The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 62

THE PALM BEACH POST TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2002 6C Baseball NUMBERS GAME CANT WIN THE CLOSE ONES: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are 18-30 in an AL-high 48 games decided by one or two runs. QUOTE OF THE DAY KAZUHISA ISHII, L.A. rookie left-hander, after earning the win Sunday in the Dodgers' 2-1 victory against Arizona. "I've had the experience of pitching in five world championships in Japan, and I wanted to pitch with that importance in my mind today. Hike the pressure." i lfvll II i I id MARLINS REPORT Testy Lloyd arrives; Loria mum The reliever deflects questions about a rift with Loria and the Marlins owner remains quiet.

TODAY'S GAME WHENWHERE: 12:10 p.m. Shea Stadium. TV: Pax, CSPAN2 or WTCN-15. RADIO: WQAM-560AM, WDJA-850AM, WJNX-1330AM, Marlins notebook 1 tlV I I I 1 (h Loria Lloyd METS STARTING PITCHER LHP Al Leiter (8-7, 2.80 ERA) MARLINS STARTING PITCHER RHP Josh Beckett (2-3, 3.86 ERA) STREAKS: Second baseman Luis Castillo has hit in seven straight games Right fielder Juan Encarnacion had his 12-eame hitting streak concern that this was the first step of many (more trades come)? There's no indication of that, nor is it true." Samson spoke briefly with first baseman Derrek Lee outside the Marlins' clubhouse for a few minutes. Lee had said he would ask for a trade if more deals were made.

Lee said they just said hello. "I won't get drawn in through the media about conversations with Derrek," Samson said. "Whaf done is done. Derrek's a terrific young man." i Raines bobble: Tim Raines, who played 12 seasons with Montreal, hasn't seen his bobble-head doll that was given away Sunday at Olympic Stadium, but he made arrangements to get 100 anyway. Cullen McRae, Florida's video coordinator, saw it on the Internet and reported that Raines' bobble is "the smallest in the majors." The 5-foot-9 Raines replied: "It just might be." Noteworthy: Left-handed pitcher Oswaldo Mairena was optioned to Class AAA Calgary to make room for Lloyd.

Shortstop Alex Gonzalez reported no major pain Monday in rehabilitation action with Florida's Gulf Coast League team in Jupiter. By Joe Capozzi Palm Beach Post Staff Writer NEW YORK- Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria caught up with his team Monday for the first time since players criticized him for trading Cliff Floyd and Ryan Dempster. No one accused him of lying, as several players did Thursday when they said he'd reneged on a pledge they said he made to them two weeks earlier about his commitment to winning. In fact, few players said anything to Loria. The owner wasn't made available to reporters as he lingered along the third-base line before Monday's game while the Marlins took batting practice.

Near the end of BP, Loria wandered behind the batting cage, said hello to Preston Wilson and chatted briefly with new right fielder Juan Encarnacion before hanging out with batting coach Bill Robinson. Reliever Graeme Lloyd reported to the Marlins, but he didn't have much to say, either. Last week, Lloyd told reporters in Canada he didn't want to come to Florida, saying, "I've been lied to by (Loria) once or twice, and I -a snapped For the first time in eight games, the Marlins didn't have a stolen base Leiter has lost his last three starts against Florida Brad Penny has gone six straight starts without a win. KEEP AN EYE ON: Beckett, who hasn't started since May 29 when he allowed a career-high seven runs in one inning against the Reds. He went on the disabled list June 5 with a blister on his right middle finger.

DID YOU KNOW? The Mets uniform colors are a fashion tribute to two New York teams that disbanded before the Mets began play in 162 blue for the Brooklyn Dodgers and orange for the New York Giants. Joe Capozzl don't want to get lied to again." Asked Monday how Loria lied to him, Lloyd said: "What more can I say? It's between us. Next question." Lloyd's contract had carried a 12-team, limited no-trade clause that included the Marlins, but he missed a Nov. 1 renewal deadline by six days and lost that protection. Lloyd acknowledged a disagreement over his contract but he wouldn't elaborate.

"We'll find out," he said. "I can't talk about it right now." Lloyd had 72 hours to report after the trade. Asked why he didn't report until Monday, he said: "I had some business. Next." Asked if he still was angry about the trade, the 6-foot-7 Australian said, "I'm here. There's business to do What do you want me to say? What are you looking for?" Manager Jeff Torborg is looking forward to having Lloyd in his bullpen.

The 35-year-old left-hander, is 2-3 with five saves and a 5.87 ERA in 41 relief appearances this season. "Graeme's a gamer," said Torborg, who met in his office with Lloyd early Monday. "He said, Til do whatever you Graeme's all business." Marlins President David Samson said he understood the players' reactions. He wouldn't rule out more trades, but doubted that would happen. "I don't think players in general, in my opinion, should play in fear of a trade.

They should play with the excitement that they get to go to the park and do their job every day. That's what we do as management. We come to the park and do our job every day," he said. "But is there any cause for MONDAY'S BOX Mets 8, Marlins 3 It. Florida AB II BB SO Avg, LCastillo 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .340 JEncarnacin rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .274 PrWHsond 4 1 2 1 0 0 .241 Lowell 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .305 DeLeelb 3 0 0 0 1 0 .255 Millar If 4 2 2 2 0 1 .270 CJohnsonc 4 0 1 0 0 0 .212 4 0 0 0 0 3 .249 Penny 2 0 0 0 0 1 .136 Nealp 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mordecaiph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .203 Lloyd 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 Pavanop 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 Totale 34 3 7 3 1 7 New York AB Bl BB SO Avg.

Alomar2b .4 1 0 0 1 1 .271 Valentin ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .223 Burnitz rt 3 3 2 1 1 0 .220 Vaughn 1b 3 1 2 3 0 0 .251 Alfonzo3b 4 12 1 0 0 .313 Paytonct 4 0 2 0 0 1 .267 Cedeno If 4 12 1 0 1 .252 VWiHonc 3 111 11 .242 Bacsikp 3 0 0 1 0 0 .000 Total! 32 6 11 6 3 4 Blisters cause other troubles for pitchers 4 How they scored METS FIRST: Alomar walked. Valentin popped out. Burnitz infield single, Alomar to third. Vaughn hit a sacrifice fly, Alomar scored. Burnitz stole second.

Al-fonzo singled, Burnitz scored. Payton singled, Alfonzo to second. On Penny's wild pitch, Alfonzo to third, Payton to second. Cedeno grounded out. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on.

Mets 2, Marlins 0. METS THIRD: Valentin lined out. Burnitz homered. Vaughn grounded out. Alfonzo flied out.

1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Mets 3, Marlins 0. MARLINS FOURTH: Lowell popped out to shortstop Valentin. Lee grounded out, pitcher Bacsik to first baseman Vaughn. Millar homered to left on a full count.

Johnson flied out to center fielder Payton. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Mets 3, Marlins 1. METS FOURTH: Payton grounded out. Cedeno singled.

Wilson doubled, Cedeno scored. Wilson to third. Bacsik sacrificed. Alomar grounded out. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on.

Mets 5, Marlins 1. METS FIFTH: Valentin flied outto right fielder Encarnacion. Burnitz walked on a full count. Vaughn homered to right on a 3-1 count, Burnitz scored. Alfonzo singled to left.

Neal pitching. Payton singled to center, Alfonzo to third. Cedeno singled to center, Alfonzo scored, Payton to second. Wilson struck out. Bacsik flied out to left fielder Millar.

3 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on. Mets 8, Marlins 1. MARLINS SIXTH: Wilson homered to left on the first pitch. Lowell grounded out, pitcher Bacsik to first baseman Vaughn. Lee walked on a full count.

Millar flied out to center fielder Payton. Johnson grounded out, shortstop Valentin to first baseman Vaughn. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 left on. Mets 8, Marlins 2. MARLINS NINTH: Lee grounded out, third baseman Alfonzo to first baseman Vaughn.

Millar homered to center on a 0-1 count. Johnson grounded out, third baseman Alfonzo to first baseman Vaughn. Fox struck out. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on. Mets 8, Marlins 3.

Florida 000 101 001 3 7 0 NewVork 201 230 OOx B11 0 LOB Rorida's, New Yc 5 2B-I-VWilson (6). HH-PrWilson (1 6) oil Bacsik; Vaughn (1 2) oil Penny, Millar 2 (7) oft Bacsik Burnitz (10) off Penny. RBI PrWilson (45), Millar 2 (22), Burnitz (31), Vaughn 3 (39). Allonzo (29), Cedeno (25), VWilson (15), Bacsik (1), SB Burnitz (6). Bacsik.

SF Vaughn. DP Florida 1 (LCastillo, AFox and DeLee). If Florida IP ER BB SO NP ERA 4V4 8 8 8 3 0 93 6.08 Neal 2 0 0 0 1 23 3.52 Uoy4 1 1 0 0 0 2 14 568 Mano 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 6 12 New York IP RJfl BB SONP ERA BacsikW.2-0 9 7 3 3 1 7 111 3.21 Inherited runnert-tcored Neal 1-1. WP Penny. A 39,706 This date In baseball 1902: John McGraw was named manager of the New York Giants, a post he would hold for 30 years.

1 920: Babe Ruth broke his own season record of 29 homers with his 30th as the New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-2. Ruth would finish the season with 54. ALLEN EYESTONEStaff Photographer New York's Al Leiter can empathize with Florida's Josh Beckett and his blister problems. Leiter says pitching in South Florida's heat and humidity doesn't help.

SCHEDULE My Sun Mom Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 14 2:20 1 15 7:10 1 16 12:10 Il7 7:05 Il8 1:05 Il9 7:05 1 20 705 CUBS NYM NYM ATI ATI MON MON PAX FSN PAX FSN FSN FSN FSN 2it 4:05 22 7:05 23 7:05 24 1:05 25 7:05 26 7:05 27 7:05 MON ATI ATI ATI MON MON MON PAX FSN PAX FSN FSN PAX PAX BUSTERS From 1C changed. It hasn't been a problem." At least a doctor cured Leiter's problem. Rangers pitcher Ismael Valdes resorted to Super Glu to repair his fingertips. Blyleven manicured his blisters between innings with a needle. Hideo Nomo was told to drink snake oil.

(He didn't.) And Nolan Ryan made pickles famous in 1968 when he started soaking his bloodied hand in their juice to toughen the skin, prompting a New York City deli owner to post a sign: "Nolan Ryan buys his pickle brine here." Then there's the remedy that Marlins pitcher Julian Tavarez described with an apology: "I don't mean to be gross," he said, "but you pee on it." Blisters have been popping up on the fingers of pitchers since the days of Cy Young and Three-Finger Brown, and they can wreak as much havoc as a groin pull or a torn rotator cuff. "Having a blister problem is like having a sore arm," retired Astros pitcher Larry Dierker once said. "It may not sound bad, but you can't pitch." The problem comes from pitchers making their pitches move by applying pressure to the ball when the grip is at the seams. "The ball comes off with the friction and they get blisters," Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. "You can throw on the side with it covered, but you've got to have a feel for the baseball, too, so it's a fine line." "It's like snapping your fingers, and the seams of the baseball create that torque," Blyleven said.

For athletes, blisters also carry a stigma. After all, they're often the size of a dime and most commonly suffered by weekend gardeners. "There's that old macho side You can't pitch because of a says Phillies pitching coach Vera Ruhle, Dierker's old teammate with the Houston Astros. Beckett, a 22-year-old Texan, wasn't keen about sticking his fingers in a bucket of rice. He was more willing to try Stan's Rodeo Blister Cream, one of about a dozen lotions and ointments he's tried in the past year.

Blisters are even more dangerous when pitchers attempt to compensate by adjusting their grips or mechanics, which can lead to serious arm problems. The Red Sox believe chronic blister problems have hindered the career of reliever Tom Gordon, who made adjustments to his breaking ball that ultimately led to elbow problems. "Once you have that soreness in your mind, the sensitivity of the nerve is going to be there," said Ruhle, who battled blisters in his career. "Now you trigger a motion: 'I don't want to put pressure on that Now you P-Ax PAX (Can be seen on CSPAN-2 in Palm Beach County, WTCN-15 in Treasure Coast, check local cable system); FSN Fox Sports Net. Shaded games at Pro Player Stadium.

Bacsik beats Marlins for the second time trigger another injury. That's the biggest concern." That's exactly what the Marlins want to avoid with Beckett. Owner Jeffrey Loria had him see two top dermatologists in Pennsylvania. (Laser surgery and skin grafts were ruled out.) The team has sought advice from such blistered legends as Ryan and Sandy Koufax and picked the brains of pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and a "wound-care specialist" from a South Florida hospital. "What's been intriguing about this is the amount of e-mail and care packages we've received," Cunningham said.

"Everyone's got solutions and not all of them are good." Most unusual suggestion left on his voice mail? "Urinating on the finger in the morning." Beckett hasn't done that yet. But he has worn an acrylic mini-sock to eliminate friction and whisk perspiration from the skin to keep it as dry as possible. "This has been very resistant, stubborn. A lot of it has been Josh learning his own body," Cunningham said. "It's a full-time job for him to take care of it.

"The biggest problem we have is that he goes out to pitch again and he re-creates that friction, and re-creating that friction he opens it back up." No wonder. "Put pressure anywhere on the skin, and if you do it repeatedly, you can induce a blister," said Israel Eckman, assistant professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who has worked with the Baltimore Orioles. "The skin cycle replicates every 28 days, from the lower layer of skin to the top portion. (There are five layers in the epidermis.) It takes 14 days to go from the lower layer to the top layer and another layer is shed. Potentially it can heal up in 10 days." The doctor's orders for a five-man rota tion? "The best remedy is eliminating the trauma through Mother Nature," Eckman said.

"Sometimes (a pitcher) may have to skip a start" Besides friction and workloads, there's a new debate over a possible culprit base-' balls. Forget the juiced ball theory. Some pitchers believe the seams are jacked up sitting a bit higher than normal. "If they are, I haven't gotten to that batch yet," Braves pitcher Greg Maddux said. But three of his teammates feel a difference.

"It's been a long time since any of our pitchers had a blister," said Tom Glavine, who didn't pitch in last week's Ail-Star Game because of a faulty index finger. Two other Braves also have blisters, Kevin Millwood and Mike Remlinger. Said Leiter: "I haven't seen a discernible difference in the seams. However, there is some curiosity because there's a lot of guys coming down with blister problems." Rothschild, who has helped Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood through blister problems, thinks the seams are too buff. "From what I'm seeing with the baseball, they're just different.

They're not standard," the former Marlins pitching coach said. "You can take a box and feel a bunch of different baseballs and some will feel bigger and smaller." Leiter, an ex-Marlin, said pitching in the South Florida heat and humidity doesn't help. "You put moisture on your hand and you get it wet and your skin gets soft and therefore you're prone for a blister," he said. Tonight, the Marlins' training staff hopes nobody develops blisters by crossing their fingers every time Beckett throws. Leiter knows better than to believe that the blisters won't come back again.

"Oh, they will," he said. They definitely will." joecapozzipbpost.com We've got to battle through this. We're having a tough time, that's all. It's time to JEFF T0RB0RG Marlins' manager, on the team's five-game losing streak MARLINS From 1C holding down big innings, and we didn't do that today," catcher Charles Johnson said. "Hopefully, we can catch this thing before it gets way out of hand." Mets rookie left-hander Mike Bacsik (2-0, 3.21) pitched a complete game, beating the Marlins for the second time in 13 days.

He became the fourth Mets pitcher in the past 25 years to win his first two career starts, but he's the first to get those wins against one team. The last Mets' rookie to throw a complete game was Mo-satoYoshii on May 21, 1998. 0 Bacsik, 24, helped himself in the two-run fourth inning with his first RBI on a suicide squeeze that scored Vance Wilson. Penny set the tone by walking the first batter he faced, Roberto Alomar, who would score the first of New York's two runs in the inning. Penny preferred to regard his performance as "a stepping stone," emphasizing that he didn't feel any pain.

It was his thjrd start since coming off the disabled list with right biceps inflammation. "I didn't feel any pain. I felt good, Maybe I tried to do too he said. 'Just a terrible game. Just forget about it.

But I'm feeling strong and that's the best I've felt." Penny threw a good fastball, but he fell behind in the count. "He left some pitches up in the zone and they capitalized on it," Johnson said. "The runs started to add up." Torborg couldn't help but reflect on the last time Florida won, 5-2 to the Mets on July 6. "We've got to battle through this," he said. "We're having a tough time, that's all.

It's time to regroup." They'll have to do it in those same uniforms today. Said Millar: "Maybe we'll get another set." Noteworthy: Right-hander Josh Beckett will come off the disabled list and start today's game. To make room on the roster, right-handed reliever Blaine Neal was optioned to Class AAA Calgary The 1956 Miami Marlins were a Class AAA team. joecapozzipbpost.com Suit alleges that Loria lied to Expos' minority owners ease baseball's economic problems, but legal challenges blocked him. Selig, though, said the Expos remained a contraction candidate.

It also is possible, however, that the Expos could be moved to the Washington area. Last winter, Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball and bought the Marlins, whose owner, John Henry, joined the new own ership group of the Red Sox. The lawsuit charges that Selig, DuPuy, Loria and David Samson, the Marlins' president, "are the perpetrators of a fraudulent conspiracy and the members of a racketeering enterprise with the object of eliminating major league baseball in Montreal." The suit alleges that when Loria bought 24 percent of the Expos in 1999 and became managing partner, he lied to the minority owners and misled them about his intentions for the team. The suit seeks $100 million in punitive damages and unspecified compensatory damages for violation of the RICO act, for fraud and for the commissioner's "breaches of fiduciary Jduty and negligent misrepresentations." LAWSUIT From 1C an injunction preventing Major League Baseball from moving the Expos to another city or eliminating the team through its contraction plan. Selig had planned to eliminate the Expos and the Minnesota Twins before this season to help.