Saturday, June 24, 2000
Updated: June 25, 5:05 PM ET
Braves dreading visit 'for all wrong reasons'
Associated Press
ATLANTA -- As he struck out the side in the ninth inning
against the Milwaukee Brewers, John Rocker looked like the closer
who saved 38 games last year.
Unfortunately for the Atlanta Braves, looks can be deceiving.
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"I'll reserve judgment on that for now," third baseman Chipper
Jones said. "Let's see him string some things together and show
some consistency. That's what will make me a believer."
Jones realizes that Rocker's latest rediscovery of the strike
zone Friday night, which secured a 3-2 victory over the Brewers,
offered only a brief respite. Control problems have plagued the
controversial reliever since his two-week suspension ended April
18.
Given the highly anticipated and potentially volatile four-game
series that begins Thursday in New York, Atlanta hopes Rocker's
worst days are behind him. The Braves have been anxious about the
visit to Shea Stadium since Rocker ripped New Yorkers and several
ethnic and minority groups in a Sports Illustrated article six
months ago.
"We usually dread going to New York because of the team we have
to play," Jones said. "Now we're dreading it for all the wrong
reasons."
Rocker has surrendered 31 walks in 21 innings -- a staggering
number considering he only issued 37 in 72 1/3 innings last season.
His 5.57 ERA is far above the 2.49 he posted in 1999.
"When Rock's on his game, he's as good as there is," pitcher
Greg Maddux said. "We want him to go out there and be successful.
We'd just prefer that he not make it so entertaining."
Rocker attributes his difficulties in locating his pitches to
poor mechanics and a festering abrasion on the left side of his
left thumbnail. In facing only four Brewers on Friday and allowing
only one baserunner, Rocker said he thinks he might have solved
both problems.
He treated the abrasion, which started as a small cut in March
but reopened and bled every time he threw hard, with silver
nitrate. Friday was the first time since March that Rocker pitched
without the wound bleeding.
Rocker's other problem was an uneven distribution of weight as
he prepared to make a pitch. By leaning too heavily on his front
foot, Rocker was altering his windup, his hip turn and his release.
As he earned his 12th save in 13 opportunities and boosted his
strikeout total to 33, Rocker had everything working.
"For many outings this year, it would start out fine," Rocker
said. "I would start the inning with a first-hitter strikeout or a
first-hitter fly ball, then walk the next guy, then walk the guy
after that. It was a mental lapse, debilitating mechanics
throughout the rest of the inning that would lead to my demise."
Talking to the media has taken a toll, too. At Turner Field on June
5, Rocker angrily confronted the Sports Illustrated reporter who
wrote the controversial story. He was demoted the next day to
Triple-A Richmond, where he earned one save before being recalled
June 14.
In a Baseball Weekly interview published Wednesday, Rocker said
he plans to ride the subway -- particularly the No. 7 train, whose
diverse riders he blasted in the SI story -- when the Braves return
to New York.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani asked Major League Baseball to
urge Rocker "not to go out of his way to exacerbate the
situation."
Rocker was irritated Friday night when asked whether the Braves
or baseball had asked him to reconsider his decision.
"That's why I don't like to do interviews, because of questions
like that," Rocker said. "Next question."
Kevin Hallinan, baseball's executive director of security and
facility management, has monitored most of Atlanta's road games
this year to devise safety plans at Shea.
There will be between 450-500 police at the game -- as opposed to
the normal 50 -- with many stationed near the visitor's bullpen in
left field.
"We're working side-by-side with Major League Baseball security
and the police department to make sure it's a safe environment,"
Mets general manager Steve Phillips said. "We're building a fence
near the bullpen and will probably cover it so fans can't look in
and throw things into the bullpen."
For the most part, Rocker has been well received by the fans,
some of whom even turned him into a cult hero.
In the Braves' clubhouse, however, Rocker's relationship with
teammates is described as anywhere from distant to nonexistent. He
was the last player, by about 45 minutes, to leave the ballpark
Friday night.
Rocker has avoided reporters -- nearly always when he pitches
poorly, leaving others to answer his questions.
"It's something I don't want to deal with," Jones said. "I
shouldn't have to deal with it because I didn't say it, and it's
unfair for 24 other guys, day in and day out, to have to answer
questions about him when we had nothing to do with it."
Jones stressed that the Braves are a much better team with their
closer healthy -- mentally and physically.
"What's important is that we keep any outside stuff from
affecting what we do between the lines," he said.
As for Rocker, he knows the best way he can mend relationships
is to throw strikes and record saves. If his 97-mph fastball is on
target, he knows manager Bobby Cox will be calling for No. 49.
"It's going to take some consistency, maybe over two or three
weeks or a month," Rocker said. "But I was happy and breathing a
sigh of relief that Bobby still had confidence in me."
