Baseball / Ross Newhan : While Rose Awaits Ruling, Injuries to Reds Are Making the Point Moot

Why suspend or fire Cincinnati Reds Manager Pete Rose?

He seems to have already been taken out of the race in the National League West by injuries to key players.

The Reds have put 10 players on the disabled list since late March and still have five on it: shortstop Barry Larkin, third baseman Chris Sabo, second baseman Ron Oester, set up man Rob Dibble and starting pitcher Ron Robinson, out since March 19 because of an elbow injury.

Only first baseman Todd Benzinger and right fielder Paul O’Neill, among the regulars, have avoided the disabled list.

The siege started with Robinson in spring training, then spread to:

--Catcher Bo Diaz, who was on the disabled list for 25 days because of a knee injury and is sidelined again by a similar problem;

--Center fielder Eric Davis, out 15 days because of a hamstring injury;

--Left fielder Kal Daniels, out 40 days because of a knee injury that required surgery;

--Pitcher Danny Jackson, out 18 days because of shoulder and knee injuries;

--Utility outfielder Herm Winningham, out 15 days because of a hamstring strain;

--Oester, out since June 7 because of a hamstring pull;

--Sabo, out since June 27 because of a knee injury;

--Dibble, out since Monday because of elbow tendinitis;

--Larkin, a .340 hitter who was put on the disabled list Friday and could miss two to six weeks because of an elbow injury suffered in an All-Star skills contest.

The Reds were 35-24 on June 11 and seemed to be coping with the distractions stemming from baseball’s investigation of their manager’s alleged gambling activity. But decimated by the injuries, they fell below .500 (44-45) by losing the first two games of the second half to the Montreal Expos.

In the first game the Reds were forced to start three infielders who opened the season in triple-A Nashville, and they blew a 3-1 lead in the seventh when forced to use Norm Charlton and Kent Tekulve rather than Dibble. It was only their second loss in 34 games they have led entering the seventh.

Rose has refused to use the injuries as an alibi.

“You’ve got to play the hand you’re dealt,” he said after Thursday’s defeat, “but it’s a tough road when you’ve only got 21 or 22 players and you don’t have a backup catcher, you don’t have a backup infielder and your bullpen is crippled. But it’s going to get better, I know it.”

It could get worse, of course. Rose could lose the protection of his temporary restraining order against Commissioner Bart Giamatti, which would leave the problem of the Reds’ injuries to a successor.

Ron Guidry was the last active New York Yankee link to their last World Series championship in 1978.

Though still believing he could pitch effectively if given time, Guidry retired Wednesday with a 170-91 record, including 25-3 in ‘78, when he was as dominating as any pitcher ever.

He had a 1.74 earned-run average that year and registered 248 strikeouts, including 18 against the Angels on June 18, the most overpowering performance this writer has ever seen.

He was truly Louisiana Lightning, but at 5-feet-11 and 160 pounds, he was more than that.

Dodger second baseman Willie Randolph, who played with Guidry for 13 years, said: “I’ve always believed that Ron Guidry, pound for pound, was the fiercest competitor I ever played with. Nobody wanted to give him a chance when he first came up. Too skinny, too small, they all thought. They couldn’t see what he had in his heart. They couldn’t see the size of it. They didn’t know about his determination. I’ve never seen anybody with more.”

And like Randolph, Guidry strived to ignore the often fractious atmosphere of the Yankee clubhouse and the meddling of the owner. His retirement, following that of Mike Schmidt, represents 1989’s second closing of a class act.

The New York Mets opened the second half with a 5-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. Keith Hernandez returned to the lineup and contributed a run-scoring single. Darryl Strawberry and Gregg Jefferies--they of the broken toe and wounded bat, respectively--each homered.

But if one victory represents a fresh start, the most significant aspect may have been the pitching performance of Ron Darling, who was 6-6 in an inconsistent first half but said he is determined to fill the gap created by Dwight Gooden’s injury.

Some believe that Darling’s recent divorce weighed heavily on him in the first half.

“I have tried 100% to keep my head 100% in the game,” Darling said. “Whether it is or not, who knows? Maybe subconsciously it’s (the divorce) there.

“For whatever reason, I didn’t pitch well. Now the team needs me. It’s time for me to step to the forefront. It’s my time to shine. I intend to do that, especially until No. 16 (Gooden) comes back.”

The Texas Rangers have had a winning record in the second half only five times in 17 years. A lot of it, some believe, is mental, the Rangers being unable to cope with the fierce Texas heat of July, August and September.

But General Manager Tom Grieve, who has been with the club in one capacity or another for virtually all of those 17 years, reflected on that record and said:

“There are a lot of other hot places, places like St. Louis and Kansas City, and it doesn’t affect those teams. I think what you’re dealing with is talent, not weather.”

Asked about the meeting Tom Lasorda had with his National League pitching staff before the All-Star game, Chicago Cub relief ace Mitch Williams, known as the Wild Thing, said:

“He asked if any of us had a trick pitch and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll throw a strike once in a while.”’

Williams threw them often enough to help the Cubs accumulate 31 saves in the first half, two more than they had all of last year.

If the Rangers are to mount a second-half threat in the American League West, heat isn’t the only hurdle. The heart of the Texas lineup needs some help. Rafael Palmeiro, Julio Franco and Ruben Sierra entered the second half with a combined batting average of .323 with 29 homers and 174 runs batted in. The rest of the Rangers were hitting a combined .239 with 29 homers and only 10 more RBIs.

With his Minnesota Twins seemingly out of the race in the West, the second half clearly represents a salary drive for relief ace Jeff Reardon, who is eligible for free agency when the season ends.

Reardon, who converted 42 of 50 save chances last year, was only 14 of 21 in the first half and may have blown a shot at the most lucrative contract he will be offered.

On opening day, Reardon rejected a two-year, $3.1-million offer from the Twins, who then withdrew it. On the basis of his first-half performance, he will have trouble getting a similar offer from the Twins or anyone else, though he remains undaunted.

“I’m going to be a free agent and I have to prove something to a few people,” he said. “That’s OK, I’ve done it before.”

Reardon first established his credentials after being traded by the New York Mets to the Montreal Expos, then re-established them after being traded from the Expos to the Twins. He will be 34 soon, however, and has been in 60 or more games for seven consecutive seasons.