Loose Lip May Sink Bowden’s Ship

Quick and decisive has never been a baseball theme, but credit needs to be given where it is due:

* Commissioner Bud Selig acted quickly, punitively and correctly in fining Cincinnati General Manager Jim Bowden a reported $50,000--which sources in Ohio insisted the club will not pay on his behalf--for exhibiting that Riverfront malady known as Marge Schott Mouth.

Bowden has been imaginative and resourceful in keeping the revenue-restricted Reds in contention during his 10 years as GM, but his honesty and credibility have been hammered by former coaches and players, and he has a tendency to talk without thinking, as illustrated again by the callous and insensitive remarks that drew Selig’s wrath.

Bowden apologized, but speculation continued throughout baseball Saturday about his job status.

“If Al Campanis can be

fired ...” said longtime Reds’ broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, a reference to the Dodgers’ dismissal of their former general manager for his infamous and insensitive remarks about African Americans on the television show “Nightline.”

Bowden said that if the players are dumb enough to strike they ought to pick Sept. 11 as a symbolic date and “let [union leader] Donald Fehr drive the plane right into the building.”

No one could be so mindless as to not realize the firestorm those remarks would create, but then it fits a pattern of embarrassing incidents too long to chronicle.

It is enough, perhaps, to recall that mild-mannered Jeff Shaw, claiming Bowden violated a handshake agreement not to trade him when he was dealt to the Dodgers, said, “If I had been in a room with him, I would have killed him”; that former coach Ron Oester, believing Bowden had misled him and maneuvered him out of a chance to manage the team, called him “one of the worst people in the world,” and that infielder Pokey Reese, still with the team last year and contending Bowden had maliciously spread a rumor that he and Sean Casey had turned down contract offers, said, “All Jim Bowden has to do is open his mouth and you know he’s lying.”

* Ralph Nelson, baseball’s vice president of umpiring, acted with similar quickness and correctness in 1) recommending to dean of discipline Bob Watson that he not fine or suspend Dodger closer Eric Gagne and 2) acknowledging that umpire Dan Iassogna had misread the situation in which he concluded that Gagne had intentionally hit Cincinnati’s Adam Dunn with a pitch and ejected the pitcher from a game the Dodgers lost, 6-4, in 13 innings.

Although Iassogna is not on the full-time staff, he has umpired more than 400 major league games and is widely respected for his ball-and-strike work. The rule, however, forces every umpire to put himself in the pitcher’s head in determining intent, and Iassogna had earlier been reprimanded for not doing enough in a May 5 game between Boston and Tampa Bay in which three players were hit by pitches.

He didn’t do enough that time and overreacted this time. Hard to have it both ways. The rule needs to be addressed.

* Bill Stoneman, the Angels’ general manager, also made a quick and wise decision in extending Darin Erstad’s contract for four years. Erstad was eligible for free agency, and the issue might have become a distraction down the stretch. Erstad may never totally recapture his .355, 240-hit form of two years ago, but he sets the aggressive tone and is clearly the leader--whether it’s with a whisper and an arm around Ramon Ortiz on the day following a tough loss or with a more biting comment in a team meeting. The former Nebraska punter has become the Anaheim quarterback.

A Sheff Shot?

Gary Sheffield could have had the Dodgers and their pre-deadline trades in mind when he reflected on the Atlanta Braves’ decision to stand pat and said:

“We’re in a great position. Put us in a [postseason] series and all we have to do is be ourselves. Me, Chipper [Jones], Andruw [Jones], the meat of our order. That’s what it takes, three guys to come together. When it really counts is in the playoffs. We’re not looking at it like a lot of these teams making moves to try to reach the playoffs, win a wild card. Our goal is to win the World Series.”

Said GM John Schuerholz: “We didn’t think there’s a piece missing. In fact, it might have been more damaging to chemistry to have added a piece.”

Going Off

Former Boston general manager Dan Duquette stunned peers (and certainly former Dodger manager Tom Lasorda) with his four-year, $26-million signing of Jose Offerman in 1999, ostensibly to replace Mo Vaughn. What ensued was that the defensively deficient and offensively inconsistent Offerman often seemed to think he was owed even more than his bimonthly paychecks. The situation that led to his release and ensuing tirade at reporters and interim General Manager Mike Port, the final straw in a series of straws, came Monday night in Anaheim when he refused to pinch-run in the ninth inning of a loss to the Angels.

Said Port, talking about Offerman’s four-year decline: “That is somewhat the risk of multiyear contracts. It’s going to go one of two ways. Either a guy is going to be appreciative of and comfortable with the security and go out and play with abandon, or he will take a downturn in performance.”

Port didn’t have to specify the course that Offerman took.

Not Encouraging

Referring to the fact that he has been on the disabled list 11 times since 1994, new Dodger reliever Paul Shuey says, “I’m not the most genetically sound pitcher.”

Oh well, he’s owed only $6.5 million over the next two years.