. “My confidence was shot, but eventually it was just a matter of going back to Square 1 and practicing over and over until it became second nature again. The important thing was that Tommy [Lasorda] kept me in the lineup and continued to have confidence in me.

“A lot of guys have gone through it. I mean, it obviously ruined the career of Mark Wohlers. Dale Murphy had to change positions twice. Dave Engle, a catcher, went through it. Mackey Sasser had trouble throwing from the plate to the mound. Chuck’s a fighter and scrapper. There’s nothing wrong with his arm. I’d bet on him to overcome this.”

There may be nothing wrong with his arm, but Knoblauch’s mechanics are clearly askew. His throwing motion is seldom the same. Sax saw the same freeze frame during the ALCS that most viewers did. It caught Knoblauch looking up at his hand as he released the ball, rather than at his target of first base.

“He’s guiding it, trying to direct it like you would a dart, rather than letting go free and easy,” said Sax, who added that he would be willing to talk with Knoblauch except that he didn’t want to intrude and that “he has one of the best second basemen ever on the Yankee staff in Willie Randolph.”

Knoblauch was asked about Sax and said he looked around for the former second baseman during Friday’s workout at Turner Field, implying he might like to talk.

Torre, however, looked askance when it was suggested that Knoblauch might benefit from talking to Sax, as if that would be a double negative.

“Would I ask Steve Blass [whose control problems ended his career] to talk to my pitchers?” he said.

Sax, who retired after the 1994 season, rebounded from his 1983 debacle and is confident Knoblauch will.

So is Knoblauch, who has not let it affect his hitting and says, “It isn’t in me to mope.”

He knows, however, this is an issue and that he will have to cope “with the annoyance of all the attention during the Series. I throw one ball away and it’s like my life is coming to an end and that’s not the case.”

One ball? There have been many, of course. Steve Sax can empathize and offer encouragement from a distance.