Hither and Yon

Jason Michael Barker

It has been a somber week in baseball, what with the passing of two men who by all accounts contributed a great deal to the game. It must be particularly difficult for fans in St. Louis, who lost both a great broadcaster and a great person who also happened to be a pretty good ballplayer.

This is in no way mean to trivialize Jack Buck's death, but at the very least you can say it wasn't a shock. He was 77, lived a full life, and had been in the hospital for quite some time. His passing, while not welcomed, was nonetheless expected.

The same cannot be said of Darryl Kile, who died at 33 with seemingly so much life ahead of him. There were his wife, his three young children and his countless friends in baseball, so many that from reading all the articles and hearing the interviews you'd think at least one player on every team knew him personally. This is to say nothing of a pitching career with years left on it.

If there is one positive to be taken from this tragedy, it's that men Kile's age seem to be taking seriously the idea that they should be screened for heart disease now, not just when they get older. That's only a small consolation, though, so my heartfelt sympathies go out to the Kile family.

Moving on to baseball, the Cardinals now face the difficult task of replacing Kile in their starting rotation. In addition to being a leader in the clubhouse, he was also a veteran pitcher who could be counted on for 200 better than league average innings. For a rotation already hit with the loss of Garret Stephenson until after the All-Star break and depending quite a bit on two youngsters (Jason Simontacchi and Bud Smith), Kile's work was a big deal.

Of the in-house options, AAA righty Travis Smith would seem to make the most sense. In 61.2 innings at Memphis this season he has allowed 50 hits and just 9 walks to go along with his stellar 1.75 ERA. Sure he's 29, his strikeout rate isn't hot and he got knocked around in the majors earlier this season, but he still might be the best choice. Otherwise they might look to Jim Journell, a prospect in the true sense, who's currently toiling at AA New Haven.

Elsewhere in the majors Monday, the Red Sox acquired lefty reliever Alan Embree and a minor league hurler from the Padres for a pair of minor league hurlers of their own. This isn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, though the Padres were wise to nab a pitching prospect (Brad Baker) for a commodity (Embree) a last place team really doesn't need.

What struck me, though, were the comments Embree made after the trade. Remember that this is a guy, who while not a superstar, makes a pretty good living playing Major League Baseball. His salary this season is a cool $500K, or a heckuva lot more than either you or I make.

"I enjoyed my team here, and I got a chance to get things going, but hopefully now I can help a team that's in a pennant race. When you're 12 games back it's kind of hard to come to the park every day."

It's hard to come to the park every day when you get paid $3,086.42 a game to sit in the bullpen and pitch every second or third day? Of course losing is rough, but it's not like Embree was stuck in Detroit or Tampa Bay where there's no light at the end of the tunnel. The Padres are a pretty good organization with a bright future, and if not for some injuries this year might have been a .500 team. Still might be, in fact.

The other piece of news I found interesting today surrounds Luis Castillo and his now-defunct hitting streak. If you recall, Castillo was the on-deck hitter on Saturday when Tim Raines Sr. hit a game winning sacrifice fly for the Marlins. It later came out that had Raines not won the game, the Tigers would have walked Castillo with first base open.

Castillo apparently took offense at this strategy, even though the situation never came to pass. Upon being informed that manager Luis Pujols and bench coach Felipe Alou had decided to walk him if he came up, Castillo said, "Don't tell me that. That's bad. I'd have a bad reaction, because I needed a hit. I'd be really, really, really mad. I don't know why he'd say that. I know he's trying to win the game, but I'm trying to get a hit. The fans were waiting for that at-bat."

For starters, Luis, you had four chances earlier in the game to extend your streak. If you want to be really, really, really mad at somebody, be mad at yourself for not getting a hit off Mark Redman or Jose Paniagua.

Second, take a closer look at that quote -- "I know he's trying to win the game, but I'm trying to get a hit." Is Castillo somehow implying that individual accomplishments are more important than winning games? I was sort of rooting for him as the streak got up around 30 games, but these comments and the stories of Castillo's complete ignorance of baseball history leave me thinking he's some sort of punk.

Finally, much has been made of the Expos recent surge in the National League East standings. On the strength of an 8-1 homestand, the Expos find themselves 40-34, six games out of first place. Before you get too excited, it's worth pointing out that their opponents have outscored them by a 341-334 margin this season. That's not a horrible mark, but it is the mark you'd expect from about a .500 team.

A quick tip of the cap to the National League East, however, which is the only division in baseball which features four teams playing better than .500 ball. Two Colorado wins would add the NL West to the short list, while a pair of New York Mets losses would drop the NL East. Meanwhile, the NL Central has just two .500+ clubs. Realignment, anyone?

about the author

Jason Michael Barker wonders why, if a pair of games played back-to-back are called a doubleheader, we don't call a regular, lone game a singleheader. Offer your suggestions and other musings to jmb@strikethree.com.

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