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Friday, August 21, 1998
It's no big secret: Stottlemyre must stand
and deliver
By Jim Reeves
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
ARLINGTON, Texas - It's a company secret, of course.
Nobody's talking.
But here's the way I figure it: Whatever it was that Rangers
pitching coach Dick Bosman whispered in Esteban Loaiza's ear when
he arrived here from Pittsburgh, isn't it time Todd Stottlemyre
heard the same thing?
If only it was that simple.
Bosman swears he hasn't told Loaiza a thing. Well, very little
anyway.
If he's using the same strategy with Stottlemyre, it might
be time for a change in tactics.
This deal was supposed to work just the opposite, remember?
Loaiza was supposed to be the inconsistent young right-hander
coming over from Pittsburgh. He was the appetizer to Doug Melvin's
main entree of a deal, the one at the trading deadline that brought
Stottlemyre and shortstop Royce Clayton from St. Louis.
Stottlemyre, son of former Yankees great Mel Stottlemyre, would
bring the bulldog attitude and strikeout persona that could make
him No. 1 in the Rangers' struggling rotation.
So guess who's emerged as No. 1 and who's struggling to hold
up his end of the bargain.
The numbers spell it out dramatically.
Loaiza, who faces the Yankees Friday night, is 1-2 in six starts
with a 3.79 ERA. Three times he has carried the Rangers into the
eighth inning or beyond and has yet to go less than 5 2/3. He
has fanned 31 and walked only seven in 40 1/3 innings pitched.
Stottlemyre is 2-1 in three starts with a 6.89 ERA in 15 2/3
innings. He has struck out 18 and walked 15.
Loaiza, without question, has been the steal, but if the Rangers
are going to win this division and have a chance to get beyond
the first round of the playoffs, Stottlemyre must be the pitcher
the Rangers thought they were getting when they sent Darren Oliver
and Fernando Tatis to the Cardinals.
What he doesn't have to be is anything more than that.
"He's so excited about being here and being in a pennant
race," Bosman said last night before the Rangers opened a
10-game home stand against the Indians. "He wants to do well
and he's the kind of guy who really raises it up emotionally."
Very quietly, Bosman and Mel Stottlemyre, the Yankees' pitching
coach, discussed how best to keep Todd's emotions under control
while the Rangers were in New York last weekend.
"He's like anybody else," Bosman said of the highly
competitive younger Stottlemyre. "Sometimes he tries to throw
the ball past the hitter instead of just throwing it into the
catcher's mitt.
"Steve Carlton always told me all he ever concentrated
on was the dirty spot in the middle of the glove. Todd and I had
a good session (Tuesday) in Boston and we talked about that. I
want him to bring his curveball back into his repertoire because
he hasn't been using that very often. I want him to use his whole
package and go to the glove. I don't care who's up."
Stottlemyre's troubles here are a continuation of a stretch
that began when he strained rib cage muscles while sliding into
second base during a game with the Cardinals about two weeks before
the trading deadline. He arrived in Texas still sore but wouldn't
use the injury as an excuse not to take the mound. Now he says
he's 100 percent and ready to prove it.
"I don't run from the fact that I haven't pitched here
anywhere close to how I pitched in the first half," said
Stottlemyre, who starts tonight against the Indians. "I know
that the way to impress is just to go out and be myself and no
more. There's no question that I've been trying to do too much.
"You come to a new club that's in first place, a club
trying to win its division, and they're counting on you to do
your job. Not only are there expectations inside the clubhouse,
I'm hard on myself and I have high expectations and I haven't
met those yet. But there's still plenty of time."
Or not. Stottlemyre doesn't have six months to show the Rangers
what he can do. Counting tonight, he probably has another eight
starts to get it in gear and lead this team into the playoffs.
"My delivery has gone in and out and I've been fighting
that a little bit," Stottlemyre said. "But I'm working
at it. It's not like I'm going through a bad stretch and accepting
it. You never accept it. You keep working; you keep grinding.
You try to identify where the problems are and you work on them.
"You start with baby steps. My last four innings in New
York were good ones. I'll try to take those four innings and build
on them."
At this point, the Rangers can only hope it's not the beginning
of a long reconstruction project.
It's no secret that they just don't have the time.
(Jim Reeves is a sports columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Write to him at: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, P.O. Box 1870, Fort
Worth, Texas, 76101.)
(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Visit the Star-Telegram on the World Wide Web: www.star-telegram.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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