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Mickey Mantle had Roger Maris -- or was it the other way around?
Mark McGwire had Sammy Sosa.
The question is: Does Barry Bonds have a dance partner for his home run chase -- someone to push and motivate him, someone against whom Bonds can measure his progress?
|  | | Luis Gonzalez is hitting .357 with 34 homers and 83 RBI. |
Maybe. Luis Gonzalez of the Arizona Diamondbacks seems like a reluctant and surprise second banana.
Bonds takes 39 homers into Wednesday's action, and the projections have him eclipsing McGwire's record of 70.
But Gonzalez isn't too far behind -- he had 33 homers, close enough so that Bonds can see him when he glances over his shoulder.
On the face of it, Gonzalez seems an unlikely candidate. While Sosa took his power game to another level in the historic Summer of '98, he had least hinted at his home run potential, averaging just over 37 homers in the previous three seasons.
Gonzalez had given no such evidence. In his 10 previous big-league seasons before this one, Gonzalez had exceeded 15 homers only three times. His 31 homers last year were a career-high, and Gonzalez has already topped that before the All-Star break.
Until this season, in fact, Gonzalez was a classic line-drive hitter, more likely to lead the league in doubles (92 over the last two seasons) than round-trippers.
But this year, Gonzalez has become a power threat, and in the absence of some of the game's other top sluggers (McGwire missed most of the first two months; Sosa has changed his game and de-emphasized the long ball), he finds himself No. 2.
It's a designation that Gonzalez finds almost comical. Easy-going and self-effacing, Gonzalez is hardly the prototypical power threat. Nor is he necessarily comfortable in the spotlight.
But he's taken his running mate status with good humor.
"(Barry will) give me a hard time and I'll holler back at him, and stuff like that," Gonzalez told the Arizona Republic. "It's a friendly, competitive-nature type. Obviously, he's doing something in baseball that has never been done before. He has a chance to have over 40 home runs at the (All-Star) break, and he still has 11 or 12 games to go."
Gonzalez is as surprised as anyone to find himself in the running for homer king.
"I'm not changing my swing," he said. "I'm just trying to keep doing what I'm doing. I've been able to elevate some balls, but, for the most part, I'm getting hits ... I'm kind of the dark horse in this race. Nobody expects me to be up there, which is kind of nice. Whatever I do, as far as home runs go, is kind of a bonus."
Gonzalez's real contributions may come out of the batter's box. Just as Sosa's gregarious nature seemed to lighten McGwire's mood -- the two became like Martin and Lewis by the time September rolled around -- so, too, can Gonzalez bring out Bonds' human side.
If Bonds can joke and jibe with Gonzalez, maybe, just maybe he'll accept the idea that going after baseball's biggest individual record doesn't have to be the equivalent of a trip to the dentist chair.
If Gonzalez can humanize Bonds, he'll have done his part -- even if he never hits another homer the rest of the way.
From the scout's seat
The five teams most likely to deal at the deadline, according to one scout:
1. Oakland: "They may not move (Jason) Giambi, but teams are calling about (Jason) Isringhausen and (Johnny) Damon, and they've made it clear they'll move both.
2. Kansas City: "They're in the same situation with Jermaine Dye that they were with Damon. They've talked to the Yankees and the Red Sox, and I'm sure there will be others."
3. San Diego: "They may not be totally out of the picture yet, but I don't think anybody expects them to make a serious run. They'd move Phil Nevin, and they've got a couple of pitchers (Woody Wililams, Sterling Hitchcock) that interest teams."
4. Cincinnati: "Jim Bowden's in trouble, so who knows how much they'll let him do, but with Pokey Reese and Dmitri Young, they could make some deals if they wanted to."
5. Tampa Bay: "As bad as they are, they have some veterans who could help -- Greg Vaughn, Albie Lopez, maybe Fred McGriff."
Up and down
Up: J.P. Ricciardi
He may not be a household name, but in baseball circles, hardly a front office opening comes along without the Oakland A's director of player personnel being mentioned.
Ricciardi has been A's GM Billy Beane's No. talent evaluator, and helped put together deals that got Oakland Terrence Long, Jason Isringhausen and Jim Mecir.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are in the process of interviewing candidates for their GM vacancy.
"It's very important to me that the candidates have been with a team that's had a successful minor-league system," said Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy.
McClatchy should look no further than the A's, who have developed, among others, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez.
As an executive with a small-to-mid market team, Ricciardi understands full well the importance of sound economics and player development, making him a perfect fit for Pittsburgh.
As one of baseball's brightest and youngest executives, if he's not hired there, he likely won't have to wait long before another team offers him the opportunity he deserves.
Down: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
For every action, there is an equal reaction.
In other words, for every Seattle Mariners, there are the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
While the Mariners streak toward a potentially record-setting season with a 56-19 mark, the Devil Rays represent the flip side at 22-54.
How bad are the Rays? Let us count the ways.
They've lost 10 of their last 11. They own an 8-28 road record. They're losing games by an average of 1.77 runs; no one else is even close to that differential. They've been involved in only 11 one-run games, a measure of how regularly they lose by a big margin.
Only their geography is saving them from the ultimate embarrassment. If the Rays were in the AL West, they would be 34½ games behind with the All-Star break still 10 days off in the distance.
Manager Hal McRae has been forced to be inventive when it comes to finding the bright side.
Tuesday night, after the Rays dropped their 11th straight game to Boston this season, McRae noted that his club had actually led in the late innings of the last two losses.
"We're still losing (to the Red Sox)," said McRae, "but we used to lose when we got behind early. Now, we're losing, but at least the opposition has to catch up."
It's come to that.
Question of the week
Can the Red Sox survive the loss of Pedro Martinez?
Why not? They've survived everything else.
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The List
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Baseball's best home run partners (teammates division):
1. Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig
2. Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris
3. Eddie Mathews-Hank Aaron
4. Jose Canseco-Mark McGwire
5. Willie Mays-Willie McCovey
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Actually, the news Wednesday that Martinez was going on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis was hardly a surprise. Martinez was scratched from a start on June 15 before coming back to make two more before finally being disabled.
Last year, Martinez was scratched from a June 3 start, came back to make his next three, then went on the DL.
The good news for the Red Sox was that once Martinez returned, he was as good as ever, going 9-3, 2.03 the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox soldier on, with or without Martinez. They've withstood the loss of starting catcher
Jason Varitek, somehow compiling a 11-6 record in his absence.
Martinez didn't win a game in the month of June, but the Red Sox still managed to go 17-8 in their first 25 games while adding to their AL East lead over the second-place Yankees.
McAdam's Corner
New York Yankees ace Roger Clemens has said that he might take the three days at the break, rather than participate in the All-Star game.
Clemens, understandably, said he could use the rest and would prefer to spend the time with his family. Guess what, Rog? So would every other player voted or selected to the team.
For the most part, baseball has avoided the embarassment of having its top players pull no-shows for its All-Star game, something that can't be said of either the NBA or NFL, where stars routinely invent injuries or excuses to stay home.
In part, this full participation is what makes baseball's All-Star game the lone All-Star game that still matters.
Clemens should know by now that the sport's top performers have a responsibility of sorts to take part in these sort of events. More than any day on the baseball calendar, the All-Star game is primarily for the fans. It's the fans who vote for the (position) starters. As a reward, they get the 60 or so best players in the game on the field at once.
Clemens is fortunate enough to have an understanding manager in Joe Torre who regularly allows him time to jet home to Houston to see his family between starts. Here's hoping he recognizes the importanace of being in Seattle in two weeks.
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal writes a major-league notebook each week during the baseball season for ESPN.com.
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