DIAMOND NOTES: April 13

The first time the Dodgers' Kazuhisa Ishii pitched, no less than five scouts agreed he has the best curveball of any left-hander in the majors, and that includes A's lefty Barry Zito. When Ishii made his second start, Friday night in San Diego, the Padres did not pull a ball fair, and that was on a night when Dodgers catcher Paul Lo Duca said, "he didn't have his best stuff."

One scout insists that the Kevin Brown and Andy Ashby are all the way back in terms of stuff, which means performance will follow.

	Kazuhisa Ishii has two wins and hasn't allowed a run in his first two starts for the Dodgers.

Oh yes. "For me, Eric Gagne is Robb Nen," says one scout. "His stuff is that good."

So, while folks can find all sorts of reasons why the Dodgers will have trouble consistently scoring runs or catching the ball at certain positions, it seems eminently clear early in the 2002 season that their pitching is back.

"That's as good a starting staff as there is in the National League," says one baseball official. "It may be comparable to the Yankees. The rotation has different contrasting looks, it has great stuff ..." And in the last eight games through the Ishii/Gagne shutout in San Diego on Friday, the starting rotation's earned run average was 1.08.

Brown, when healthy, is dominant. Ashby, when healthy, can be very good as well. Fine. Most everyone in the Braves organization knew they were giving up a potential winner in Odalis Perez to get Gary Sheffield, and Hideo Nomo is coming off a season in which he led the American League in strikeouts.

But Ishii? "People are finding out why the Mets bid $10 million on him and why the Dodgers spent $13 million to get his rights," says one NL official. "A lot of people didn't think he was that good, but those teams did, and they knew what they were doing."

"Ishii has No. 1 starter stuff," says one NL scout. "His curveball isn't good, it's great. He's got an above-average fastball, two more pitches and he knows what he's doing. What he did to Todd Helton was unbelievable, because Helton gets overmatched about once a year, and Ishii did it." As Helton later pointed out, Ishii threw him one breaking ball at 71, another at 79, fastballs in the 88-90 range, then when he needed to put him away got it to 95.

	“	(Kazuhisa) Ishii has No. 1 starter stuff. His curveball isn't good, it's great. He's got an above-average fastball, two more pitches and he knows what he's doing. ”
		— An NL scout

So unlike last season, when the Dodgers opened the season with five right-handers who essentially all threw similar power fastball/slider assortments, now they have a rotation of many looks, something GM Dan Evans set out to accomplish in the offseason.

Brown and Ashby are sinker/slider guys while Nomo isn't like anyone on the planet. Now with Ishii and Perez, the Dodgers have two left-handers in the rotation for the first time since 1987; in fact, their four starts by Ishii and Perez equal the number of starts they got by left-handers all of last season.

Then there is Gagne, who is 4-for-4 in save situations and seems to have found his niche as a closer. "There is no comparison between his stuff this season and last," says the NL scout. "He's in the mid-90s and touched 98. His breaking ball is vastly improved, and he's got a great split. His stuff is as good as Nen's. That's saying something."

So, while there are concerns about what injuries have done to the defense on the right side of the infield and how Dave Roberts is going to fare at his first shot at a regular job at the age of 30 (with a .292 career on-base percentage), one thing seems clear in the NL West race -- the Dodger pitching is back where it used to be. And if Brown, Ashby and Gagne hold up, the Dodgers could be in the middle of a long, tough race with the Diamondbacks and Giants.

Possible future closers to watch
The emergence of Gagne to the class of young potential closers to watch raises a question: what young pitchers on the radar screen could eventually be effective closers? A few answers:

Victor Zambrano, Tampa Bay. If and when Esteban Yan is traded, Zambrano may get his chance, and there are a lot of scouts who feel he has more pitches and command than Jesus Colome and is better suited to close. The one drawback is that he only started six games in the minor leagues. Why do teams do this? Teams should let young pitchers establish pitches, learn feel and work through situations as a starter in the minors.

Tony Armas, Montreal. "I realize that he still could be a very effective starter," says one NL executive. "But he's still inconsistent. With his command of his fastball, he could be a dynamite closer."

	Baez

Danys Baez, Cleveland. He's off a good start in his first season starting in the big leagues, but he also has Nenesque stuff, is a good athlete who repeats his delivery (a must) and could eventually have dominant command of his fastball. "Dominant command of the fastball -- or one trick strikeout pitch -- is the requisite for a closer," says one AL manager. Although David Riske might turn into Keith Foulke II.

J.C. Romero, Minnesota.

Jorge Julio, Baltimore. Not bad for a guy the Orioles acquired from Montreal for third baseman Ryan Minor.

Casey Fossum, Boston. "I'm not so sure he can't do that job in time," says Red Sox manager Grady Little. Fossum has touched 95-96 mph with a nasty breaking ball, but when he was starting in the minors he had a good changeup. So the Red Sox don't know whether or not his future might not be as a starter, especially with a lot of questions surrounding the current rotation.

Fossum got advice from Bob Tewksbury, who mentors select pitchers in the Boston organization. "Don't worry about those gun readings they post in ballparks," said Tewksbury, "because they're all tuned up at least three miles an hour." O's folks say, indeed, the Camden Yards readings are inflated 3-4 mph.

Mariners facing plenty of questions
Before Edgar Martinez went down with a ruptured left hamstring, the Mariners realized they probably needed another bat. But Martinez is the cruelest blow, because he is the fulcrum of their lineup, he who makes it all possible for Bret Boone, John Olerud, Mike Cameron, et al, to flourish.

"We just have to pick things up for awhile," says Mariners manager Lou Piniella. Unfortunately, Australian outfielder Chris Snelling, who hit .336 at Class A San Bernardino last season, was hurt coming out of spring training. "Come June, if Snelling's OK (he's presently playing at Double-A San Antonio), I wouldn't be afraid to bring him up and let him play," says Piniella. "This kid is a special hitter."

For now, Piniella's concern is having the Mariners pitch their way through the loss of one of the game's great hitters. But while James Baldwin has stepped right in for Aaron Sele and pitched two strong games, Piniella is concerned about his bullpen depth.

	Hasegawa

"We're still trying to work around the loss of (Norm) Charlton and (Jose) Paniagua," says Piniella. "We added (Shigetoshi) Hasegawa, and he's very good, but I like having that second power right-hander along with Jeff Nelson. That's why I had to take (Joel) Pineiro out of the rotation, at least for now. And we really miss Charlton, because the way our bullpen sets up, we need that second lefty. To get the best usage out of Arthur Rhodes, if he gets up, he should go into the game. But a couple of times already this season he's had to get up, sit down, then when he came into the game he wasn't the same. So that's something we have to address."

Piniella eventually would like to get Pineiro, who had a good spring, into the rotation if a power reliever is added to the roster. Or he may eventually get a look at right-hander Rafael Soriano -- whose visa problems caused him to arrive so late for spring training that the M's never pitched him -- or hope that fellow righty Gil Meche's velolcity comes back.

"We don't need a fifth starter often the first couple of months," says Piniella. "But last year when we had Jamie Moyer and John Halama in the rotation at the same time, they were so similar it may have hurt them both." Hmm. Moyer was 9-5 with a 4.74 ERA on July 16, when Halama was taken out of the rotation. He was 11-1 with a 2.09 ERA after that.

Incidentally, when Hasegawa got the win Monday night in Anaheim, in a game where Kazuhiro Sasaki also got the save, it was the first time in American MLB history that a Japanese pitcher got the win and the save in the same game.

Kudos to the hard-working Phillips
Mets GM Steve Phillips has been widely applauded for his tireless pursuit of righty reliever Scott Strickland from Montreal; while some GMs wait for trade possibilities to come to them, then whine that they didn't know certain players were available, Phillips is always on the phone, trying to make a deal. Now the Mets have Strickland setting up Armando Benitez.

"This is the best bullpen in terms of power arms we've had in awhile," says one Mets official. Kane Davis has been throwing in the mid-90s, and has touched 98. Grant Roberts is 94-95. David Weathers is this year's answer to Turk Wendell. They'd like to find another left-hander who gets left-handed hitters out more consistently than Mark Guthrie, but that can come in time.

There is concern that after trading lefty Bruce Chen for Strickland that if something happens to any one of the Mets starters that they don't have an immediate replacement, but Phillips' philosophy is that he can find someone, and that fifth starters don't win or lose pennants. Incidentally, the Mets were extremely pleased with Shawn Estes' strong outing at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. When they were preparing their arbitration case with Estes, the Mets learned from the Elias Sports Bureau that Estes' home/road ERA -- (3.04)/(5.61) -- five-year split was the worst Elias found ... dating back to the '60s. So winning away from Pac Bell Park was a relief.

By the way, Expos GM Omar Minaya felt he could trade Strickland because of the acquisition of the club's earlier acquisition of Matt Herges from the Dodgers and the emergence of Britt Reames in the Expos bullpen.

"We feel Chen and Dicky Gonzalez can both be starters for us," says Minaya. "Any time you can get two starting pitchers, especially when one is left-handed, and you're not giving up your closer, we feel it has to be done." The Expos are encouraged by the breakout start of catcher Michael Barrett, which resembles what everyone expected two years ago and, considering how much they like Brian Schneider, could make Montreal's catching vastly improved. They also hope to have third baseman Fernando Tatis back soon.

Dombrowski ready for long road ahead with Tigers
Dave Dombrowski handled the early firings of Randy Smith and Phil Garner with all the dignity he could. He also says, "this is the highest payroll I've ever had to work with," but while he wouldn't criticize the roster, other GMs know that other than Jeff Weaver and Matt Anderson -- the last guys a building team would want to trade -- there isn't much he can do. The Tigers aren't going to get prospects and someone to take the contracts of Dmitri Young, Damion Easley, Bobby Higginson, et al.

"There are some young players in this organization, so Randy left us something to build on," says Dombrowski (it should be added that when Smith took over in '96, the organization was as bare as any in the game). "That's why I think Luis Pujols will be so good bringing the young players along, and having Felipe (Alou) beside him as his mentor will be tremendous. Felipe is a great teacher, as well as a great man with presence.

"This is still potentially a wonderful job. People still care about the Tigers, they just haven't had much winning (the Tigers' last winning season came in 1993). But this winter I went to a Red Wings game against Phoenix and Wayne Gretzky was in Mike Ilitch's box and told me that when he first came to Joe Louis Arena in 1981 there were fewer than 9000 fans at the game. The Red Wings were dead. So it can turn around." Incidentally, Gretzky grew up a Tigers fan.

One opposing GM believes 22-year-old right-hander Nate Cornejo will be better than Weaver because he has exceptional command of the strike zone. With Eric Munson, Andres Torres, Mike Rivera and Omar Infante, they have a few prospects who are close to helping at the big-league level.

"We just have to get fans excited again," says Dombrowski. "Detroit is a great baseball town waiting to love the Tigers again."

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