Vero Beach Regains One-Game Lead September 17, 1997
Playoff picture looks good for Bums
Vero Beach, FL (AP) - After losing 2 of 3 to division rival Binghamton and
momentarily slipping into a tie for first place in the hotly contested
Picard Division, the Vero Beach Bums (84-61) regained a slim one-game lead
yesterday. A combination of a 4-1 win over lowly Sacramento and a heroic
13-1 Duluth drubbing of Binghamton propelled the Bums to their narrow lead
with just 17 games left in the regular season.
"This is an amazing pennant race," said Bums CF Marquis Grissom, who is
among the team leaders with combined numbers of 17 HR and 36 SB. "You
couldn't ask for more excitement. I'd like to clinch a playoff spot,
though."
Vero Beach will play only division opponents for the rest of the
season, with 3 more games at home against Sacramento, series at
Duluth, Spokane, and Sacramento, and a series against Spokane at home to
close out the regular season. The Mets have 3 more games in Duluth, a
series in Spokane, series at home against Chicago and Duluth, and a final
3-game series in Chicago.
Clearly, the six games coming up between Binghamton and Chicago have major
playoff implications, since Chicago is second in the wild-card race
to--who else--Binghamton. Either way, that matchup helps the Bums. "If
Chicago beats up on the Mets, then it helps us win our division," said
Bums scholar and pitcher Kevin Ritz. "But if Binghamton comes on strong,
and plays well against the South Siders, then we have a better chance at
the wild-card spot if we lose the division to the Mets. Not that I see
that happening," Ritz hastily added. [One scenario which Ritz failed to
consider would involve the Mets winning the division but losing most of
their games against Chicago, thereby jeopardizing Vero Beach's potential
wild-card spot. This scenario seems somewhat improbable, however.]
Bums manager Phil Garner has another philosophy about scheduling. "Screw
scheduling," he said. "We're going to win some games, Binghamton is going
to win some games, and we'll see who comes out on top. We're going to
play one game at a time."
The Bums have another slight scheduling advantage, since their remaining
opponents have only a .425 winning percentage and the Mets' opponents have
a .485 winning percentage. However, Binghamton has two key days off in
which to rest over the next 17 days, while Vero Beach has none. Vero
Beach is also just 37-34 on the road and must play 10 games in a row away
from Ellsworth Park. "No matter how you look at it, we just have to win
games," said Vero CEO J. Lee Gohlke.
The Bums aren't looking past the regular season just yet. "We can't look
past Spokane, Duluth, or Sacramento," said 3B Dave Hollins, team HR leader
with 26. "We've had some tough losses to all of them, and looking at how
well Duluth is playing now, we've still got a long way to go." The Bjork
have improved from last place to a tie for third in the Picard Division
with Spokane. Both third-place teams have struggled this season with a
lack of pitching, despite having two of the top offenses in the league.
In yesterday's action, the Bums overmatched the Knights 4-1, beating
winless Sacramento starter Bud Costello (0-11, 5.31). Each team jumped
out to score 1 run in the first, but Vero Beach starter Kurt Hardie (7-6,
3.95) settled down to pitch seven strong innings. The Bums' offense,
meanwhile, scored four runs including a Rex Hudler home run, his 18th of
the year, and an amazing steal of home plate by underrated rightfielder
Brian Jordan.
Bums starting pitcher Billy Wagner was knocked out of the game in the
first inning in a way that is very familiar to Bums fans: due to injury.
He suffered a strained biceps and will sit out of the rotation until he
recovers. Willie Adams, off of the DL just in the nick of time, will
start in his place.
Another injured Bums pitcher, reliever Dave Weathers (2-0, 3.29, 3 holds
in 16 appearances), should be cleared to play by team doctors within the
next week. Garner anticipates that he will move into a long relief role,
since 29-year old rookie Barney Berres has put up great middle-relief
numbers (4-0, 2.47, 4 holds, 28 appearances). Berres had the
middle-relief job at the beginning of the season but sat out for months
with an arm injury.
Ramon Garcia (5-0, 5.02), Mike Bielecki (5-7, 6.10), and rookie Amby Jones
(3-8, 4.37) are scheduled to pitch the next three games for the Knights,
against the Bums' Albie Lopez (11-9, 3.26), Kevin Ritz (13-5, 3.70), and
Ismael Valdes (9-9, 3.94).
In other developments, J. Lee Gohlke recently returned to Vero Beach,
ending a long period of long-distance managing. He spent about a month on
a secret mission in Hartford, WI, about which he had no comment other than
"What is there to do in Hartford, WI? Not much." Gohlke was forced to
manage his team during that time via e-mail and the internet and could not
satisfactorily analyze his team's statistics from that remote location.
