Fellow Closers Save Their Highest Praises for Gagne

BOSTON —  As Eric Gagne rolls on, tipping his cap to Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants while pushing his major league record for consecutive saves to 67, frustrated hitters are not the only ones shaking their heads in admiration at the Dodger closer’s bottom-line perfection.

Fellow members of the closers union in both leagues are awed by the streak. Take Keith Foulke, who converted 43 of 48 save opportunities with the Oakland A’s last year to win the American League’s fireman-of-the-year award and received a four-year, $28-million contract from the Boston Red Sox as a free agent.

“If you get 50 saves and blow five, for me that’s an acceptable season,” Foulke said. “Last year I had 43 and blew five.

“Obviously, you want to get as many as you can, but you can’t kill yourself if you don’t do it every time. Sometimes failure has to be an option, particularly in this role. Then again, the rules don’t seem to apply to everybody.”

The reference was to Gagne, who hasn’t failed in a save situation since Aug. 28, 2002. Think about it.

The brilliant Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was 40 for 46 last year and leads American League closers with a career percentage of 86.5. Gagne is now in his third season of save perfection.

“It’s one of those things that’s so incredible it just makes you want to laugh,” Foulke said.

“Really, if you go through 20 in a row, that’s consistency. My whole philosophy is I know I’m going to blow saves, but I hope to establish a ratio of at least 10 to 1, saves to blown saves....

“I mean, my stuff has been good enough to get hitters out on a consistent basis, but he’s in another league from what I’ve seen and heard. Filthy stuff and terrific control. I hope he keeps it going. I hope he goes perfect again this year.”

Tendon Trouble

Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra hasn’t appeared at Fenway Park since opening day, when he told reporters that it was too difficult being around the team while unable to play because of the right Achilles’ tendon strain he suffered when he fouled a ball off the ankle in spring training.

There is no timetable for his return from an injury that has to be treated cautiously, but Manager Terry Francona said Garciaparra was getting close to a point where he would return to Fenway to begin taking ground balls.

Meantime, Garciaparra is rehabilitating at two Boston-area facilities that have not been revealed to probing reporters, a decision that Mark Prior of the Chicago Cubs probably wishes he had made.

Prior is also recovering from an Achilles’ strain, as well as elbow tenderness. He has been taking what he calls “baby steps,” throwing briefly and periodically off the mound, but he is not expected to take his place in the Cub rotation until mid-May at the soonest, and he has been irritated by the speculation surrounding his return. One recent report from a New Jersey newspaper referred to his situation as bleak.

“Stick to the facts,” Prior told Chicago reporters. “I’m not flying to Bermuda on vacation. It’s nice that everyone worries about it and I have a lot of secondary moms, but the focus needs to turn to the active 25 guys.”

Capital Investment?

District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams has informed Major League Baseball he will use tax dollars to build a $340-million ballpark next to RFK Stadium as a home for the Montreal Expos, who would spend three seasons in RFK, starting in 2005, while the new facility was being built. Washington has always been the most viable of the seven locations seeking the Expos because of the availability of RFK on an interim basis, but the mayor’s offer does not translate to a sure thing.

Does Williams really have tax support in a district where the real money is in the surrounding counties? Don’t many in Washington prefer other sites for a new park over RFK? Can a new facility really be built for $340 million considering that the new Philadelphia and San Diego parks cost more than $450 million? Aren’t some in baseball still worried about infringement issues involving Baltimore Oriole owner Peter Angelos and still consider Washington stigmatized by its two previous failures as a franchise site?

There haven’t been a lot of answers, just as it’s not clear whether baseball will really decide by the All-Star break where the Expos will play next year. The only certainty is that aside from the emergence of Norfolk, Va., as something of a sleeper candidate, the other five -- Northern Virginia, Las Vegas, Portland, Ore., San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Monterrey, Mexico -- all have issues that appear more complex than those confronting Washington.

Anyone for another season in Montreal?