Something Is Definitely in St. Louis Air

Tim Flannery, the San Diego Padre third base coach, has this theory about the home run onslaught. Flannery figures it has something to do with the environment. Maybe the acid rain, he says, has hardened the wood of the bats.

“Or it’s a hole in the ozone layer, which must rotate to St. Louis,” he said. “We can find out now where the hole in the ozone layer is just by looking at the box scores.”

St. Louis, of course, is a good place to start.

The Cardinals hit successive homers for the 13th time Wednesday night, are on a pace to hit a major league record 330 and remain energized, naturally, by Mark McGwire, who requires no ozone hole or layer since he’s in his own galaxy. McGwire hit his 20th homer Wednesday night in his 35th game, the fastest to reach that milestone.

He started the season averaging a homer every 10.83 at-bats, the all-time best, but he is far outdoing that through the first quarter of this season. He is averaging a homer every 5.8 at-bats this season, projecting to 86 over a season of 500 at-bats.

McGwire already has passed Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle on the career homer list this season and is six behind Mike Schmidt, who is in seventh place.

Said Florida Marlin Manager John Boles, whose team was the victim of No. 20: “If I lived in St. Louis, I’d buy four season tickets--for the family, the dog, everybody, just to see this guy. He’s the greatest power hitter in the history of the industry. In the 100 or so years they’ve played this game, nobody’s had an impact like him. He dwarfs everybody.”

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All of the homer-happy Cardinals have received a lift from the addition of former Angel Jim Edmonds, who is hitting .381 despite 57 strikeouts in 160 at-bats--which meant that when he made contact, Edmonds was 61 for 103, a .592 average.

“It just shows what a beautiful stroke he has when he makes contact,” Manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s still learning the pitchers in this league.”

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Ken Griffey Jr. left Dodger Stadium Wednesday night with 44 walks in 47 games, projecting to a career-high 150, which would shatter Joe Morgan’s 1975 Cincinnati record of 132.

As Dante Bichette heats up behind him, Griffey’s pace may decrease, but he said, “I’m not going to swing at bad pitches. That’s what I did the first week of the season and got myself in a hole.”

He also sighed and smiled after a typical two-walk game Tuesday night and said, “They talk about speeding up the game. Well, I just wish they’d let me go right from the on-deck circle to first base. That would knock two or three minutes off every game.”

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Houston Astro General Manager Jerry Hunsicker said bluntly that he applauded the suspension of 19 Dodgers for their confrontation with fans at Wrigley Field and the overall toughening of field discipline.

“We’ve given away so many things in our game, we’ve become so lenient and lax, that I applaud the effort to clean things up and make a statement,” Hunsicker said. “If there’s zero tolerance for players going into the stands or fighting between teams, I think it was needed. I mean, the previous system of fines and suspensions was meaningless. There was basically no control over the players, no discipline.

“Regardless, I would also say we can all do a better job of providing security in our stadiums. That should be a priority on every team’s agenda.”