Long gone

Low-scoring games and safe leads are no more, and as home runs continue at a record pace officials and players wonder how to stop the offensive onslaught.

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 23, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- It does not take a genius to figure out what is going on in baseball, although it helps to be a math major.

Offense has taken over the game and turned it into an NBA All-Star affair. The scoring is bombastic, the defense irrelevant and the final minutes are becoming the entire game.

The Astros lost two seven-run leads in four days. Last month, a five-run lead was erased in 20 games, the most for any month in history. May was also the first 1,000-home run month.

On Sunday afternoon, the White Sox scored 17, the Rockies 19 and the Athletics 21. Not to be outdone, the Yankees went out Monday and scored 22. These scores make T-ball games seem conservative.

"I don't know what's going on, but there's a problem here," Devil Rays closer Roberto Hernandez said. "We're seeing guys who never had power before and they're hitting opposite-field home runs on half-swings. That's not baseball."

Actually, for better or worse, that is baseball today.

Home runs may have been chic in the 1990s, but they are almost blase in 2000.

A record 2.28 home runs were hit per game last season and that pace is slow compared with 2000. Through Wednesday, an average of 2.56 home runs are leaving the park every game this season. That is a 61 percent increase from 10 years ago.

"It's becoming ridiculous," Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. "The game comes down to whoever has the last at-bat and then you hold your breath."

How did we get to this point? Mainly because baseball officials wanted it this way.

Ever since the American League posted a collective ERA of 2.98 in 1968, most changes in the game have favored offense. The lowering of the mound, the addition of the designated hitter, the shrinking of the strike zone, the addition of smaller, hitter-friendly ballparks. Baseball correctly surmised that most fans enjoy offense but has it gone overboard?

"Do fans want the game 14-10? I honestly don't believe they do," Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling told ESPN.com. "They want major-league baseball and that ain't major-league baseball."

While it is indisputable that offense and home runs are more prevalent than ever, there is debate over the reasons.

Is it juiced balls? The dilution of pitching? Smaller parks? Stronger hitters? Tiny strike zones?

The answer is yes.

Although it appears offense has exploded in 2000, the game has been heading in this direction for some time. This is critical mass under fitted caps.

"I don't think you can point to any one thing," Rays manager Larry Rothschild said. "There are a lot of reasons it has gotten to this point."

Here are the reasons most often given:

THE JUICED BALL: Baseball's version of the grassy knoll and magic bullet. The favored explanation for the conspiracy buff.

Players have cut balls open and claim the insides are different. The manufacturer maintains the balls are made precisely the same way they've always been.

The rumors grew so loud this season, MLB vice president Sandy Alderson flew to Costa Rica to inspect the factory where the balls are made and came back to say nothing was amiss. A study concluded this week by the Baseball Research Center at the University of Massachusetts suggested this year's balls were lively, but within MLB's specifications.

Try telling that to the guy with the 8.63 ERA.

No evidence suggests MLB has purposefully altered balls to create more offense, but enough people in the game are talking about it to raise doubts.

The popular opinion is that balls are somewhat harder. And the suspicion is that because balls are no longer hand stitched, machines are stretching them harder and tighter.

"I'm asking the umpire to change balls, not because they're scuffed but because I'm trying to find one that I can feel the seams. You get a new ball, you think, "Damn, this doesn't feel right,' " said Hernandez, the Rays closer.

"You used to be able to squeeze a ball and make a little ripple. Now you can't do crap. I used to sit in the bullpen and raise the seam a little with my fingernail. I'm breaking them now. I got crazy glue on my fingernail."

DILUTION OF PITCHING: Ever since Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961 -- the year baseball went from 16 to 18 teams -- expansion has been blamed for a shortage of pitching.

There are now 30 teams and, more than ever before, pitching has been stretched thin.

Where this comes into play is the ninth, 10th and 11th pitchers on a staff. These are the pitchers with ERAs of 6.50. These are the pitchers giving up multiple home runs.

"There are so many guys being rushed up here who have no idea how to pitch, how to set up hitters. They throw 95 mph but have no command of their pitches," Oakland reliever Doug Jones said.

"A hitter doesn't expect to have a good day against the guys who know what they're doing. They go 1-for-4 against a good pitcher, and they tip their cap to them. It's the next day, when they get some guy who doesn't have a clue, that they're going to get their hits and home runs."

WEIGHT TRAINING: Sluggers used to be big and powerful like Babe Ruth, Ted Kluszewski, Frank Howard and Harmon Killebrew. Now Miguel Tejada, a 188-pound shortstop, is a 20-homer guy.

For many hitters, part of their daily routine is spending 30-60 minutes working out in a weight room after the game. Nutritional supplements sit on the top shelf of most lockers. Players are built stronger and have developed quicker bat speed.

"It's not like the old times when players spent the winter working other jobs to make extra money," Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said. "Now you spend the entire off-season working out to get stronger and get ready for the next year. Just about everyone is doing it."

So why doesn't the same theory apply to pitchers?

Because extra bulk is detrimental to a pitcher.

"The hitters can spend time in the weight room every day. My guys can't do that. There are only so many pitches you can throw," Rangers pitching coach Dick Bosman said. "There's a growing gap there."

SMALLER BALLPARKS: Houston moved this season from the Astrodome, a pitcher's park for 35 years, to Enron Field. Houston pitchers gave up 53 homers at the Astrodome last year. They have given up 58 this year and are on pace for 142.

This is not an isolated case. Camden Yards in Baltimore, Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Pac Bell Park in San Francisco are all considered to have hitter-friendly designs. That does not even include the thin air factor in Colorado.

Enron is 315 feet down the leftfield line. Pac Bell is 307 down the rightfield line. High school fields have deeper fences.

"Ballparks are built for home runs. That makes a huge difference in the game," Rockies first baseman Todd Helton said. "You see a lot of guys get to the major leagues and show more power than they did in the minors. A lot of that is because the ballparks are so much nicer for hitters in the majors."

There are other theories. For instance, the strike zone called by most umpires bears little resemblance to the rule book. High strikes are a myth. Hitters are also swinging from the heels for home runs and couldn't care less about their high strikeout totals. That's because power hitters make the big bucks.

So where does it all end? Does offense continue to grow exponentially?

Probably not. Baseball officials already are making gestures to get run-scoring under control. An experiment to raise the mound is planned for rookie leagues this season. The investigation into the production of baseballs indicates a recognition of the problem the game is facing.

Still, do not expect a return to the dead-ball era.

Home runs helped revive interest in the game after the labor strife of 1994 and are still the highlight of choice today.

It is not just chicks who dig the long ball -- America does too.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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