A.L. East

Sporting News, The, August 2, 1999 by Tom Maloney

The power bat

On June 12, the Blue Jays were 27-36 and seemed out of the playoff picture. But on that day, they acquired Tony Batista and relief pitcher John Frascatore from the Diamondbacks for Dan Plesac. Since the trade, the Blue Jays are 27-11 and tied with the Red Sox for the wild-card spot in the A.L. Batista has been an integral part of the Blue Jays' success.

He hit 18 homers for Arizona last year, so the Jays knew he had some pop. But nothing like this. Using a unique wide-open stance, he clubbed 12 homers in his first 36 games with the Blue Jays. That's a 54-homer pace during a full season. In fact, Batista went through one streak this month in which eight of 22 hits were homers.

"People are surprised," says Batista who replaced the injured Alex Gonzalez. "I'm surprised, too."

"He's had some very, very big hits for us," says teammate Shawn Green.

Batista's 10th-inning homer won a game against Atlanta last week, and he hit two homers against Baltimore on July 8. But for all the offense he has provided, Batista's most valuable contribution has been with the glove.

Having lost the starting job to Andy Fox in Arizona, he arrived in Toronto with a reputation of having limited range. But he has made plays from the hole and up the middle.

"Everything was up in the air, and we were trying to make do," says manager Jim Fregosi. "The good thing is, we didn't panic. Instead of just getting a body, we ended up getting the best we could get." --Tom Maloney

Baltimore

44-53: 4th

Hot streak carries false hopes as deadline nears

The midseason trading deadline always gives the Orioles fits. They knew what they wanted to do two weeks ago--trade whatever veterans would bring younger players--but that was before they went on another hot streak. Now, they have to fight the temptation to believe they can pull a miraculous late-season comeback and get back in the wild-card race. It shouldn't be that tough, since the 10-2 run they carried out of the weekend only drew them within 9 1/2 games of the Blue Jays in the baffle for the extra playoff berth. Owner Peter Angeles has been inclined in the past to gut it out and hope for the best. He was rewarded for that approach when he resisted the advice of his front office staff and kept the team together in 1996, but the Orioles were not nearly as far out of contention then.

BELLE TOLLS IN BALTIMORE: Though Albert Belle reportedly has agreed to waive his no-trade clause, it seems highly unlikely that the team will find a taker for him. He apparently knows that, which explains why he recently put a sign up by his locker which read, "1/2 year down, 4 1/2 years to go so don't fight it and show me some love." Obviously, Belle is looking for love in all the wrong places, because he has alienated the local media and created tension in the clubhouse. Club officials would love to dump the remainder of his $65 million contract, just to get rid of the aggravation, but that will be difficult. The July 31 deadline doesn't really apply in this case, however, because the waiver requirement in August and September only would matter if the Orioles were worried about Belle being claimed.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: Closer Mike Timlin nailed down a combined 1-0 shutout for RHP Juan Guzman last Friday, pitching an easy ninth, but that performance only highlighted a frightening stat: Going into that game, Timlin had come into the ninth inning with a one-run lead six times this season and had recorded a save just once. --Peter Schmuck

GRADING OUT

OFFENSE A

Team's .285 combined batting average second only to big-swinging Indians.

PITCHING B

Guzman and Erickson are on the upswing, but bullpen still isn't trustworthy.

DEFENSE B

Nothing glaring--even in right field--but solid isn't good enough in Baltimore.

ORIOLES

                AVG    G    AB    R    H     HR    RBI

Baines( )      .340   79   253   45    86    21    67
Surhoff( )     .335   97   409   63   137    21    78
Ripken Jr.     .322   63   245   37    79    14    44
Amaral         .318   56    88   12    28     0    10
Clark( )       .313   60   201   34    63    10    27
Conine         .299   80   241   35    72     8    39
Anderson( )    .282   94   344   69    97    12    50
Bordick        .278   96   385   55   107     6    39
Belle          .275   96   363   62   100    21    63
DeShields( )   .274   57   197   29    54     4    18
Johnson        .256   82   258   40    66    13    36
(*)Figga       .206   16    34    4     7     0     1
Reboulet       .179   61   117   20    21     0     4

                OBP    SLG    SB   K    BB   E

Baines( )      .411   .632    1   26   31    0
Surhoff( )     .365   .553    4   46   22    0
Ripken Jr.     .344   .576    0   22    7   11
Amaral         .380   .409    5   13    9    0
Clark( )       .379   .522    1   31   22    2
Conine         .346   .490    0   25   19    5
Anderson( )    .418   .462   22   61   71    0
Bordick        .333   .382    8   62   34    5
Belle          .390   .482   11   49   68    4
DeShields( )   .353   .376   10   21   23    5
Johnson        .356   .453    0   62   39    3
(*)Figga       .229   .265    0   10    1    2
Reboulet       .304   .205    1   25   20    2