Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 48

bection Chicago Tribune, Monday, September 1, 1997 I Tuesday: CubsPlus I Wednesday: ColiegeFootballPlus I Thursday: BearsPlus Friday: PrepsPlus Saturday: PrepsPlus Coach a smash hit in new job 7 Runs output increases with Jackson 11,: 5Sfc J'W it 4 i i.Ks. Sox coach Ron Jackson tutors Mario Valdez before a recent game at Texas. Valdez, says Jackson, "is taking off' since narrowing histancT Swing town A look at the turnaround that followed the White Sox's decision to fire Bill Buckner and replace him as batting coach with Ron Jackson: TEAM -'-r 1 S'T? 1 l-t TT" '( Statsaml stuff $5,050,000 By trading veterans Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez. Harold Baines. Tony Phillips, Darren Lewis, Danny uarwin, Chad Kreuter and Tony Pena, the White Sox have saved an estimated $5,050,000 in prorated salary.

9263 In trading Alvarez, Hernandez, Baines, Phillips, Lewis, Darwin, Kreuter and Pena, the White Sox dealt away 92 years and 63 days of major-league service time. 1444 Since trading Hernandez to San Francisco, the Sox bullpen is 14 for 14 in save opportunities. Matt Karchner has picked up 12 saves in 33 days. Tony Castillo and rookie Keith Foulke have one apiece. 0 With Lewis traded to Los Angeles, 'and catcher Ron Karkovice commiting his first error on Saturday, the Sox have no position players left from their Opening Day roster who have not not been charged with an error.

,0 11 i 3 1 Tribune file photo OF Ellis Burks, Colorado While Burks is not going to repeat his 40-homer performance of 1996, he is having another solid season. He hit seven homers in August to give him 25 for the season. Before going to Colorado, he had never hit more than 21 homers in a season. LiWiilJ II II SI i I IkTl CF Brian Simmons, Birmingham Simmons is among the reasons the White Sox expect to lose at least one talented outfielder in the upcoming expansion draft. A second-round pick in the 1995 draft, the former University of Michigan Academic All-American led the Southern League with 12 triples.

He was the first player in the Sox organization to reach 100 runs scored. Sept. 1, 1993 Frank Thomas collects his 38th home run of the season, breaking the club record shared by Dick Allen and Carlton Fisk. He ends the season with 41 home runs. Full coverage of the 1997 White Sox, plus updated major-league scores and standings at chicago.tribune.com sport ssox Runs Batting Walks Strikeouts! Time per game average per game per game June 1-Aug.

17 4J5 1265 22 5l Since Aug. 17 5.8 .294 3.6 4.6 ALBERT BELLE Time Games Avjj HR RBIs Runs Walks July 1 -Aug. 17 43 17 5 17 21 14 SinceAug. 17 14 .345 4 17 12 4 LYLE MOUTON Time Games Avj On-base Runs Walks June 1-Aug. 17 47 224 260 K5 7 SinceAug.

17 5 .400 .500 3 2 DAVE MARTINEZ Time Games Avg On-base Runs Walks July 1-Aug. 17 37 246 i308 18 FT SinceAug. 17 14 .356 .387 11 3 'Pi That was a good start." Jackson's little suggestions have produced results in other hitters. He felt Durham's weight was too evenly distributed on his feet.l leaving him unable to load up properly to drive the ball. He felt Mouton had become "a spinner," flying too far open as he tried to pull the ball.

He wanted rookie first baseman Mario Valdez to narrow what had become too wide of a stance. Jackson is preaching at rookie center-fielder Mike Cameron to; lay off sliders. "You don't want to get yourself out on a slider," he said. "You want to spit at it." i Jackson looks forward to a chance to work with third man Chris Snopek, who was hit ting .218 when he was shipped to Triple-A Nashville last month. "I know I can help Snopek," he said.

"Snopek is doing the same thing Mario Valdez was doing. With Mario, we narrowed his stance, got him on his back leg, and he's taking off. Valdez said this is the best he's felt in two months." Those words are music to a coach's ears. COUNTRYSIDE McGrath Acura of Countryside 6420 South Joliet Rd GLENVIEW McGrath Acura 301 Waukegan Rd ELMHURST Ed Napieton Acura 745 West Lake St HIGHLAND PARK Pauly Acura 2699 Skokie Valley Rd Route 41 LIBERTYVILLE Acu'a of Libertyvilte lo2C M'ivaukee Ave ORLAND PARK Acura ot OMand Park 8150 West 159th St HOFFMAN ESTATES Mullers Nocthvest Acura 1099 West Rd LISLE Continental Acura of Dupaqe 2100-2110 OgcJen Ave PALATINE Arlington Acura in Palatine 12'5 East Dundee Rd www.acura.com American Hondo Motor Co inc Acum and CI are fane By Phil Rogers Tribune Staff Writer Two weeks after firing him, Terry Bevington refuses to criticize Bill Buckner. But he can't help but compliment the job Ron Jackson has done since replacing him.

After a game last week in Toronto, the White Sox manager came as close as he has yet to explaining why his hitting coach was mysteriously given the boot after more than a year and a half on the job. He insists the issue was performance, not personalities. "It seems like we've done a little better with men in scoring position than we were," Bevington said. "I think our approach over the past week or so has been better. For a long time during the sieason, we were giving away six or seven at-bats a game.

I don't think we're giving away at-bats." Bevington never mentioned Buckner by name, but the inference was clear. Too often this season, Sox hitters have either appeared unprepared or lacking focus. While sabermetricians would point out the size of the sample is too small to be conclusive, it appears Jackson is changing that. Maybe Albert Belle was destined to turn around anyway. One White Sox coach suggests that Belle never would have publicly blamed himself for the team's troubles in an interview Aug.

18 if he didn't feel he was on the verge of breaking his long slump. But Belle's recent tear started after Jackson offered him the opinion that his exaggerated crouch was affecting his timing and causing him to take uppercut swings at the ball. And Belle is only the front man for a teamwide improvement. For the first time all season, leadoff man Ray Durham is hitting the ball to the opposite field from both sides of the plate. Dave Martinez is getting on base by working the count and hitting line drives instead of swinging for the fences.

Lyle Mouton no longer seems to start every at-bat with an 0-2 or 1-2 count. Put all the parts together, and the White Sox have produced 1.3 more runs per game over the last two weeks (5.8) than they had in the last 71 games with Buckner as hitting coach. Bevington is quite correct in suggesting that his hitters are doing better in the big at- bats. They are hitting .299 with runners scoring position over the last two weeks compared with a .278 average under Buckner. Given how seldom two plus two equals four in baseball, it follows that the Sox are making this offensive improvement after dumping a batting coach who was a .289 career hitter in favor of one who batted .259.

Buckner is one of only three men to ever get 200 hits in a season in both the American and National Leagues. Jackson topped out at 170 in the Texas League. Yet Jackson believes he is as qualified as anyone to teach hitting to the best major-leaguers. He has spent about half of his 44 years preparing for the opportu nity he received two weeks ago. "If you're going to help hitters, you have to know what you're looking for," Jackson said.

"I feel like it's a gift from God for me. I've been watching hitters my whole life. I've talked about hit ting with guys like Tony Muser, Don Baylor, Dave Parker and Lamar Johnson." Jackson played 10 seasons in the major leagues, but was mostly a backup infielder and utility man. He collected 400-plus at-bats taa? 1, 1 'If you're going to help hitters, you have to know what you're looking for. I feel like it's a gift from God for Hitting coach Ron Jackson "I got four at-bats," Jackson said, laughing.

He actually got 51 at-bats, batting .176. He spent the next two seasons as a coach in the White Sox's minor-league system, working with Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura, among others. Harry Dalton, then Milwaukee's GM, lured him away in 1991. Jackson spent two seasons as the Brewers' roving hitting instructor. The prospects he worked with there included Dave Nilsson, Jeff Cirillo and Jose Valentin.

Jackson was in his third season as Triple-A New Orleans' hitting coach when Bevington replaced Gene Lamont as the White Sox's manager. Hiring Jackson to be his first base coach was one of Bev-ington's first moves. He was a natural choice for increased responsi-bility when Buckner was dismissed. "It was good that I was around the guys before, and not coming from another organization," Jackson said of the midseason change. "I know the guys.

They know me. They know my work ethic. I got a lot of respect from them because I'm like one of the guys. There were a few guys who had been working with Buck, felt like Buck really helped them out, but I felt like after a while I weaned them over to me." At his first hitters meeting, Jackson stressed the need to improve on situational hitting. "The main thing is the approach, have a plan," Jackson said.

"That's what I wanted to get through, for them to know what they're doing, not to just be up there swinging. You have to get runners over, that type of thing. We worked on those things in spring training, but we didn't tell them what to look for, what pitches to look for. You hit the ball hard at somebody, I can't say anything. But if you get fooled, then I can say something." Belle has gotten fooled plenty this season.

The $55 million free agent went 81 consecutive at-bats it "1 monthly payments 1 10.044 Option lo purchase at lease end 13, iT "Tw purcnase i rriuiiimy payments uptton 10 752 only twice in his career, leaving plenty of time to study the game while sitting on the bench alongside his managers and coaches. Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Fred Lynn, Doug DeCinces and Bobby Grich were among the teammates he watched on a daily basis. He also kept his eyes open whenever his teams played against a hitter like George Brett. "Those were all different-type hitters," Jackson said. "But when you looked at them, they all did the same thing once they started to swing through the ball.

They were all in the same position on their front foot. That tells me there are a lot of absolutes in the game. You've got to be in a good launching position, no matter how you hold the bat, how you start the swing," For emphasis, Jackson puts his hands shoulder high, behind his right ear. He makes a fist and throws a jab downward. "When you get into the launch position, you are right here," he said, "ready to throw a punch." Jackson was semi-conned into beginning his career as a coach.

He spent some time working in the California Angels' front office after his major-league career ended in 1984, when he was only 31. He wanted to get back into uniform, and even harbored some hope of reviving his playing career. Larry Himes, then the White Sox's general manager, offered Jackson a chance to be a player-coach for Bevington at Triple-A Vancouver in 1988. But the job was more coach than player. 0 upni.f.M fAKi if irA I iitni may a fffct itiii i bavuhut cl lupiui twi iuiui i without a home run before hitting two on Aug.

12. He had hit only .190 in Buckner's last 32 games as the hitting coach. "I had been watching him, but I didn't want to interfere with what Buck was doing," Jackson said. "Buck and I shared some things together sometimes, but I didn't want to interfere." But since Jackson took over, Belle is batting .345 with four home runs and 17 RBIs in 14 games. The two spent long sessions in early batting practice in Jackson's first week in his new role.

Jackson took hitting videos of Belle home with him after being named batting coach. He was prepared when they worked together on the field for the first time, suggesting Belle take a more upright stance instead of the extreme crouch he had developed. Jackson told Belle that the crouch caused him to take an uppercut approach to the ball. "He took some swings hitting the ball the other way," Jackson said. "He hit the first five balls really sharp.

I said, 'You look really He said, 'I feel 45 SEE DEALER FOR DETAILS. 1 1997 Acura Division of option lease end ,4 and su I essee responsible for Your presence is requested at the my-neck-is-so-sore-from constantly-turning-my head-every-time-I-see-the go-in-and-get-my-own Acura Summer Sales Classic Closed end lease tor 1997 2 2C1 Model uyaiiavi Ktwmuiwu, i maintenance excess wear. 'tear and atmi over 12 000 mi Sim ifpt Tn iMtTrn AVAir lorr rrv fospuiinun lee not exeed Um may be due lease end u.uiE.'.v.. munts of Honda Motor Co. Ltd Make an intelligent decision ii i ii ul euet ov nmencan nnrtan i-manct nrn Hackle up.