American League

Sporting News, The, June 11, 2001

Toronto

26-29: 4th

Koch, bullpen less effective as weariness begins to set in

It appears the heavy workload of the early season is beginning to catch up with the bullpen. Starting last week in Chicago and spilling over into a 13-game homestand, the bullpen lost four straight games. Closer Billy Koch is the main source of concern. He has lost some velocity and movement off his once-intimidating fastball. After the Red Sox combined for seven hits and five runs in back-to-back games against him last week, opponents had a .287 average against him.... Backup C Alberto Castillo is batting just .158, but manager Buck Martinez might need to look at giving him more time behind the plate. He has a stronger arm than starter Darrin Fletcher, and the staff is averaging nearly 1.5 fewer earned runs per game with Castillo catching.

SCOUTING REPORT: Martinez concedes that Alex Rodriguez has no peer among A.L. shortstops, but he believes Alex Conzalez should be rated among the best of the rest in the American League. Gonzalez has a career .973 fielding percentage, a strong, accurate arm and very good field coverage. But he's a career .243 hitter, and his career-best RBI total is 69. The righthanded hitter has improved his production by going to the opposite field more successfully the last two seasons. If he can continue to do that--and cut down on his strikeout total by being more patient--his offense should continue to improve.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: In 1998, the Blue Jays led the A.L. in stolen bases with 184. Their total declined to 119 in 1999 and 89 last season. Martinez wants to get the club running again as part of his overall strategy to manufacture more runs. He thinks opposing pitchers are more vulnerable when offenses are running the bases and bunching hits rather than banging homers. With top run producers 1B Carlos Delgado and 3B Tony Batista off to unexpectedly slow starts, it is becoming a matter of urgency to play this kind of small ball. No. 9 hitter 2B Homer Bush and leadoff man LF Shannon Stewart are the keys to the running game. --Tom Maloney

Dugout Signals

Sometimes, comfort level is critical. When Buck Martinez moved cleanup hitter Carlos Delgado to the No. 3 slot, the idea was to give him more at-bats and better protection. But after 14 games, Delgado was hitting .185 with a homer and three RBIs in 54 at-bats. He returned to No. 4 last Saturday.

BATTERS       AVG    G       AB    R    H    HR

Bush          .333   17       60   10   20    1
Stewart       .329   54      228   39   75    4
Fullmer( )    .282   51      202   28   57    7
Cruz(#)       .281   42      160   22   45    7
Mondesi       .281   55(a)   210   41   59   10
Delgado( )    .256   55(a)   195   39   50   17
Gonzalez      .249   54      229   29   57    6
Batista       .217   55(a)   221   25   48   13
Fletcher( )   .211   47      161   16   34    3
Simmons(#)    .197   33       71    7   14    2
Frye          .188   25       80    9   15    1
Woodward      .171   22       35    5    6    2
Castillo      .158   19       38    4    6    1

BATTERS       RBI   OBP    SB   K    BB   E

Bush            5   .369    2   11    3   2
Stewart        21   .388    9   28   20   0
Fullmer( )     38   .332    0   39   13   0
Cruz(#)        24   .327    6   45   10   0
Mondesi        33   .387    9   51   35   2
Delgado( )     35   .405    1   56   43   7
Gonzalez       31   .292    4   45   14   4
Batista        41   .262    0   58   11   8
Fletcher( )    18   .266    0   13   11   1
Simmons(#)      6   .260    1   17    6   0
Frye            6   .244    1   12    4   1
Woodward        4   .171    0    9    0   3
Castillo        1   .273    1    8    4   1

GRAND SLAMS: Fullmer, Mondesi (1)

PITCHERS          ERA    W-L    IP    H    E    ER

Quantrill         1.04   5-0   34.2   30    4    4
(*)File           1.74   1-1   20.2   12    5    4
(*)Michalak( )    3.07   5-3   58.2   51   21   20
Borbon( )         3.48   0-2   20.2   14    9    8
Plesac( )         3.60   0-2   15.0   11    6    6
Carpenter         3.72   5-2   75.0   77   33   31
Hamilton          4.84   2-3   70.2   93   44   38
Escobar           4.88   0-4   24.0   16   13   13
Loaiza            4.88   4-5   75.2   92   45   41
Koch              5.63   0-2   24.0   27   16   15
Paris             5.76   3-4   50.0   69   34   32
Painter( )       10.97   0-1   10.2   17   13   13

PITCHERS         HR   K    BB   SV   AVG.

Quantrill         1   23    4    0   .236
(*)File           0   10    8    0   .176
(*)Michalak( )    6   32   20    0   .235
Borbon( )         3   16    3    0   .200
Plesac( )         1   21    6    0   .196
Carpenter        10   61   24    0   .266
Hamilton          8   48   23    0   .326
Escobar           2   27   11    0   .188
Loaiza            9   56   21    0   .297
Koch              3   15   11   10   .287
Paris            10   22   20    0   .333
Painter( )        3   11    6    0   .354

SHUTOUTS: Carpenter (1)

COMPLETE GAMES: Carpenter (1)

(*) Rookie

( ) Lefthanded

(#) Switch hitter

(a) League leaders in bold

Statistics provided by STATS Inc. through Saturday, June 2.