Inside The A.L. Central

Sporting News, The, Oct 2, 2000

Who's HOT

White Sox LHP Mike Sirotka is heating up at the right time. Over his past eight starts, the lefthander is 5-1 with a 2.85 ERA. The only bad news is that as the White Sox enter the postseason, Sirotka is the only healthy pitcher they have.

Who's NOT

The Tigers crawled their way from a 9-23 start to three games over .500, The party didn't last long. After flirting with the wild-card race, the Tigers abruptly headed south for the winter and, at 75-79 through Saturday, will finish with a losing record.

CIRCLE THE CALENDAR

When Cleveland takes on Toronto in the season's fast series, the A.L. wild card could be at stake. A strong showing by either team could mean a playoff berth, and it wouldn't be a surprise if a playoff is needed to determine which team makes the playoffs. Chicago has the division in hand.

Keep an eye on

Royals 1B Mike Sweeney appears to have hit his stride in his seventh year in the big leagues. He already has set a club record for RBIs (139 through Saturday) and a personal record for homers (27), He is expected to get a long-term contract at the end of this year.

High and inside

Twins LHP Mark Redman was considered a leading candidate for American League Rookie of the Year honors when he was 11-5 with a 4.43 ERA on August 12. In five starts since, he is 1-4 with a 6.40 ERA.

TSN's Wired World

If the Indians make the playoffs, they will be one tired team. Their last day off during the season was September 11, Rainouts forced them to play three doubleheaders in six days. For more on the Indians, visit:

sportingnews.com/baseball/teams/indians

PROSPECT WATCH Few players in the Royals organization hold the potential of Dee Brown. A year ago, Brown had the best year of his minor league career by batting .331 with 25 home runs and 102 RBIs at the Class A and AA levels. This year, playing at the Class AAA level, he had 23 home runs and 70 RBIs in 125 games.

Chicago

93-61: 1st

Durham must use all fields at plate for offense to click

If streaky 2B Ray Durham, who has been a sparkplug of late (8-for-15 in a recent stretch), continues his strong play into the postseason, the team might go a long way. When Durham sprays the ball to all fields, he's at his best. When he tries pulling pitches for home runs, like he did during his most recent slump, the whole offense seems to struggle.... Entering the week, LHPs Mike Sirotka and Jim Parque were the only locks for the playoff rotation. RHP Sean Lowe, who has been effective as a spot starter, is making a strong bid for the No. 3 slot. Rookie RHPs Jon Garland and Kip Wells are candidates. Manager Jerry Manuel says the team can get by with three starters in the first round. G.M. Ron Schueler wants the team to use four.

SCOUTING REPORT: LF Carlos Lee has shown much more discipline at the plate. He has batted seventh for most of the season, but for the past month, Lee has been hitting fifth. Last week, after falling behind Detroit's Jeff Weaver 0-2, Lee shortened up his swing and wound up seeing 15 pitchers before drawing a walk. It was only the second time in his career that Lee has walked after falling behind 0-2.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: LHP Jim Parque is an emotional starter. Maybe too emotional. When he was sputtering earlier in the second half, Parque, 24, said he was worried about too many outside issues. Parque says his focus has returned, and the recent results have confirmed that (eight runs in 23 innings). He says he's no longer worrying about his record or the score of the game he's working. --Scot Gregor

Fearless Forecast

The team will make a run at SS Alex Rodriguez, but it will balk at the high asking price. Although he has made a ton of errors, Jose Valentin deserves a new contract.

WHITE SOX

                  AVG     G    AB     R     H   HR   RBI

(*)Crede         .333     2     3     0     1    0     0
Thomas           .330   152   561   113   185   42   142(a)
Ordonez          .317   146   561   100   178   31   123
C. Johnson       .305   123   407    75   124   30    86
Konerko          .301   135   498    76   150   20    94
Lee              .299   145   549   104   164   23    89
Perry            .298   113   403    70   120   12    62
Wilson           .297    24    64    11    19    0     4
Graffanino       .282    64   149    33    42    2    16
Valentin(#)      .281   138   545   103   153   23    89
Durham(#)        .278   148   604   121   168   17    74
Abbott           .272    75   202    29    55    3    26
(*)Paul          .262    31    65    14    17    1     6
Baines( )        .259    92   274    26    71   11    39
Singleton( )     .256   140   493    79   126   10    59
Norton(#)        .255    66   188    22    48    6    27
M. Johnson( )    .221    73   208    29    46    3    23
(*)Christensen   .133    24    15     4     2    0     1
(*)Liefer( )     .000     3     8     0     0    0     0

                  OBP    SLG    SB     K    BB    E

(*)Crede         .333   .333     0     0     0    1
Thomas           .435   .633     0    93   107    1
Ordonez          .375   .549    17    62    59    5
C. Johnson       .381   .582     2   100    51    5
Konerko          .366   .488     1    67    44   11
Lee              .342   .485    12    87    35    3
Perry            .348   .464     4    74    24   10
Wilson           .338   .344     1    11     3    2
Graffanino       .372   .376     7    22    21    5
Valentin(#)      .350   .497   191   100    56   35(a)
Durham(#)        .358   .450    25   103    73   14
Abbott           .339   .391     2    36    19    2
(*)Paul          .324   .400     1    17     5    4
Baines( )        .342   .423     0    49    35    0
Singleton( )     .300   .379    20    82    32    3
Norton(#)        .349   .394     1    45    26    8
M. Johnson( )    .308   .317     3    38    25    3
(*)Christensen   .278   .133     1     5     2    0
(*)Liefer( )     .000   .000     0     4     0    1

GRAND SLAMS: Thomas (2), Durham, Graffanino, Ordonez, Valentin (1)

                 ERA     W-L     G         IP     H     R

Bradford         2.45    0-0     8        7.1     6     3
(*)Wunsch( )     2.93    6-3    79(a)    58.1    46    21
(*)Barcelo       3.03    4-2    19       35.2    28    13
Foulke           3.05    3-1    69       85.2    66    31
Howry            3.33    2-4    62       67.2    52    26
Simas            3.62    2-2    57       64.2    67    26
Sirotka( )       3.71   15-10   31      194.0   201    98
(*)Buehrle( )    3.94    4-1    24       48.0    51    24
Parque( )        4.21   13-6    32      184.0   200   102
Baldwin          4.58   14-5    27      171.0   175    90
Lowe             6.13    4-1    48       61.2    72    46
(*)Wells         6.25    5-9    19       93.2   121    75
(*)Garland       6.39    4-7    13       62.0    77    49
(*)Beirne        6.91    1-1    26       43.0    45    36
(*)Ginter       14.14    1-0     6        7.0    11    11

                ER   HR   K     BB   SV   Avg.

Bradford         2    0     6    0    0   .222
(*)Wunsch( )    19    4    48   27    1   .216
(*)Barcelo      12    4    26    6    0   .215
Foulke          29    9    89   22   33   .212
Howry           25    6    58   28    7   .216
Simas           26    9    48   22    0   .279
Sirotka( )      80   22   126   68    0   .270
(*)Buehrle( )   21    5    34   18    0   .271
Parque( )       86   21   111   71    0   .278
Baldwin         87   33   110   56    0   .267
Lowe            42   10    48   37    0   .294
(*)Wells        65   15    70   57    0   .315
(*)Garland      44   10    35   34    0   .304
(*)Beirne       33    6    36   19    0   .273
(*)Ginter       11    5     4    5    0   .355