Ramsey looking for strong second halves from Stars’ marquee players

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, July 15, 1999 | 10:26 a.m.

The Las Vegas Stars went just 11-25 in their 36 games before this week's All-Star break.

Despite that slump, Mike Ramsey's squad still finds itself just nine games out of first place in the Pacific Coast League's South Division heading into tonight's 7:05 matchup against the Oklahoma Redhawks at Cashman Field.

Still, call Ramsey a realist. He isn't trying to sell the notion that his team will be celebrating a championship after it plays its final 53 games. Instead, he is setting more reachable goals for the 39-50 Stars.

"I'm not really looking at it that we're trying to catch anybody," Ramsey said. "Right now I'm looking at it as trying to get a streak going so we can get back to .500. Once we do that, we'll take it from there."

It won't be easy to turn things around.

Stars catching prospect Ben Davis figures to spend the rest of the season, if not his career, with the parent club San Diego Padres. And reliever Will Cunnane, who put together a scoreless inning string of 24 2/3 innings earlier this season, also likely is in the big leagues to stay.

Enter highly touted prospects Gary Matthews Jr., Mike Darr, David Newhan and Dusty Allen.

All except the surprising Newhan (.283, 11 HRs, 29 RBIs, 12 stolen bases) have struggled much of the first half. And although Matthews (.253, 5 HRs, 32 RBIs, 12 SBs) and Darr (.299, 4 HRs, 21 RBIs) earned brief big-league stints this season, neither has really dominated offensively as one might expect from two of Baseball America's top 100 prospects.

Remember, last year Eddie Williams equaled Darr's first-half home run total (four) in just one game at Calgary.

Even Allen, who spent Wednesday night representing the Stars in the triple-A All Star game in New Orleans, has not put up the numbers one would expect of a PCL cleanup hitter, batting just .264 with 11 homers and a solid 55 RBIs. The Stanford product will have to go on a home run binge to come anywhere close to the 36-HR, 119-RBI output of last year's team leader, George Arias.

Throw in the fact that veteran big leaguers such as Wayne Kirby, Rico Rossy and Carlos Garcia have also been in the lineup and its hard to understand how the Stars could score just 32 runs in their last 10 games before the break.

"I think this second half is important for all our outfielders," Ramsey said. "They all have things that they can do better. They all can make strides in different areas."

"There's no doubt the jump to triple-A from double-A has had something to do with it," Stars general manager Don Logan said of less-than-sizzling triple-A starts for Matthews and Darr. "Young guys have to learn to make the adjustments at this level. Triple-A ball is better than double-A. The talent is much better. But they'll learn to make those adjustments over time."

Ramsey agreed.

"It goes hand-in-hand," he said. "A lot of these guys have never really struggled before in their careers before. They've been able to get by on their talent. The key now is how they handle this kind of adversity and get their way through it."

Ramsey believes Matthews and Darr will finish strongly.

"Gary is starting to show signs of becoming the player we know he can be," Ramsey said. "He's shown signs of weathering the storm. I think Darr has done just fine. He's consistently hitting the ball hard."

"I think we have all the right people in place," Logan said. "We just need to make some moves with double-A. Hopefully they can stay healthy in San Diego and we can keep the core group together for a little while. That's always a big key."

One move the Stars made over the All-Star break was promoting double-A All- Star catcher Wiki Gonzalez. And Padres' shortstop Chris Gomez will spend at least a week on an injury rehab assignment beginning tonight after a six-week layoff following double knee surgery.

The Padres will also be sending down a pitcher today when Tony Gwynn comes off the disabled list.

Although it had been assumed that reliever Carlos Almanzar would return to Las Vegas for the third time this season, reports out of San Diego indicated that lefty Heath Murray, who compiled a glossy 4-1 record and 2.32 ERA in eight games with the Stars earlier this season, could wind up back with the Stars.

Murray, who has spent most of the last month in the bullpen as a long reliever, could come back to Las Vegas to get back in starting shape. Padres' starter and former UNLV Rebel Brian Boehringer, scheduled to start Sunday in Anaheim, has been plagued by a sore shoulder that recently required a cortisone shot.

"We've discussed the possibility (of sending Murray down)," Padres manager Bruce Bochy told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"No one has said a word to me, but the possibility has crossed my mind," Murray said. "I wouldn't be real happy. I don't want to be a ping-pong ball."

If Murray does make a few starts in Las Vegas, it could help give the Stars the kind of second half jump-start they need to make things interesting in last August.

Despite the disappointing 39-50 first half, there were still plenty of highlights for the Stars.

* Davis overcame a horrific 1-for-27 start to hit .308 with seven homers, 18 doubles and 44 RBIs in 58 games. He also put together a 23-game hitting streak that was snapped when he was called up by the Padres after Jim Leyritz broke his hand.

* Infielder Jake Thrower, considered just an emergency fill-in when promoted from double-A Mobile following a rash of infield injuries, turned out to be one of the real stars of the first half, hitting .344 with two homers and 18 RBIs in just 25 games. It may be only a coincidence that the Stars' late first-half tailspin began around the time Thrower went on the disabled list with a hamstring pull.

* Cunnane, who looks like a Rule 5 Draft steal from the Marlins by Padres' GM Kevin Towers, was simply awesome in the closer's role, going 2-1 with 8 saves and a 24 2/3-inning scoreless streak before moving on to San Diego.

* Newhan, who wasn't even on San Diego's 40-man roster at the start of spring training, was the team home run leader before a May call-up.