Baseball Guru
03-02-2002, 09:33 AM
By DICK KAEGEL
The Kansas City Star
LAKELAND, Fla. - There was an obvious question for the Royals' Mike Sweeney. Have you seen your old buddy, Jeff Weaver?
A sly grin slipped across Sweeney's face.
"We had breakfast together," he joked.
Actually, there was no sign of Weaver, the Detroit Tigers' pitcher who incurred Sweeney's wrath during last year's brawl at Kauffman Stadium. He's not scheduled to pitch until today against Cleveland.
The Royals bused down I-4 for their Grapefruit League opener on Friday, an afternoon of pastel gray skies, a steady and strong wind and a threat of rain.
"Game-time temperature in Kansas City, 36 degrees; in Detroit, 34 degrees," the public-address announcer told the fans. "And here in Lakeland a blustery 66 degrees."
That information must have come from the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce. Only a few hundred fans came to Joker Marchant Stadium, and some of them huddled under blankets.
The Royals' preparations for the April 1 opener against the Minnesota Twins reached the earnest exhibition-game stage when left fielder Chuck Knoblauch, the new leadoff batter, stepped into the box. Three pitches later, Knoblauch was stepping out of the box after a checked-swing strikeout.
"That was an `Alice' swing," said right fielder Michael Tucker, munching a sandwich later in the tiny visitors' clubhouse.
Knoblauch grinned.
"Alice B. Davis from `The Brady Bunch'?" Knoblauch said. "I did it just for her."
In the third inning, though, Knoblauch delivered what the Royals hired him to do. Against hard-throwing right-hander Matt Anderson, he smacked an opposite-field double to right, which scored Carlos Febles with two outs.
"I hope I don't pull a ball all spring," Knoblauch said. "I'll take 200 of those down the right-field line. That'd be nice."
Knoblauch found himself pulling the ball all too often last season in a .250 season for the New York Yankees.
Right-hander Paul Byrd was the Royals' starting pitcher and gave up one run in two innings on Dean Palmer's RBI single. Broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre quizzed Byrd about a new wrinkle he'd noticed in his motion. Byrd was swinging his hand back -- an old-fashioned style of windup -- rather than delivering from a tight set position in front of his chest.
"It takes a little pressure off my shoulder. I like it," said Byrd, who had shoulder surgery in August 2000.
Byrd is a tinkerer. Last season he developed a screwball that he used with good success.
"This game for me is survival," Byrd said. "I don't throw 95 miles an hour, I throw 85."
The wind, which kept the stars and stripes straining the flagpole all afternoon, knocked down solid belts by Sweeney and Carlos Beltran, and they were caught.
"I crushed it," Sweeney said. "A little wind, wrong day."
Tucker nodded.
"I thought it was gone," he said.
Manager Tony Muser used a lineup that could very well open the season against the Twins -- Knoblauch, Neifi Perez, Beltran, Sweeney, Tucker, Joe Randa, Raul Ibanez, Brent Mayne and Febles.
"It was a good day. We got our regulars two at-bats and got the ice off them," he said.
Knoblauch's double and singles by Perez and Sweeney were the only hits by the starting nine.
There was a 3-3 tie through nine innings, and backup players filled the field. In the 11th, the Royals used the last pitcher brought on the trip.
Rookie Brad Voyles gave up a one-out walk, and Jorge Meran, a catcher called up from the minors for the day (the Tigers had two split-squad games), conquered the wind. His drive cleared the left-field wall. End of game, 5-3 Tigers.
"It was a terrible pitch," Voyles said. "My grandma could've hit that one out."
Within 10 minutes, the Royals were on the bus and headed back to the Baseball City. There were 28 exhibitions and 162 regular-season games left -- 190 to go.
Sweeney, though, amended that with a surge of spring-training optimism.
"Plus the playoffs," he said.
The Kansas City Star
LAKELAND, Fla. - There was an obvious question for the Royals' Mike Sweeney. Have you seen your old buddy, Jeff Weaver?
A sly grin slipped across Sweeney's face.
"We had breakfast together," he joked.
Actually, there was no sign of Weaver, the Detroit Tigers' pitcher who incurred Sweeney's wrath during last year's brawl at Kauffman Stadium. He's not scheduled to pitch until today against Cleveland.
The Royals bused down I-4 for their Grapefruit League opener on Friday, an afternoon of pastel gray skies, a steady and strong wind and a threat of rain.
"Game-time temperature in Kansas City, 36 degrees; in Detroit, 34 degrees," the public-address announcer told the fans. "And here in Lakeland a blustery 66 degrees."
That information must have come from the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce. Only a few hundred fans came to Joker Marchant Stadium, and some of them huddled under blankets.
The Royals' preparations for the April 1 opener against the Minnesota Twins reached the earnest exhibition-game stage when left fielder Chuck Knoblauch, the new leadoff batter, stepped into the box. Three pitches later, Knoblauch was stepping out of the box after a checked-swing strikeout.
"That was an `Alice' swing," said right fielder Michael Tucker, munching a sandwich later in the tiny visitors' clubhouse.
Knoblauch grinned.
"Alice B. Davis from `The Brady Bunch'?" Knoblauch said. "I did it just for her."
In the third inning, though, Knoblauch delivered what the Royals hired him to do. Against hard-throwing right-hander Matt Anderson, he smacked an opposite-field double to right, which scored Carlos Febles with two outs.
"I hope I don't pull a ball all spring," Knoblauch said. "I'll take 200 of those down the right-field line. That'd be nice."
Knoblauch found himself pulling the ball all too often last season in a .250 season for the New York Yankees.
Right-hander Paul Byrd was the Royals' starting pitcher and gave up one run in two innings on Dean Palmer's RBI single. Broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre quizzed Byrd about a new wrinkle he'd noticed in his motion. Byrd was swinging his hand back -- an old-fashioned style of windup -- rather than delivering from a tight set position in front of his chest.
"It takes a little pressure off my shoulder. I like it," said Byrd, who had shoulder surgery in August 2000.
Byrd is a tinkerer. Last season he developed a screwball that he used with good success.
"This game for me is survival," Byrd said. "I don't throw 95 miles an hour, I throw 85."
The wind, which kept the stars and stripes straining the flagpole all afternoon, knocked down solid belts by Sweeney and Carlos Beltran, and they were caught.
"I crushed it," Sweeney said. "A little wind, wrong day."
Tucker nodded.
"I thought it was gone," he said.
Manager Tony Muser used a lineup that could very well open the season against the Twins -- Knoblauch, Neifi Perez, Beltran, Sweeney, Tucker, Joe Randa, Raul Ibanez, Brent Mayne and Febles.
"It was a good day. We got our regulars two at-bats and got the ice off them," he said.
Knoblauch's double and singles by Perez and Sweeney were the only hits by the starting nine.
There was a 3-3 tie through nine innings, and backup players filled the field. In the 11th, the Royals used the last pitcher brought on the trip.
Rookie Brad Voyles gave up a one-out walk, and Jorge Meran, a catcher called up from the minors for the day (the Tigers had two split-squad games), conquered the wind. His drive cleared the left-field wall. End of game, 5-3 Tigers.
"It was a terrible pitch," Voyles said. "My grandma could've hit that one out."
Within 10 minutes, the Royals were on the bus and headed back to the Baseball City. There were 28 exhibitions and 162 regular-season games left -- 190 to go.
Sweeney, though, amended that with a surge of spring-training optimism.
"Plus the playoffs," he said.