The Inning That Would Not End

The week in review

Inning of the week

The 13-run, 13-hit sixth inning the Expos had against the Giants in Wednesday’s 19-3 rout. Said Montreal second baseman Mike Lansing, who homered twice in the inning: “You don’t want to make an out, don’t want to be the guy who doesn’t keep it going, but after awhile it’s like: ‘Geez, when’s it going to stop?”’

Five Montreal players had two hits in the inning: Lansing, Mark Grudzielanek, David Segui, F.P. Santangelo and Doug Strange. They opened with eight consecutive hits, two shy of the major-league record.

“I was a third-base coach for Dick Williams when we scored 10 runs in an inning,” manager Felipe Alou said. “It’s just one of those things where the ball falls in and through.”

Trade rumor of the week

The Phillies and Orioles appear to be closing in on a deal for Darren Daulton, who would give the Orioles a left-handed hitting DH to platoon with Pete Incaviglia. The Phillies reportedly are attempting to dump Gregg Jefferies, too.

Family feud of the week

Angels batting coach Rod Carew and catcher Jorge Fabregas engaged in a postgame shouting match, apparently over Fabregas’ pitch-calling during an at-bat in which Cal Ripken hit a grand slam.

Said Angels shortstop Gary DiSarcina: “I grew up with two brothers and we got in fights all the time, and we still loved each other. Where I come from, fighting is a good thing. It means you care about each other.”

Perspective of the week

After her husband, Brett Butler, suffered a torn muscle in his throwing shoulder that most likely force his retirement from the Dodgers, Eveline Butler said: “I told him, ‘Hey, you can’t go out any better than hitting .360.’ He proved to himself that he could play the same way before he got sick. That’s a real inspiration to people. They can now say, ‘Hey, if that guy can come back, I can come back and overcome less than he did.’ We’re just thankful it’s not cancer again. We can live with a torn muscle.”

Week’s scariest moment

When Tigers pitcher Willie Blair was struck in the face by a line drive hit by Cleveland’s Julio Franco last Sunday. Blair was taken from the field by ambulance; his right jaw was fractured.

“My first concern was that I hit him in the temple, the forehead, or the eye,” said Franco, who visited Blair in the hospital a couple days later. “I really got worried when he went down and made no attempt to get up.”

Gallows humor of the week

When Tigers GM Randy Smith visited Blair in the hospital, he brought a gift from the team: a blender. Blair won’t be eating solid food for some time.

Fashion note of the week

When the Cubs and White Sox meet next month (June 16-18) in Comiskey Park, they’ll both be wearing old-fashioned uniforms.

The Cubs will wear replicas of their 1908 world champion uniforms, the last time they won the World Series. The White Sox will wear 1917 replicas, denoting their last World Series championship. The uniforms will then be auctioned off for charity. The way they’re both playing this season, they might want to hang on to the uniforms for another century - they may need them again.

300 game of the week

No, this isn’t about bowling. The Rockies became the fastest expansion team to win 300 games when right-hander Roger Bailey shut out the Phillies last Sunday, 9-0. Manager Don Baylor found champagne in his office, and toasted the 1992 draft pick from Florida State, who has three complete games and two shutouts already this spring.

“He has been more than what we thought,” Baylor said. “Somewhere there was a transformation between last year and this year with him being able to throw strikes. He hasn’t had that nervous look, and I haven’t had that nervous look. I haven’t been on the top (dugout) step with him. He’s pitched as well as anybody in the National League.”

Reward of the week

Pitcher Andy Ashby signed a three-year, $15 million contract extension with the San Diego Padres. “I might have been able to get more on the open market, but I might not have been as comfortable,” Ashby said. “I don’t want to go anywhere else. I wanted to stay here ever since I got here. I think it turned around my career.”

Silliest spat of the week

The argument between the Reds and Dodgers first-base coach Reggie Smith, whom the Reds accused of stealing signs.

Reds pitcher Kent Mercker said he never told umpire Bob Davidson that he thought Smith was stealing pitches. Said manager Ray Knight: “If you are going to give your hitters signs, and a lot of guys do it, you don’t have to be so blatant about it. Reggie was kind of egging it on, then they started yelling at each other and I said, ‘Reggie, just lay off.”’

The next day, Knight approached Smith at the batting cage and the two shook hands.

Fan-friendly gesture of the week

At the suggestion of outfielder Al Martin, the entire Pirates team - in uniform - greeted fans Friday as they arrived at Three Rivers Stadium for that night’s game. Martin thought it would be a nice way to build goodwill.

Hopeful message of the week

While the Mets are still not entirely sure that pitcher Jason Isringhausen has tuberculosis, Hall of Famer and TB survivor Red Schoendienst dropped a note to the young pitcher.

“With the medicines they have today, it’s no problem,” Schoendienst said. “Way before I had it, you died.”

Schoendienst was playing with Milwaukee when he was operated on. He missed virtually the entire 1959 season, but came back to play for the Braves in 1960 and finished his career with the Cardinals in 1963.

“I felt better six months after the operation than I did when I was in my teens,” Schoendienst said.

Money musing of the week

When Jim Leyland’s Marlins faced his former team, the Pirates, last week in Miami, he was pitting his $48 million payroll against the Pirates’ $9.1 million. Leyland’s salary of nearly $1.5 million to manage the Marlins would have made him the third highest-paid on the Pirates roster.

Celebrity of the week

Actor Kurt Russell (“Breakdown”), the uncle of Mets utilityman Matt Franco took batting practice and ripped a line drive off left-hander Yorkis Perez, who was throwing to hitters as part of his rehabilitation. Said Russell, 47, who played briefly in the minors in the ‘70s: “I could always hit.”

Rainout of the week

The White Sox called off their game with the Mariners on the night Seattle’s Randy Johnson was scheduled to start and bid for his A.L. record-tying 17th straight win. Johnson, pushed back a day, lost the next night - in the rain - in Baltimore.

The Mariners were not caught by surprise when told the game had been called. “No chance,” catcher Dan Wilson said. “The White Sox aren’t even in the ballpark. They’ve gone home already.”

Second-guess of the week

White Sox catcher Ron Karkovice openly questioned embattled manager Terry Bevington’s failure to bring in a right-handed reliever to replace lefty Tony Castillo, who had a 6-3 lead but lost to Seattle, 7-6.

“I just said what I thought we should have done,” Karkovice said. “I’m not saying I want to manage the team.

“Everybody on the team was saying that a right-hander should have been in that situation. Apparently, Bevington had made his decision not to bring in a righty.

“I’m not trying to criticize his moves. I just said what I thought. Everybody’s got an opinion and I’ve got my opinion. People should know by now, as long as I’ve been around, that I am not one to cause trouble. I don’t think it was any big deal.”

Dullest exercise of the week

The Brewers beat the A’s 1-0 in 3 hours 20 minutes, the longest nine-inning 1-0 game ever. The day’s excitement came in the moments immediately after the game ended, when plate umpire Dale Ford threw out A’s manager Art Howe and base-runner Scott Brosius, who was tagged out at the plate for the game’s final out.

Wishful thinking of the week

Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, on reports that he was dating super model Tyra Banks: “I didn’t say the rumors are all bad, I just said they aren’t true.”