Umps Signal No-Nonsense Message

The throw was rushed and sailed high, forcing Chicago White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas to jump. Thomas caught the ball and - he thought - came down on the corner of the bag. Instead, the umpire - it just happened to be John Hirschbeck - shouted “Safe!”

Thomas did not turn around to question the call, though he shook his glove in frustration. The play loaded the bases for Toronto, and Orlando Merced then cleared them with a game-breaking double in the seventh inning Wednesday night at SkyDome.

In previous years, Thomas might have disputed the decision. But not this year. At least, not now.

Umpires, still upset that Roberto Alomar did not get a more severe penalty last season after spitting in Hirschbeck’s face, announced a get-tough policy in spring training, saying they wouldn’t take any lip from anyone. The umps backed it up with several exhibition ejections, a rarity in the past.

And if the first few days of the regular season are any indication, players and managers have gotten the message. Going into the weekend, there had not been any extra mouthing off, and not a single ejection.

Back to Thomas, who was sure he’d beaten Toronto’s Carlos Garcia to the bag.

“He’s out,” Thomas said after Chicago’s 6-1 loss. “I know he was out. I came down before he got to first. That opened up the inning there. I know I came down on the bag. I didn’t have to see a replay. I knew I had him.

“But those things happen,” he said. “It’s too early in the season to be arguing with those guys.”

Did the fact that it was Hirschbeck who made the call make Thomas even more reluctant to argue?

“Yeah,” he said.

Tough road

Baseball’s idea to go to a warm-weather schedule at the start of the season paid off. Even though Baltimore’s home opener was postponed, the snowstorm that blanketed Boston and touched New York did not cause any problems.

But as some northern teams are finding out, there’s a downside. The Chicago Cubs began the year with six road games in Florida and Atlanta. That meant facing, in order, Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Alex Fernandez, Denny Neagle, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux before returning to Wrigley Field on Tuesday. The Cubs were swept by the Marlins.

The New York Mets do not play at home until next Saturday. Both the Mets and Yankees opened the season with West Coast trips.

‘Mr. Penitentiary Face’ resurfaces

Jeffrey Leonard, whose major league career came to an abrupt halt in 1990 after a series of run-ins with teammates and other off-the-field trouble, has made a nice comeback.

No, at 41 he’s not part of the Andy Van Slyke-Kelly Gruber group trying to revive their careers on the diamond. Rather, he’s now in the dugout, managing the Class A Modesto A’s of the California League.

Leonard helped out the team last year as a part-time hitting and outfield coach, and managed Oakland’s team in the winter instructional league. He did a good enough job that the Athletics offered him a full-time job managing in Modesto.

Leonard, MVP of the 1987 N.L. playoffs for San Francisco, always had a serious look when he played, with some saying it was downright scary. In fact, his nickname became “Mr. Penitentiary Face.”

“I know I had a reputation as a player,” he said.

But Leonard, who long said he’d like to manage, has fit right in teaching the young A’s.

La Russa rants

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa went off on comeback-minded outfielder Andy Van Slyke this week, after Van Slyke suggested he wasn’t receiving adequate “communication” from La Russa or general manager Walt Jocketty. Van Slyke, 36, hit .545 this spring before suffering a groin strain, and does not want to report back to extended spring training if he can’t be guaranteed a major league roster spot would follow.

“Right now, a lukewarm response would be great,” Van Slyke said. “At least I’d be getting one. Every day is a guessing game. Communication with this new group is something that needs to be worked on.”

Snapped La Russa: “I think the problem is he’s not hearing what he wants to hear. If he wants communication and he needs certainty, he can go home. What he asked for before we left (spring camp) were some guarantees that if he went back and got himself healthy and in shape that he would be a big leaguer. That’s the kind of stuff you get from a rookie who’s just shown up for the first time, not from a veteran. There are no guarantees in major league baseball.

“He hasn’t had any communication? Well, my communication is to go home. It was all explained to him. If he can’t understand that, then go home.”

O’s show interest in Daulton

Now that the luxury-tax deadline has passed, the Orioles’ interest in the Phillies’ Darren Daulton should increase.

But owner Peter Angelos has been holding up any deal by refusing to add to his payroll.

The Phillies would be willing to pay part of Daulton’s $5 million salary this season, but the average annual value of his four-year contract, $4,625,000, would be charged completely to Baltimore and would cost the Orioles $1,618,750 in tax.

Still, it seems inevitable that Daulton will wind up in Baltimore, reported Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Next question, please

Now what are the critics going to find to pick on the Texas Rangers about? “I knew since the day we clinched last year that it was going to be better,” manager Johnny Oates said. “You get tired of answering that question all the time.”

The question was the one about why the team never had been a division champion in its first 24 years.