The Athletics have met steady resistance from the city council, which has thrown several obstacles in the way of the rebuilding of Shibe Park. The Athletics ownership had to go to court to get the council's refusal for planning permission overturned. When challenged by the Philadelphia Enquirer concerning allegations that the council was "in Gambino's pocket," John Gotti retorted, "we don't use no strong-armed tactics with the council. They're their own men." The newspaper has contested this claim by noting the close connections between several councillors to 
Gambino interests, as well as the particularly unusual behavior of the city's Contracting Services department, which has outsourced the overwhelming bulk of the city's refuse collection, construction and water contracts to Gambino-owned firms. Such close connections date back to the days of Frank Rizzo's first mayoral administration. That the Gambino ownership was gravely concerned about the impact of a second team became evident with the immediate slashing of ticket prices and a 
sharp reduction in subscription rates for the Phillies' flagship cable channel, Luigi Sports.  

It was in this atmosphere of haste that opening day commenced against a new team to the MBL, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Despite many promises to the contrary, Manager Al Newman's squad was reminiscent of the Phillies of old, dropping the series three games to one. All of the games were decided by one run, however. Mickey Morandini, who stole the 2B job from Fernando Vina during spring training, led the Phils' attack with six hits and a stolen base for the series. Despite getting tagged with a loss, SP Denny Neagle fanned nine in his inaugural performance. RF 
Orlando Merced sought to defend his position in RF with an excellent defensive performance. 

The team then boarded a plane for Anaheim to take on the Angels. Newman's boys appeared to appreciate the warmer weather, as they took the series three games to one. New acquisition CF Quinton McCracken recorded seven hits with a round-tripper. RP Jeff Shaw, who was not so surprisingly installed as closer in the wake of Dan Plesac's self- 
immolation in that role last year, emerged with three saves for the series without surrendering a run. Having taken over the reins at shortstop from Chris Gomez during spring training, Kevin Stocker demonstrated excellent defense. 

It was back to Philadelphia for four games against the World Champion Atlanta Braves. The first game saw the Phils' first promotional effort of the season, "Dr Who Day." The Phillies displayed the imagination of daleks, however, when they dropped three of four to the visitors in a series in which none of the games were close. Refuting allegations that he was awarded a starting position because of his Italian heritage, 
Morandini once again turned in a six-hit performance, and added a pair of doubles to his seasonal tallies. RP Bobby Ayala pitched well in the series, making three appearances without surrendering a run and notching five strikeouts. Stocker again turned in an excellent defensive performance. 

The Phillies then took a city bus across town to the recently 
resurrected Shibe Park. In a series that was sold out from beginning to end and dubbed the "Battle of the Bell" (the winner would receive a styrofoam replica of the Liberty Bell), the team proved who was master of Philadelphia by taking three of four from the "upstart" Athletics. After the series, a jubilant Gotti noted from prison, "They come into our town. They insult my name and my family. Next time it's gonna get a lot f***ing bloodier than this." Stocker trampled Athletics' pitching with six hits and three RBI. Shaw again picked up a trio of saves without giving up a run. Newly acquired C Jesse Levis proved his defensive worth, and earned the praises of the starting staff with his excellent pitch calls. 

It was back to the Vet to host the Montreal Expos, who appear to be bashing their way to a pennant this year. Phils' pitchers more often than not successfully evaded the dangerous hitting trio of Bonds-Walker- Galarraga in managing a series split. Chad Curtis' hitting performance (8-15, one home run and a stolen base) showed that the CF job did not entirely belong to McCracken. Neagle continued his form as the team's ace, garnering his fourth win with an eight-inning, nine-hit, nine-K 
performance. Levis once again proved his defensive worth behind the plate. 

HIT LIST: The Phillies coaching staff this season is the same as for last season: Al Newman, manager; Don Baylor, "hitting" coach, Dana Kiecker, pitching coach; Wallace Johnson, third base coach; Scott Bradley, first base coach...Shaw's seven saves put him on a pace to set the team's single-season save record...GM Ray Luca has remained silent on the team's tactics for divisional rivals Boston, Florida, Houston and Washington. 

Mike Piazza is off to his usual start.  He is hitting over ..360.  In 
his first full season with the Dodgers, Gary Sheffield is also starring in right field.  Batting at a .333 clip, Sheffield is getting on base almost 50 percent of the time while leading the team in home runs.  

The Dodgers are surprisingly weak on the mound early on.  David Cone has been the only consistent starter.  The rest of the staff is wearing out the relief corps.  T.J. Mathews and  Darren Dreifort both have ERAs over seven.  Although he hasn’t had many save opportunities, John Wetteland seems to be a bit more comfortable with Todd Worrell retiring.  

In the front office, the Dodgers have announced the hiring of a GM.  The MHLs Colorado Avalanche head coach, Homer Simpson, will take the reigns after their quest for the cup.  Owner Bob Biermann explains his hiring. 

"We are in situation that we cannot go without a GM anymore.  I can’t handle the job anymore now that I had to take the commissionership back.  I really wish Buchanan would  have kept the job. We should have known better than to trust a UVA grad with the job.  He was too damn worried about raping us for Pedro Martinez.  He gives us a broken down reliever and a head case of a starter for Pedro and my wifes favorite player."  Rumor has it that there is a life time supply of doughnuts written into Simpson’s contract that is taken away if the Red Sox are able to land Roger Clemens from the Orioles. 

Marge Simpson, Homer's wife, has also been hired by the club.  She has been brought on as the team mascot.  She is perfect for the job with here Dodger blue hair tower.  She hasn’t been a hit yet.  Everywhere she goes she gets bombarded with beer and Dodger dogs.  Seems no one can see over here five foot high hairdo. 

Shan never had the thrill of watching Willie Mays catch a fly ball or Sandy Koufax shut out the mighty Minnesota Twins (Killebrew, Oliva, Allison, et al) in the seventh game of the World Series on two days rest without his curveball, blowing fastball after fastball by these great hitters on that glorious October Wednesday 33 years ago. Greg Maddux, you are a great pitcher, but Sandy still holds us in awe. 

So, we of those who grew up reading Baseball Abstracts may forget how truly great Bill James was. I miss him. I recently read a book titled ‘Baseball Prospectus’ (available from Amazon.com, ‘natch). It is a very good book in the same tradition of Bill James, and my first thought for my first article upon my return was to review that book. But then, I said, it would be futile to compare Baseball Prospectus with Bill’s work when people in the league may not have read Bill. So, I opted to present one of Bill’s best essays on the subject. Forgive me, but I felt that recounting this article would be good for all of us. Reminding those of us who were there what it was like to read Bill, and possibly acting as a guide for those of use who weren’t. It is from the 1984 Baseball Abstract. 

Inside-Out Perspective

Inside looks, inside glimpses, inside locker rooms and inside blimpses; within months we shall have seen the inside of everything that one can get inside of without a doctor's help, and now that I think about that I remember seeing a sample copy of a Las Vegas tout sheet that featured an "Inside Medical Report." In the collapse of the original "Inside Sports," perhaps the nickname shattered and the shards landed across the horizon. 

What has really happened, of course, is that the walls between the public and the participants of sports are growing higher and higher and thicker and darker, and the media is developing a sense of desperation about the whole thing. It is easier to ape Steve Carlton's example in how to deal with a reporter than it is to mimic his dedication to excellence, so every day more players become unapproachable; the simple expectation of being able to communicate with the inside is decaying. 

Silence, though, is but the ultimate weapon, the last line of defense. The first line of defense is the cliche: How do you feel today Jim I'm optimistic I've always had good luck against Lefty Grove what did he throw you that you hit into the seats I think it was a breaking pitch that didn't break is this the biggest day of your life no this is just the first step we still have to win the series has Willie helped the team Willie has added a dimension to the team that we didn't have before and how about Frank Frank has adapted to his role well and hasn't complained at all about not being used more why did you fire Charlie I've the greatest respect for Charlie but sometimes a change just has to be made and we were just happy Billy was available why did you sign this yoyo he's a winner and a gamer and you can throw away his batting average when the game is on the line. 

Cliches are the soldiers of ignorance, and an army of sentries encircles the game, guarding every situation from which a glimmer of fresh truth might be allowed to escape. An occasional player -- a George Hendick here, an Amos Otis there -- can never learn to command the cliche, thus is forced to keep silence, unless he choose to see embarrassing revelations about himself splattered in ink. Players used to have public nicknames, wild things like Circus Solly and affectionate names like Sunny Jim and Unser Choe (Our Joe) and media handles like the Commerce Comet and the Donora Greyhound. Now the big thing is to have private nicknames. The players invent them and use them and then the reporters make a game of trying to overhear them and find out where they come from and reveal them to the public; once revealed, they evaporate, for their only purpose is to separate us from them, to designate in code the speaker and the one spoken to as true insiders.  

This is outside baseball. This is a book about what baseball looks like if you step back from it and study it intensely and minutely, but from a distance.  

You know the expression about not being able to see the forest for the trees? Let's use that. What are the differences between the way a forest looks when you are inside the forest and the way it looks from the outside?  

The first thing is, the insider has a much better view of the details. He knows what the moss looks like, how light it grows around the base of an oak and how thickly it will cling to a sycamore. He knows the smells in the air and the tracks on the ground; he can guess the age of a redbud by peeling off a layer of bark. The outsider doesn't know any of that.  

To a person who sees the image of anything as being only the sum of its details, to a person who can conceive of the whole of anything only by remembering this event and that event and piecing them together in a succession of images; such a person is likely to look at the Baseball Abstract and say, 

"What is this? This isn't BASEBALL. This guy James doesn't know anything about the chatter bouncing off the dugout walls, nor about the glint in the eye of a superstar, nor about routines and integral boredom of baseball's lifestyle, with which each player great and small must content." 

No sir, indeed I don't. There will be in this book no new tales about the things that happen on a team flight, no sudden revelations about the way that drugs and sex and money can ruin a championship team. I can't tell you what a locker room smells like, praise the Lord. 

But perspective can only be gained when details are lost. A sense of the size of everything and the relationship between everything -- this can never be put together from details. For the most essential fact of a forest is this: The forest itself is immensely larger than anything inside of it. That is why, of course, you can't see the forest for the trees; each detail, in proportion to its size and your proximity to it, obscures a thousand or a million other details.  

But it is not obvious that that is also the one most essential fact of a pennant race -- the size of it, the enormity of it, the face that no one, no matter how hard he tries, can take in an appreciable portion of the details of any one race? Consider a single moment in a pennant race, a July moment in a minor game against a meaningless team, but a moment in which a ball is hit very hard but caught by an outfielder who is standing in the right place, but before it is caught it must be hit, and before it is hit it must be thrown, and before it is thrown this pitch must be selected, and this pitcher must be selected, and this batter must be selected, and there are reasons why he was selected to throw and why he was selected to hit, and there are reasons why this pitch was selected and why it was thrown this way and why it was swung at and why it was hit and why, finally, the outfielder chanced to be in the right place, so that in the single moment of a pennant race, there is a complexity that surpasses any understanding. 

A game consists of dozens of batters and hundreds of pitches, and a season for one team consists of hundreds of games, and the league consists of a dozen or more teams. And how many details can you think about, to add up to a pennant race in your mind?  

Is it not obvious, then, that it is only in stepping away from the pennant race that we can develop a vision of it? No one could remember at any one time a significant portion of the at bats that Mike Fischlin has in a season -- even Mike Fischlin's wife. How then, remember the season?  

That is why statistics have such a place in baseball. Statistics look at games by the hundreds, and without the details. And that is why everyone who is a baseball fan -- everyone, everyone, everyone -- reads the statistics, studies the statistics and believes what he sees in the statistics. Without them, it is impossible to have any concept of the game, save for meaningless details floating in space. 

Let's talk specifics. What, specifically, can you see from the outside the forest that you could never see from the inside of it?  

For one thing, you can map the terrain. Let us consider the players, the main component of the game, to be as the trees are to the forest. These are cognitive trees, able to see and think and answer questions if they take the notion. Suppose that there is a place in the forest where the ground is a little higher than it is in another place. Insiders, surely, would become aware of this as they trekked from one place to another. 

But when it came time to measure the heights of the trees, how would they ever adjust for this? Can you tell the height of a tree by standing beside it and looking up? No, of course not; it's too big. And can you tell how good a hitter someone is by watching him hit? No, of course not; it's too big. You could tell the biggest trees from the smallest; you could say in many cases that this tree is definitely bigger than that one. 

You could watch Dale Murphy and see quickly that he was a better hitter than Jerry Royster. But you couldn't guess the height of a tall tree when standing beside it within a 20-foot range, even if you stood beside it and looked up at it for a year, and you couldn't guess the batting average of a hitter within a 20-point range by watching him hit, even if you watched him hit for a year. 

To get an idea of how tall the tree is, you must stand back and look at it from a distance. And to get a clear notion of how good a hitter someone is, you must look at him from a distance -- in the records. 

So now you stand back from these trees, get out of the forest, and you see that one of them appears to be the tallest one. But then you remember: Isn't that where the high ground it? Maybe it only appears to be taller because the ground is higher over there. 

Do you see where I'm heading? Let's talk Wade Boggs. Now he appears to be the best hitter in the league. But wait a minute -- isn't that ground a little higher over there? Didn't Fred Lynn appear to be the best hitter in the league when he was playing over there? And when they traded him for Carney Lansford, didn't Lansford appear to be the best hitter in the league in 1981? How much higher is the ground? What is the tallest tree? Who is the best hitter?  

Now if you are a dedicated student of inside baseball, what you do next is, you ask Wade Boggs about it. 

Or if you don't ask Wade Boggs, then you ask Rod Carew, or you ask Freddie Lynn, or you ask one of the other trees. And they naturally are going to give you different opinions on how much difference there is between the ground over here and the ground over there, depending to a large extent on where it is that they are positioned. 

But if you are a student of outside baseball, you take a somewhat different approach. You say, "Damn, this doesn't seem to be that hard to figure out. The average height of a four-year-old walnut tree over here is this, and the average height of a four-year-old walnut over there is that. Do I really have to be a tree in order to figure this out?" 

It is not only that the trees have a vested interest in the subject, and thus they might lie to you or believe what it is in their best interests to believe. The trees really are not, when you think about it, in a very good position to evaluate the issue. I remember when Freddie Lynn went to California, he said he thought he'd hit better out there because he'd be close to his home. Now, he wasn't lying to us. He really thought that. 

The accommodation that he had made to Fenway Park was so subtle that it was subconscious. Remember this: All hitting takes place in the 4/10 of a second between the time the pitcher throws the ball and the time it reached the plate. There isn't an awful lot of thinking going on there; it's mostly reflex. 

As a tree grows its roots in one particular place in the forest, Freddie Lynn grew his roots in Fenway Park. And he learned something there. He learned that when they threw him a fastball on the outside part of the plate, he could slap it to leftfield and the result of that would often be something positive. Success. 

People would cheer for him.  

To him, this has nothing to do with Fenway Park; it has to do with that pitch and that reflex. Only when you get him out of Fenway Park, you can throw him the same pitch and he can execute the same reflexive action (he has, by this time, no choice: he must execute that same reflexive action; he is conditioned to do it).  

Only the result now is failure.  

He was, you see, the ultimate insider of a forest, the tree itself. If he had looked at the question as an outsider, he could not have possibly have been surprised by that failure. I mean, you take a guy who hits .380 in Fenway Park in some years and hits .260 on the road, you've got to figure that if you move him out of Fenway Park he's going to lose some points off the batting average. If you take a 330-foot elm tree and you move it to where the ground is 40 foot lower, you've got to figure it's not going to stick up in the air quite as far -- something more like 290 feet. But Freddie Lynn was surprised by it.  

Another thing about forests is that they are awfully dark sometimes. There are shadows that reach halfway to the moon, there's a lot of underbrush, and there are many strange creatures who live in the forest, or who at the least are reported to live in the forest. Another important difference between inside and outside baseball in that baseball insiders see and report on lots of strange creatures that we can't really see from out where we are. Clutch hitters are a big favorite. 

Several people who have studied the issue from the outside have concluded -- I hesitate to mention this --have concluded that clutch hitters don't exist. Dick Cramer was the first of those, and at the time I didn't think he had much of a point. What are they, then? We say, "The shadows of possums and squirrels, blown up to the size of a bear by poor light." They say, "You idiot; of course they exist. We see them all the time; see their tracks every day." I am much more modest than Cramer; I say merely that I have no idea whether they exist or not.  

You do notice, though, that clutch hitters are always spotted briefly and in poor light. "There's really no way to measure clutch performance," insiders like to say; occasionally some statistics will leak out about batting averages with runners in scoring position, usually based on 100 or 150 at bats, and never systematically available for scrutiny. Brief film clips of clutch hitters blazing through crucial October games are much treasured by the advocates, but then the guy probably doesn't play 30 games in October in his career, or if he does he starts going 2-for-17 in the playoffs, and when you see these clutch hitters in clutch situations during the year, they never seem quite so terrifying. "Bring me the carcass of a single member of the species," we say. "Show me the evidence that there is a single player in all of baseball who consistently and predictably performs over his head in 'game' situations. Name in advance a single player who this year, 1984, will hit just 30 points over his average in the late innings of close games." But when no such evidence is forthcoming, they say, "The forest is dark and deep, and there are many places for a body to decay without being found. We don't need that kind of evidence. We don't need to see statistics on them. We live in the forest with them; we know that they exist." Ah well; when Project Scoresheet is in place, we will answer this once and for all. No need to judge the issue until then. 

So I go to look at the trees, as close as I can get from the outside. I go to baseball games, and (unlike sportswriters, who are there under deadline and thus not free to enjoy the occasion) I love going to baseball games. I go with my wife and friends and stay sober and get as wrapped up in it as I can. 

But this book is not about the things that I see at baseball games with my own eyes, at least not mostly. 

This book has a breadth and scope in its vision of the game that requires a perspective that comes only with distance. It has an honesty in facing certain questions that a reporter, that anyone who is inside the game or even near it, could never afford. It has a sense of balance about all parts of the game about all the parts of the game that could not come from any point within the forest.  

It also has blind spots the size of the World Trade Center with an oak tree growing in every window. 

There are a lot of things that you just can't see from out here, folks. Dedication and leadership and desire and commitment; I see glimpses of all that, but you just can't see those things clearly from the outside, and it's silly to pretend you can.  

I've never said, never thought, that it was better to be an outsider than it was to be an insider, that my view of the game was better than everyone else's. It's different; better in some ways, worse in some ways. What I have said is, since we are outsiders, since the players are going to put up walls to keep us out here, let us use our position as outsiders to what advantage we can. Let us back off from the trees, look at the forest as a whole, and see what we can learn from that. Let us stop pretending to be insiders if we're not. Let us fly over the forest, you and I, and look down; let us measure every tract of land and map out all the groves, and draw in every path that connects each living thing. Let us drive around the edges and photograph each and every tree from a variety of angles and with a variety of lenses; and insiders will be amazed at what we can help them to see. Or maybe they won't; who knows. But anyway, we'll have some fun. Snake oil, $1.95.

“The turnover has been amazing,” noted Dave Wells, the “veteran” of the present staff.  “Since I came over from the Yankees mid-season in 1996, everyone has been traded or released.  I have never seen anything like it.” 

The pitchers that flew to Pittsburgh for opening day against the Pirates featured 5 members acquired via trades: Pedro Martinez (LA, 97), Tom Gordon (Pit, 98), Dave Wells (NYY, 96), Randy Myers (Atl, 97), Ron Mahay (Cin, 98).  Members who had been on the waiver wire include Stan Belinda, Eric Gunderson, and Clint Sodowsky --- all signed by Herzog last season.  Herzog’s draftees on the staff include opening-day starter Scott Erickson (2, 97), Rick Reed (1, 98), and Jim Corsi (7, 98). 

“We have a lot of good arms at Pawtucket,” Red Sox pitching coach Luis Tiant said.  “With Rose, Suppan, Saunders and Woodard, the Pawsox should be able to contend in the International League.” 

Boston’s pitching depth contributed to Herzog’s ability to acquire all-star outfielder Tim Salmon from the Athletics in February.  Although he gave up prospect Carl Pavano along with Brian Anderson and Jeff D’Amico, Herzog was pleased to add Salmon’s presence in the Red Sox lineup. 

“Tim gives us some protection for Mo.  After the Hit Dog finally signed with us, it became apparent that we were vulnerable and needed someone who could hit behind him.  Reggie Jefferson isn’t the answer.” 

The acquisition of Salmon marks a trend among position players similar to the turnover the pitching staff has faced.  Gone are longtime franchise notables Tony Gwynn, Matt Williams and Fred McGriff; instead, New England baseball fans are watching Dave Nilsson, John Valentin (shifted to third) and Mo Vaughn.  Of the opening day lineup, only Valentin played both seasons in San Diego for Herzog. 

“Our team still wears nametags in the locker room,” Valentin joked.  “With Nomar becoming the everyday shortstop and Mike [Lansing] coming in with Mo, our infield is completely different than it was last year.  Only Becker returns in the outfield since Ronnie [Gant] was cut and Tony [Gwynn] was traded.” 

If the Red Sox are to contend, all the pieces will have to gel soon.  Through the first month, the squad was able to post a 14-10 mark behind solid, if unspectacular, pitching.  New acquisition Tom Gordon threw a one-hitter on March 13th against Cincinnati while staff ace Pedro Martinez came within a baserunner of a perfect game in Seattle. The cold New England weather has also cooled Sox bats as the anticipated power the lineup was expected to generate has yet to appear. 

Sox Yarns: The sweep of the defending champion Braves at Fenway Park accounts for Boston’s record four games over .500.  All other series ended in a split. ... Tiant’s emphasis on throwing strikes is paying dividends for the squad.  Through 24 games, Sox hurlers issued only 52 free passes --- slightly over 2 per game.  Pedro Martinez (4-0, 2.08) had a B-K rate of 4-42 through 39 innings. ... Sox basestealers have yet to learn George Scott’s signs, successful on only 11 of 28 attempts.  “We’re going to have some extra classroom sessions,” Scott said.  Tim Salmon was the worst offender with 5 CS in 6 tries. ... Closer Randy Myers was 7-7 in save opportunities. ... The team will take some extra personnel when it travels to Philadelphia March 30th to face the A’s.  “We are aware of the presence of unmentionables in the area,” Herzog observed, “and want to make sure there are no accidents that go against us.” ... St. Louis, Montreal and Anaheim pay April visits to Fenway Park.  Tony Gwynn will be honored in a pre-game ceremony on April 27th for his many years of selfless service to the franchise. 

I really haven't been looking at the other teams' statistics yet. Anybody else getting pitching plumage constantly plucked? Anyone, that is, with pitchers having MLB ERAs in the mid-3.0s, BR/G in the 12-13 range like Hentgen? 

Jays Chatter: 
John Olerud leads the Jays with 7 HRs . . . Orel Hershiser leads the Jays with 11 HRs allowed . . . Jose Hernandez leads the Jays with the highest [unadjusted for PAs] slugging at 0.676 leading the team in Ts, 4th in HRs . . . Mike Kelly has been the hottest player on the team when not injured with 0.364 BA, 0.545 SLG, and 0.440 OBP . . . the only Blue Jay pitchers with ERAs under 4.00 are Mike Bielicki, Eric Janzen, and Mike Timlin; under 
6.25 adds only Aaron Small to the list. 

Real Baseball: 
Katie (10 years) and Alex (8 years) have started their spring training with their respective baseball teams. Katie looks to be getting plenty of playing time as the 4th grade girls have thinned down to a total roster of 11. Fortunately, this year she has started the season with a "can do" attitude which has immediately translated into "am doing." We'll see if the attitude holds up once she starts batting against own-aged pitching. Alex has already been working on his pitching [his team won't be in self-pitch 
leagues until next year], fielding, plus asked me for quick release, accurate throwing drills all before getting to an organized practice -- those have been rained out so far. 

I would like to welcome all of our new league members on board and  extend a big thank you to all of the league officers who are spending so much of their time to make this league work. 

I had a partial hard drive melt down in mid-month.  I was able to save most of my data.  A new ZIP drive, for backups, a new larger hard drive, and finally upgrading to Windows '95, have now been added to my system.  I have just gotten it up on the last day of March, sorry if this caused any problems for the league. 

Owning the Indians this year instead of the Cubs has produced a new set of problems for me as an owner.  The Cubs problem was of course them not producing major league prospects.  The Indians are producing prospects and them trading them away to win now.  Last season I protected Damian Jackson just days before he was traded to the Reds.  This year I added Sean Casey to my 35 man roster, to protect myself against what happened yesterday.  Who will be next?  Can I guess it ahead of time? 

I usually predict how well my team will due each year.  In the four 
previous season, I have only been correct two times.  This year my Indians will finish 75-85.  In the real major leagues, I predict that someone will break Roger Maris's homerun record by more than one homerun and that someone will bat over .390, Greg Maddux will win the Cy Young award again, and one of the expansion teams will set a record for most wins by a first year expansion team. 

The biggest pick-up for the Yankees was the draft day trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ace pitcher Kevin Appier was sent to the Bronx in exchange slugger Tony Clark. " Kevin gives another arm to throw out there every fifth day. Add him to Andy (Pettitte), Mike (Mussina) and Alan (Benes) and we now have a solid rotation, " replied Showalter. Throw in first round rookie pick Jeremi Gonzalez and the Yankees have a starting rotation that hasn't been seen in the Bronx in many years. 

The Yankees now had a gap to fill at first and went fishing. They reeled in free-agent Fred McGriff to replace the traded Tony Clark. McGriff will bat right behind rightfielder Juan Gonzalez and will have plenty of chances to drive in runs. The Yanks also had the other corner position to fill as they released  veteran Gary Gaetti. They found their man on the St. Louis Cardinals in Dave Hollins. The Yanks traded Hideki Irabu and Jorge Posada for Hollins. 

Yankee Doodles....... the Yankees are known for their slow starts and this season is no different. They finished the month 11-13 after being swept by the Atlanta Braves in the last series of the month. The starting pitching hasn't come around like expected but the cold weather has been a factor. " I'm not worried," replied Showalter " Its a long season and we still have plenty of time. The Dodgers certainly will not run away to a huge lead. We need to keep a eye on Baltimore  and the Cardinals. The Cards owner finally is paying more attention to his team than the new strays at the Humane Society" 

(Editor's note for those who know me: I'll try to make this a short
story.)

Since we last talked my life took a couple of turns that, now that the
spinning has stopped, led to a pretty comfortable place. My wife, Carole,
is a comedian. She went to Las Vegas for a week of work in June of 1996 only to be offered a contract through August of the year 2000. Trust me, in comedy, an honorable contract covering more than two weeks is rarer than a congressional page without an FBI wiretap and a book deal. I've worked for A&M records for most of ten years and didn't really want to leave it, so, I traveled back and forth between LA and LV every weekend on my motorcycle for a year and a half before every ounce of my considerable energy ran out. By that time it was clear that Carole's job was, beyond our doubts, secure. So, I gave up my scenic motorcycle touring and moved to Elvisville. As I moved there, Carole and Layne moved to a new apartment (I'm a big guy with lots of stuff), so I had three addresses in about a week.

While this and lots more was happening, my first computer died. Then a
second computer had a bug I didn't have the time or knowledge to fix (a
shame, it is a nice computer) rendering it useless to a computer moron like me. Just two months ago we bought a big, powerful, black computer we call Darth Vader and it has so many features that a twit like myself can actually learn to use it almost as well as my six year old son!
The down side to all this foolishness is that I could not play the MBL
Baseball game and I surely caused a few headaches to you all, my fellow managers.  

Now, for those of you who don't know, I LOVE Baseball. And I love
statistics. And I love to play the game on the field or off. I have kept my
personal records since the late 1960's. Ask me a date and I can tell you if
I played, what the score was, and how I did. Some of you are envious, and some of you think I'm loopy. I reserve judgement, but I can prove I've
played, sometimes pretty well, and had a great time doing it. I love this
game!   

The upside is that Layne has watched me struggle with all this Baseball
related stuff and begun to ask me about the game. He had shown less than zero interest over his few years and I had promised myself not to push him to like the game just because I did. My son, Babe Ruth be praised, is suddenly and fully a Baseball fan. We have our own Diamond Dreams league and he's made his first automanager. But that is another story. 

So after all this crazy couple of years of life stuff, I'm now, finally
pretty happy. And my team-that my family helped me put together-ain't all
that bad either.

More News from Las Vegas

Finally, it's happened! My son is a Baseball fan. For six years I've
waited patiently for a sign and, nothing. I didn't want to push him into
Baseball because I love the game so much. I promised myself I wouldn't
force him to like it. At the end of the 1997 season, as I watched the
playoffs and World Series, Layne kept asking me when Baseball would be done so he could watch Bugs Bunny or Space Ghost again. I gave him nightly updates: "two more championship games, then four to 7 World Series games and it's all over for about six months." At the time, that would make him happy knowing he would get the TV back in two weeks, but of course it made me sad. I really do feel like I'm missing a friend all winter. 

Well, his birthday is about the same time as our draft in February (his
party, the day after) and Layne watched me prepare and started asking
questions. I was only too glad to answer. "He's interested in Baseball,
Woohoo!"

Since then I've been a pig in shit, let me tell ya! He's gone through my
Baseball card collection, found a favorite player, Nolan Ryan, and started
playing Diamond Dreams Baseball with me. He has an automanager. I called Chris and decided on the 1977 season and Layne plays my current MBL Met team. Anybody wanna play him? Our series is tied at seven. Nolan has four of those wins and a ton of K's. Layne and I have been playing catch the last few weeks and he's swinging a pretty good wiffle bat. He's working on his arm too, like Nolan. Layne's not as wild. 

There is a local AAA team in Las Vegas, the Stars, and there are going to
be Major League Pre Season games at their home park (Cashman Field). 
We're going to a couple of games. I haven't brought my glove to a game in ten years, but I'm bringing mine with my son's. And, yes, we're going to have all the hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, and soda we can get. A dad's got to do it right, you know. It's Baseball!

By now everyone is aware that the Braves whipped the 'Stros in six games to take the crown. The Atlanta starting pitchers proved too much for the Astros who were anemic with the exception of an 11-2 blow out in game 5, the final home game (as it turned out) of the year. 

Last year's honors were as follows. Team MVP was Craig Biggio for another solid year. The Cy Young award went to Dave Burba. Newcomer of the year was Billy Wagner. The unsung hero award went to (surprisingly) Daryl Strawberry for accepting his role as a pinch hitter for the second straight year.  
  
Salary constraints and rookie obligations precluded wholesale changes coming into the new season. B J Surhoff, long coveted by the management was brought in to battle Luis Gonzalez for the left field job. To acquire Surhoff, Houston was forced to part with closer Todd Jones who had functioned as a reliable set up man for four years, but faltered when given the opportunity to close games in 1995 and 1997.  

The other major casualty of the salary cap was starter Mark Portugal, a fan favorite and one of only two Astros with continuous major league service since the onset of the present ownership. (Biggio is the other) Portugal had another outstanding year and pitched well in the playoffs, but tore a rotator cuff in his final game and will be out for the entire season. Portugal threw the only no hitter in the current owner's reign, besting the Giants on the road in (circa) 1993.  

The ownership is taking a fellowship opportunity in Slovinia for the next month. For anyone wishing to visit- that's in the middle of a war zone, in the middle of nowhere. Acually it's in quite a beautiful locale, equidistant from Venice and Vienna in the Jura mountains. It has also been guaranteed as peaceful.  

The ownership also is proud to report an expansion franchise in 
the MHL. The Boston Bruins, second favorite in the Polin household to the Caps, have been chosen. The general manager is Bill Cleary and the coach is Lane MacDonald, former Hobey Baker award winner, assisted by his father Lowell MacDonald, former NHL all star with Pittsburgh. The owner's interest in hockey stems from a two-year stint as play-by-play 
man on college hockey radio broadcasts.  

We wish everyone best of luck in the new season. Any optimism 
for the new campaign was eradicated during a 5-0 exhibition series loss to the rival Red Sox and a 3-1 series loss to the Mets in the first action of the year.