Take a closer look
Yanks don't wear crown yet; Sosa doesn't get his due
Posted: Friday September 18, 1998 03:43 PM
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- The New York Yankees have
clearly been the best team in baseball this year. But before you start
penciling them into the World Series, take a closer look at some of these
numbers.
The Yankees may be around 60 games over .500, but their record against the
five teams they could face in the American League playoffs is not
spectacular. The only team they've been able to dominate has been Texas,
and they have a losing record against Anaheim.
Remember, the Angels took three of five from the Yankees at the end of
August -- something I'm sure New York remembers well.
There's more.
New York has been hitting around .285 as a team this year but its batting
average is lower than that against four of the five teams. And, the
Yankees' ERA against all five teams is higher than their season average.
Texas even averaged 6 1/2 runs a game against New York.
The Yankees have barely played .500 ball the last month, which can be
expected since they clinched their division so early. It's tough to
maintain that mental edge to play .700 ball over a whole season. But over
the next two weeks look for New York to try and reestablish its
dominance.
The crucial series will be next week's four-game matchup with Cleveland.
Every team wants to go into the playoffs on a high note, and a good
performance against a potential first-round opponent would do that.
However, if the Yankees stumble against the Indians it might erase some of
the confidence built during their spectacular season.
Finally, I have to shift gears a bit and talk about something that really
bothered me this week -- Major League Baseball's treatment of Sammy Sosa's 62nd
home run.
When Mark
McGwire hit his record-breaking homer, the league did a great job of
honoring him. But they dropped the ball with Sammy.
Sosa's home run was just as significant as McGwire's, yet there was no one
there from the National League to congratulate him. The league wasn't even
using the specially marked balls used to identify record homers.
Baseball has planned a ceremony on Sunday to honor Sosa with baseball
commissioner Bud Selig expected to attend. But with all of the excitement
that's been created by Sosa and McGwire this year, how could one be treated
with such pomp and circumstance, and the other so carelessly by baseball as
a whole? As a former player, I'm embarrassed for baseball. If we in
baseball don't respect the great feats and accomplishments of those within
it, how can we truly expect those outside of the game to respect it?
Ozzie Smith, a 15-time All Star, is the baseball analyst for CNN/SI, the
24-hour sports news network from CNN and Sports Illustrated. His column
appears every Monday exclusively on CNNSI.com.
| 
