M’S Replacements Take A Fall

For Seattle’s replacement players, the news went from bad to worse.

First, Milwaukee survived a fiverun, ninth-inning Seattle rally to post an 8-7 exhibition win Saturday in Peoria, Ariz. Then the Mariners learned their flight to Tampa, Fla., for the regular-season opener had been canceled and their contracts as replacement players terminated.

Management’s lawyers told the 28 teams to release all replacement players by 11:59 p.m. EST Saturday.

“I’m eating my last meal … chicken and ribs,” said M’s shortstop Craig Bryant. “We knew something was happening when (manager) Lou Piniella left the bench in the fifth inning.”

Seattle pitcher Barry Aden probably felt the worst of all. The high school biology teacher from Issaquah hadn’t signed a replacement contract, although he was expected to be on the 32-player roster. Now he stands to lose a $5,000 bonus.

“This was too good to be true anyway,” Bryant said.

A hero’s exit

Outfielder Terry Blocker’s second try at baseball ended when the Atlanta Braves cut him. Blocker departed with the satisfaction that replacement baseball enabled him to perform one worthwhile deed:

He tracked down the killer of Atlanta replacement pitcher Dave Shotkoski.

Shotkoski was murdered March 24 while walking near the Braves’ hotel in West Palm Beach, Fla. West Palm Beach police confirmed Blocker helped target suspect Neal Douglas Evans.

The locals initially stonewalled Blocker, but eventually word got out that Evans was bragging about the murder. Blocker learned Evans was hiding in an alleged crack house and relayed that to police. They arrested Evans - who, police said, has a rap sheet “seven feet long” - at the house.

“I look at it like this: I was sent down here for a purpose,” Blocker said. “I know that I can play baseball, but at my age (34), it doesn’t bother me if I’m not playing.”

The Braves offered to place Blocker with a team in Mexico. He declined and returned to his home in Stone Mountain, Ga., and a job of installing television cable.

Sparky fires up

Sparky Anderson could barely contain his excitement.

The real players are about to return, and that means it’s time for the Detroit Tigers manager to get back to work.

“Enough golf is enough golf,” he said.

When Anderson left the team in protest in February, the Tigers did not guarantee he would have a job when the regulars returned. Still, he’s heading to Lakeland, Fla.

“I’ll probably go (Sunday) night or Monday,” he said from his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif. “I would say there’s going to be some guys who will be three weeks into the season before they get their timing,” he said. “Other guys will have it from the first pop.”

Around the majors

A post-strike problem for Pittsburgh is finding more muscle for the middle of the lineup. The Pirates’ Nos. 3-4-5 hitters last year combined for only 35 homers and 165 RBIs… . Of the many accomplishments of Houston’s Jeff Bagwell last year, this may be the most noteworthy: Bagwell had a .750 slugging percentage, seventh-highest all-time using the qualification of 3.1 plate appearances per team game played… . Philadelphia left-hander Norm Charlton made another step in his recovery from elbow surgery by pitching one inning in a minorleague game. It was Charlton’s first game appearance since Aug. 7, 1993. In this appearance, Charlton allowed a home run and had only nine strikes in 23 pitches, but said “everything felt wonderful.”