Bagwell: From Mvp To Mia

On his way out of town after a series sweep of the Astros in Houston, Philadelphia manager Jim Fregosi said he was glad to be leaving. Houston’s Jeff Bagwell was close to emerging from a horrendous slump, Fregosi said, and some team would suffer.

“They keep saying that,” Bagwell sighed. “And they keep getting away.”

A year after an epic season in which he was an unanimous winner of the National League Most Valuable Player award, Bagwell has headed in the other direction. His swing is a mess. His psyche is weary. His production is negligible.

Life in the year after enormous success is difficult.

“He’s seeing what the big stars see, and that’s nothing real good,” said Houston manager Terry Collins. “One of these days he’s going to swing the bat like he can and break a game open.”

Bagwell entered a weekend series against Montreal hitting only .173 with two homers and nine RBIs. Bagwell last season hit .368 with 39 homers and a league-leading 116 RBIs. His slugging percentage (.750) was the second-highest in NL history.

Collins said the problems began with a short spring training. Bagwell needs time to lock in his unconventional stance - open and spread with an odd crouch - and big swing. Bagwell’s stance is noticeably wider, but he rejected the shortspring theory.

“It hasn’t affected anybody else,” he said. “It’s just been basically me. I don’t know what my problem is. Baseball is a funny game. When you’re struggling, you can’t say ‘I’m ready now,’ and it comes back.”

In respect for his accomplishments, the league is pitching Bagwell differently and gives him fewer strikes. Bagwell’s choice is to take the walks or expand his hitting zone and chase the pitches. He has chased the pitches, and that is what opponents want. By comparison, San Francisco’s Barry Bonds forces the league to pitch to him by taking walks.

“Jeff’s trying to do that,” Collins said. “But when the club is struggling a little bit, you naturally start trying to do more things.”

Several Philadelphia pitchers said Bagwell appeared confused at the plate. He also was allowing himself to get jammed inside. With the tying runs on base in the third game of the series, Phillies reliever Heathcliff Slocumb broke Bagwell’s bat with an inside fastball for the game-ending out.

“He’s scuffling now, and you never expect to see that,” said Philadelphia right-hander Paul Quantrill, who played with Bagwell in the Boston organization. “In the past, he’d almost fall down he’d swing so hard. Now, it looks like he’s thinking about what he’s doing instead of swinging the bat.”

The natural theory is last year’s success created undue pressures of Bagwell. He is just starting a sevenyear $47-million contract. Bagwell insisted his new status is not a burden.

“I have high expectations for myself, whether I was the MVP last year or now,” Bagwell said. “That’s irrelevant. If I’m going to third, I need to help this team win. My job is to drive in runs, and I’m not doing it.

“Every guy you see this season, whether he was the MVP or a rookie, will struggle this season. I know it looks bad now, but eventually I’m going to be better. I know that.”

Standing O

Boston players gave up an off day to participate in a block party for fans outside Fenway Park. One feature was a tour of Fenway that included the opportunity to touch the “Green Monster” left-field wall. Some of the about 30,000 fans who attended despite raw weather kissed the ball. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” catcher Mike Macfarlane said. “For people to come out in that kind of weather shows me the type of fans they have here.”

The Ripken file

The Baltimore Orioles may have put Cal Ripken’s pursuit of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games record ahead of team objectives.

To make up a rained-out game at Boston, the Orioles had their choice of an off day on Aug. 10 or a doubleheader on Aug. 11. The Orioles players gave up the off day to keep alive Ripken’s chances of breaking the record at home. The thinking was the sooner the Orioles play the game, the more protection they have should there be more rain.

The drawback is the Orioles lose a rare late-season off-day. The decision means the Orioles are scheduled to play 34 consecutive days in August and September. There are better ways to go for a team that still expects to be in a pennant race.

Baltimore players consulted Ripken, but made the decision in a team vote. The decision highlighted Ripken’s prime fear this season: The streak outweighs the team.

“I don’t want that to happen,” Ripken said. “I want this to be remembered as the year we won, like ‘83, not for the streak.”

The week ahead

- Family reunion: The Martinez brothers are scheduled to miss each other when Los Angeles plays a three-game series at Montreal. Los Angeles’ Ramon Martinez is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 20 innings in his past three starts. Montreal’s Pedro Martinez is 3-0 with a 2.02 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 26 and 2/3rds innings for the season. Look for both to make the National League All-Star team.

- Home again: Seattle, which has played only seven home games, opens a nine-game homestand against Boston, Baltimore and New York. The Mariners were 14-20 against those teams last season.

- Bottom-feeders: Last-place Florida goes to Pittsburgh for a series against the last-place Pirates. Series loser gains an advantage in the race for the first pick overall in the 1996 amateur draft.

Another Perez

Perez-mania grips Montreal again. This time it is lefthander Carlos Perez, brother of former Expos righthander Pascual.

Replacing the ineffective Kirk Reuter in the rotation, Carlos Perez is 2-0 with a 2.53 ERA in two starts. He has also established himself as the most expressive of the flamboyant Perez brothers, a mind-boggling accomplishment.

“It runs in the family,” Cincinnati manager Davey Johnson said. Said Carlos Perez: “I’m not scared of anybody. I don’t care how many homers they have or if they’re hitting .500. I’ll come in and get somebody out.”

Brother Melido, who never made it to Montreal, is with the New York Yankees. Just one other set of three brothers has pitched in the majors: Dad, John and Walter Clarkson from 1882-1908.

Heady feeling

Seattle has been in first place for 16 days this season. Entering the year, the Mariners had been in first place for a total of 84 days in the club’s previous 17 seasons.