Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 165

Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, April 5, 1994 Section 4 BASEBALL Jerome Hcltzman On baseball 'Tuffy' suits hiiri i I i i just fine If am -mm By Joseph A. Reaves "II if r- Tribune Staff Writer Karl Rhodes isn't ready lb change his nickname. Tuffy will do even though "Babe" Rhodes might be more fitting after Iris three homers and 4-for-4 against the Mets Monday. "No! Babe? Not for stick with Tuffy," said Rhodei -r VVv. 3 Cubs notes 4 Tribune photo by Nancy stone The Cubs' Glenallen Hill is brushed back by a Mets pitch that bounced off the dirt in the sixth inning.

Cubs Cubs7 new 'legend' makes himself right at home (run) made him a legend," 1 A said Dallas Green, manag-11 er of the New York Mets. "You couldn't ask for a better home-run wind," insisted Cub manager Tom Trebelhora As for Tuffy Rhodes, the Cubs center-fielder who crashed home runs in his first three at-bats Monday, he described himself as a linelrive hitter who was shooting for singles, not the stars. Whatever, the 25-year-old Rhodes muscled in for baseball glory at Wrigley Field, the first player to hit three Opening Day home runs in his first three at-bats. As a leadoff hitter, Rhodes explained his primary goal is to get on base. He was perfect and goes into Tuesday's game with a 1.000 on-base percentage.

In addition to his home runs, he drew a walk and singled in the ninth. All three home runs were aided by a wind and were off Doc Gooden, the Cub killer. Gooden was knocked out in the sixth as Rhodes was coming to bat for the fourth time. Gooden departed with a 7.94 earned-run average. Of much more significance is that he was the winner in a 12-8 Mets victory, No.

27 in his 31 decisions against the Cubs. "The only way it would have been better," said Trebelhorn, "would have been if we had won the game." After the game, relaxing in the coaches' room, General Manager Larry Himes asked what kind of stats Rhodes would have if he maintained his performance through the entire 162-game season. I told him he didn't want to know. At the least Rhodes would qualify for a $10 million contract "That's all right" Himes replied. "He's not eligible for salary arbitration." One of the coaches did the arithmetic: 486 home runs, 648 hits and a flawless 1.000 batting average.

In the clubhouse, Rhodes was telling reporters, "I can't think home run. If I do, it probably would be a ground ball or a strikeout" More than likely, Rhodes will settle for singles and a .300 average. He had a 232 lifetime average in 107 previous big-league games, including 15 with the Cubs last September after he was acquired from the Kansas City Royals in a three-team deal. "He's going to be a good hitter," insisted Hall of Famer Billy Williams, the Cubs' batting coach. "He's got a good eye, swings at strikes and uses the whole field." Rhodes is also a team man.

In the sixth inning, during his fourth plate appearance, reliever Eric Hillman, obviously fearful of feeding Rhodes a strike, fell behind on the count 3-0. Hillman's first two pitches were wide, the third high. The fourth pitch was also high, but good enough to swing at Rhodes had the take sign and took the walk, filling the bases with two outs for Ryne Sandberg. Had he connected again, Rhodes would have been the first Cub to hit four home runs in one game. Rhodes had no complaints about taking 3-0.

The Cubs, at that moment had two men on and were trailing 10-7. Rhodes had one more at-bat leading off the ninth, and responded with a hard single to right off reliever John Franco. The three home runs and the single gave Rhodes a 3.25 slugging percentage. Four is the maximum four bases for every time at-bat No player has had a 1.000 slugging percentage. To achieve this number would require a single, one base, for each at-bat Gooden acknowledged that his game plan was to keep "the ball away from Rhodes." Instead, Doc threw him strikes a curveball up, and two fastballs, also up.

In the fifth, Gooden came inside with a hard fastbalL Rhodes jumped out of the way. "I could see him glaring at me," Gooden said later. Rhodes hit Gooden's next serve into the seats in left-center, just as he had done in his first two at-bats. 7 5 who has had the nickname sjhc he was a 7-year-old playftg sandlot ball. "I was a tough little kid then, and I was pretty tough tody' he said with a smile.

Perspective: Manager Tom Trebelhorn is a pretty upbeat J. But he is realistic, too. He showed that after the tnrej homers by Rhodes. "Don't get me wrong, that wife an amazing performance," Trebelhorn said. "But let's face ij.

All three of those homers cquUI have been outs on another day. "There were some conditions that helped hin te 22 m.p.h. tailwind. Still, advantage of them and it was a remarkable performance under any conditions." Ouch! The 12 runs the Mets scored Monday were the most allowed by the Cubs on Opening Day in the 20th Century. Shaky: The outfield defense, a concern all spring, looked pretty bad.

All three outfielders-Rhodes, Sammy Sosa and Derrick May made bad plays. Ailing: Shawon Dunston left the game after six innings with tightness in his back. "It was just precautionary," said Trebelhorn, who said Dunston could be out of the lineup Tuesday if the weather is bad. The forecast calls for rain and cold temperatures. Back problems kept Dunston out of the lineup for most of the last two years.

Picture this: Trebelhorn has redecorated the manager's office at Wrigley Field with his favorite collector's items pictures of various baseball stadiums. His predecessor had the walls decorated with pictures of himself and various celebrities. "I don't like pictures of people," said Trebelhorn, who does have one picture of a person he likes. "It's from Richard Nixon. He autographed it: 'Managing a baseball team is a lot like being president.

Good Premonition: Before the game, Trebelhorn was asked about the importance of Opening Day. "It's only one game out of 162, but one thing you don't want to do is go out and lay an egg," he said. "If you lose this one, play poorly and then go out and win five in a row, people are still talking about how lousy you looked on Opening Day." Healing: Pitcher Frank Castillo had the torn tendon in his throwing hand examined. "It went well," Castillo said. "They said I could probably throw batting practice in a week and then get ready for some rehab starts in Florida." Castillo started the season on the disabled list Tnbune photo by Chris Walker Fans toss their hats onto Wrigley Field after Tuffy Rhodes hit his third home run in Monday's opener.

Continued From Page 1 games. They might never lose. They pounded out 16 hits. Starter Mike Morgan allowed six runs on six hits in four innings before giving way to 29-year-old rookie Blaise Ilsley, who made his major-league debut after nine years in the minors. Ilsley's dream appearance became a nightmare when he gave up four runs on six hits and three walks in just two innings.

Jim Bullinger allowed an earned run in two innings, but had the closest thing to a respectable outing. He was the only Cubs pitcher not to walk anyone. "It's pretty disappointing when you can't make eight runs stand up," manager Tom Trebelhorn said. "We had a game where we were never in it and never out of it. I hope that's not our slogan this year: never in and never out.

Those are the kinds of slogans that losers have." But the Cubs were in the game if ever so briefly. Rhodes, in his first at-bat as the new leadoff man, launched a 3-2 curveball into the bleachers in left-center. That put the Cubs up 1-0, but with the wind blowing out to left at 22 m.p.h., nobody expected things to stay that way. Morgan gave up back-to-back solo homers to former Cub Jose Vizcaino and Todd Hundley in the third to boost the Mets to the lead before Rhodes came up with two outs in the bottom of the inning and took a 3-1 fastball to almost the same spot in left-center to tie the game. By the time Rhodes hit his record-setting third homer in the fifth inning, Morgan and Ilsley had given up nine runs and the Mets were pulling 'I didn't realize what was going on when I saw all the hats.

Somebody finally told me it was a "hat trick" -like they have in hockey. It was great I loved it." Tuffy Rhodes greedy after the three homers. Next Vs. New York, Tuesday, 1:20 p.m., WGN-Ch. 9.

How they scored CUBS FIRST Rhodes homered. One run. METS THIRD With one out, Vizcaino homered. Todd Hundley homered. Two runs.

CUBS THIRD With two outs, Rhodes homered. One run. METS FOURTH Kent homered. Segul walked. Bumltz doubled, Segul to third.

Thompson doubled, scoring Segul and Bumitz. Gooden sacrificed Thompson to third. Vizcaino's sacrifice fty scored Thompson. Four runs. CUBS FOURTH Grace singled and scored on double by May, who was thrown out overrunning second.

With two outs, Wilkins reached on an error by Vizcaino, went to second on Buechele's single. Dunston doubled, scoring Wilkins and Buechele. Three runs. METS FIFTH Ilsley pitching. McReynolds walked and stole second.

One out later, Kent doubled, McReynolds moved to third. Segui's fielder's choice forced Kent at third while McReynolds scored. Bumitz walked, Segul to second. Thompson's infield single loaded the bases. Gooden singled, scoring Segul and Bur-nitz.

Three runs. CUBS FIFTH Rhodes homered. Sandberg doubled, went to third on Grace's groundout, scored on May's groundout Two runs. METS SIXTH Hundley singled. One out later, Bonilla singled, Hundley to second.

Kent singled, scoring Hundley. One run. METS EIGHTH With one out Bonilla doubled and went to third on Kent's infield single. Segui's sacrifice fty scored Bonilla. One run.

METS NINTH Plesac pitching. With two out, Vizcaino walked. Hundley walked, moving Vizcaino to second. McReynolds singled, scoring Vizcaino. One run.

CUBS NINTH Franco pitching. Rhodes singled. Sandberg hit into a fielder's choice, forcing Rhodes at second. Grace grounded out moving Sandberg to second. May singled, scoring Sandberg.

One run. Complete Opening Day rosters, plus Cubs, White Sox and other baseball box scores In Scoreboard. going on when I saw all the hats," said Rhodes, who, until last year, had played seven seasons of pro ball and never had more than four homers in an entire year. "Somebody finally told me it was a 'hat trick' like they have in hockey. It was great.

I loved it" Rhodes said his emotions ran the gamut during the game. "After the first home run, I was geeked. You know, geeked. That's slang for excited," he said. "After the second one, I was a little more calm.

I never thought I could hit two homers in a game. "Then when I hit the third one, I was frightened." Rhodes capped his perfect day with a walk and a line-drive single, which seemed downright away. But the sellout crowd of 38,413 was ready to bask in the moral victory of a magical performance. That was all the fans had. That and Harry Caray's singing and the hoopla of having first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and five-time Olympic gold medalist speed skater Bonnie Blair on hand.

The fans celebrated the third homer by tossing hats by the hundreds on the field and demanding a curtain call from Rhodes. Play was delayed for nearly 10 minutes. "I didn't realize what was Quick revenge sweet for Vizcaino 'When I hit the home run, I was walking the bases wondering what they were saying now. I felt they were going to miss me Former Cub Jose Vizcaino "When he hit that one, I just took a deep breath," Gooden said. "In that situation, all you can do is try to keep your team in the game." Before the game, Himes said: "Our pitchers have been cruelly maligned.

They don't have to take that It's time for them to belly-up to the bar. And when they join in we should win this thing." Only Rhodes bellied-up. Eight runs should have been more than enough for a Cubs victory, but Mike Morgan and three relievers were soaked for 12 runs and 16 hits. Much heroics, but not a promising opening. By Joseph Tybor Tribune Staff Writer With his big smile and his soft, shy speech, it is hard to believe that Jose Vizcaino is the kind to gloat But after the kind of homecoming that is written in dreams, well let's just say he was one happy fellow Monday.

Vizcaino, traded by the Cubs to the Mets just last Wednesday, was one of several offensive standouts for New York in its 12-8 victory over the Cubs in Monday's opener. He walked his first time up, hit a solo homer to right with one out in the third, drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, tripled in the seventh and walked and scored the final Mets run in the ninth. "The most important thing is, we won the game," Vizcaino emphasized to reporters several times afterward. But he hardly needed to be pressed about what he felt when he lined a Mike Morgan fastball into the right-field bleachers. "Yeah, when I hit the home run, I was walking the bases wondering what they were saying now.

I felt they were going to miss me," he said. "I am all But the Cubs thought they had no recourse except to trade for much-needed pitching, the lack of which was illustrated Monday by the Mets' 16 hits. Vizcaino was expendable, too, in part because of Dunston's multimillion-dollar contract Not to mention Rey Sanchez, who started 82 games last season at short Vizcaino was warmly welcomed by the Mets, who probably would have opened the season with non-roster spring training invitee Fernando Vina at short if the trade hadn't been made. The Cubs received right-hander Anthony Young, who had lost 27 games in a row over two seasons. Vizcaino was immediately handed the Mets' starting shortstop job.

"I'm so happy now because I'm going to be an everyday player," Vizcaino said. "I'm so happy to be here." Mets manager Dallas Green echoed the sentiment "He's a quality person and a quality baseball guy," Green said. "We're tickled to death to have him. It didn't take him long to be part of the family, and he's already fit in super with the guys." excited because we won the game, and I had a pretty good game, but the most important thing was beating my former team." Vizcaino said he was shocked when he received word he was suddenly a Met In three seasons with the Cubs, and particularly last year, when he filled a void opened by the injured Shawon Dunston, he had become a popular Cub. He was a valued team member not only because of his friendly personality, but for his versatility as welL Last year, he opened the season for the Cubs at second, filling in for the injured Ryne Sandberg.

He also switched to third base when needed. A litany of leading men Cubs Opening Day leadoff men since 1970: Don Kessinger, SS 1970-71 Jose Cardenal, RF 1972 Rick Monday, CF 1973 Vic Harris, 2b 1974 Don Kessinger, SS 1975 Rick Monday, CF 1976 Ivan DeJesus, SS 1977-79 Lenny Randle, 2b 1980 Ivan DeJesus, SS 1981 Bump Wills, 2b 1982 Mel Hall, LF 1983 Bob Dernier, CF 1984-87 David Martinez, CF 1988 Jerome Walton, CF 1989-91 Shawon Dunston, SS 1992 Willie Wilson, CF 1993 Tuffy Rhodes, CF 1994 i It r.S II Tribune photo by John Dziekan Jose Vizcaino hits a home run, adding to the Mets' 124! victory..