In defense of strength up the middle

Sporting News, The, Oct 6, 1997 by David Falkner

Despite witnessing some of the Dodgers' struggles first-hand, Giants' second baseman Jeff Kent is a back-bench dissenter, a gleam of happy non-conformity in his eye. "I've always felt that strength up the middle was overrated," he says. "You need quality players at every position. The only really important guy in the middle is the guy who stands in the center of it all, the pitcher. You have pitching, you win; you don't, you lose, it's as simple as that. Lots of teams win without being strong up the middle."

Like who? I ask.

"The Braves," Kent says. He means it. Mark Lemke doesn't impress him, Jeff Blauser's injury-prone, Javy Lopez is still learning. "(Marquis) Grissom was good in center when they had him," he says.

Jimmy Key, like Kent (and the rest of us), believes in the preeminence of pitching. But pitching, for him, means keeping the ball in the middle of the field. "Our job as pitchers is, one, to keep the ball on the ground and, two, to keep the ball in the middle of the field, where the ballpark's deepest. If you have guys behind you who can take advantage of that, it's obviously going to make a huge difference."

Or, as Russell says, "Pitching and defense will win a lot of games. And defense, alone, if you can make the plays, not necessarily the tough plays, just the routine ones, will win games for you, too."

What gives heightened importance to strength in the middle during postseason is the paring down of pitching staffs to each team's three top starters. With teams not having the opportunity to face their opponents' fourth and fifth starters, runs will be harder to come by, defense will be emphasized.

Of the teams in postseason this year, I like the middle strength of the Orioles (if Alomar has his wheels) and the Braves. The defending champion Yankees are close but have been getting mileage from rented suits at second all year. I like the Giants and Indians less, the Astros less than that. The Mariners' middle of Dan Wilson, Alex Rodriguez, Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr. is, if not the best, close--but the keys for the M's are Rodriguez's health and what happens to the unit within the unit after the Big Unit isn't the man in the middle. Charles Johnson of the Marlins set a major league record this season for errorless games and tied one for consecutive games without a passed ball. He has a solid middle infield to work with and Devon White, still as good defensively as anyone in center, to go along with at least two strong starters.

So, in terms of strength up the middle, who to pick? I like the Braves not because their middle infielders are the game's best--but because they are so familiar with each other in making the routine plays. Plus the unit has Kenny Lofton (although his health is a question mark), solid catching and pitchers who can field their position like hockey goalies. I like the O's for almost the same reasons. Alomar, when healthy is to second base what White and Griffey are to center field. "He covers so much ground," Key says, "he goes left, right, he comes forward, he goes back out on the ball great. He's simply the best second baseman in baseball--period."