Estes’ Return to Top Serves as Giant Step

Dusty Baker, amid the glow of spring, was convinced that his San Francisco Giants had five starting pitchers capable of winning 15 games each.

The Giants may fall short of that objective, which is not to say Baker was entirely wrong. In winning 42 of their last 62 games to surge into first place in the National League West, the Giants have displayed the division’s deepest starting pitching and the return to 20-win form of Shawn Estes, who was 19-5 in 1997 and a victim of injuries and inconsistency since. In fact, sidelined for most of spring training by an ailing arm, Estes was the one pitcher Baker seemed hesitant to put into that 15-win mix.

Now, with Livan Hernandez, Kirk Reuter, Mark Gardner, Russ Ortiz and Joe Nathan among his quality options, Baker has seen Estes become the rejuvenated ace. He’s 12-3, with a 7-0 record and five no decisions since June 10, having left each of those five no decisions with a lead. In other words, he might be 17-3 if the bullpen had held the leads.

Is he continuing to improve with each start?

“Where’s the peak?” Estes said. “I’m staying consistent. You can’t really get better every single outing. I’m learning every outing. I’m more consistent this year. There are no lapses every two or three starts. I feel I’m giving Dusty and the team a reason to look forward to every fifth day. It’s not ‘Which Shawn is going to show up today?’ I’m in a great routine. I feel every time I go out there I have the ability to win.”

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Well, Sammy Sosa is now conceding--sort of--that Chicago Cub Manager Don Baylor may have been right, that he needed to get in better shape and strive to become a more complete player.

“It’s good sometimes that people say something [negative] about me because that’s good motivation,” Sosa said this week. “I work harder and get better.”

He has lost 15 pounds since spring training, dropping to 221, and has become the “prototypal right fielder who makes all the plays,” center fielder Damon Buford said. “You can’t ask for more.” Said Sosa: “Maybe I was a little bit overweight. But for the last three or four years my manager was telling me he [only] wanted me to drive in runs and be more productive.”

Productive? The leaner Sosa remains the NL’s home run and runs batted in leader and is determined to fatten up at the Cubs’ expense--the $15-million-a-year contract that Chipper Jones has agreed to being merely a starting point.

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Some see the NL’s rookie race having evolved into a battle of contrasts between Pat Burrell, the Philadelphia Phillies’ power-hitting left fielder, and Rafael Furcal, the Atlanta Braves’ diminutive and speedy shortstop, but that overlooks New York Met center fielder Jay Payton, who has better all-around numbers than either as a major contributor to baseball’s hottest team. The former Georgia Tech teammate of Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek has also traveled the tougher road since his first-round selection in the 1994 draft, having overcome two elbow reconstructions and a shoulder surgery.

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In their bid to hold off the Cincinnati Reds despite the ongoing absence of the injured Mark McGwire, the St. Louis Cardinals have produced the best day record in the NL, going 28-14. Proof they are getting their rest at night?

“No one is getting their rest,” Jim Edmonds said. “These guys are a bunch of nuts. I can’t explain it.”

Well, suggested Manager Tony La Russa tongue in cheek, maybe it’s because of his reverse curfew. “At midnight,” he said, “we make sure nobody’s in their room. We don’t want anybody uptight. We want them nice and relaxed.”