‘Sausagegate’ just one spectacle in season’s 1st half

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

Who got the wurst of it, the Italian sausage or the hot dog? How could a Pirate be linked to such treachery? Did the $2,432 in total fines and three-day suspension assuage critics of free-swinging Randall Simon?

Did Jimmy Dean and Farmer John roll over in their ...

Nah, we won't go that far in our assessment of the highs and lows -- or bizarre -- of the first half of the major league season.

Baseball couldn't even wait until the second half to prove, once again, that its players still have to have a lotta little boy in 'em to get between the lines and swing for the fences.

Or the top of a 6-foot sausage in foul territory, a bit too close to the visitors' dugout in -- of course -- Milwaukee.

One-time home of the Braves, land of last year's All-Star tie game.

Headline writers have had field days since Wednesday, when cameras caught Pirates first baseman Simon chopping at the top of a sausage costume that was being worn by Mandy Block, a 19-year-old South Milwaukee woman.

She toppled over, taking down a rival hot dog character -- 21-year-old Veronica Piech -- next to her.

" ... as quickly as possible, management tried to keep the grease from 'Sausagegate' from spreading," wrote Steve Levin of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It was Simon's first hit in July.

Levin went deeper. Authorities secluded the hot dog, and Italian and Polish sausages, from the media. Somehow, though, the bratwurst -- actually, the 16-year-old boy from Waukesha inside the bundled costume of pork, spices and herbs -- was found.

By Geraldo? Mike Wallace? Jeremy Schapp? No, by the Associated Press. The Italian sausage had been scripted to win the race (fix!), but when it went down, well, the brat trotted home with the victory.

"Somebody had to, I guess," he told the AP.

Levin reached John Ashcroft, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Pittsburgh who will be playing the part of the Pitt Panther mascot for a fourth consecutive year, for comment about the regular abuse he endures.

"They think you're not real and attack you, and don't think you feel anything," he told the Post-Gazette. "My advice to that sausage is to stay away from that batter."

Without further delay, onto the awards, honors and predictions of a memorable -- forgettable? -- first half:

Two months ago, as D-back after D-back went down with an injury, he told the Sun of Alex Cintron, Mike Koplove, Brandon Webb, Matt Kata and a host of other youngsters who would come to be known as the "Babybacks."

Arizona had lost 15 of its first 23 games, then ace starters Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. However, the reserves have been splendid, and the Babybacks improved to 52-42 on Sunday.

Each league has only one franchise among its top four in both team pitching and hitting. In the American, it's Seattle (hitting .277, tied for third; team ERA of 3.59, first). In the National, it's Arizona (hitting .272, fourth; team ERA of 3.92, third).

Joe Sr. told ya so.

Pujols, 23, who played high school ball in Independence, Mo., is threatening to claim the first Triple Crown since 1967, when Carl Yastrzemski led the American League with 44 homers, 121 RBIs and a .326 batting average.

Joe Medwick (31 homers, 154 RBIs, .374 average) of the St. Louis Cardinals last won the NL version, in 1937. Pujols leads the NL with a .368 average, he's fourth with 27 homers and second with 86 RBIs. And he's making $900,000 in '03.

Honorable mention: Eric Byrnes (A's); .881 on-base percentage, .299 batting average, 11 homers and 42 RBIs for $300,000.

Say what you will about the millions of dollars that have been wasted on Kevin Brown, Mo Vaughn, Chan Ho Park, Bobby Higginson, Albert Belle, Darren Dreifort, Brian Jordan and Mike Piazza, but all are injured. Insurance is a wonderful thing.

The last 10 times Radke (5-9) has taken the hill, the Twins have lost. He's yielded eight earned runs once, seven once, five four times and four twice. He's the highest-paid Twin, too, at $8.75 million for '03.

Honorable mention: Paul Konerko (White Sox); .197 average, five homers and 22 RBIs for $6.25 million.

When McKeon, 72, took over in Miami, the Marlins were 16-22. Now, they're 49-46, 4 1/2 games back in the NL wild-card battle. They're hanging onto Mike Lowell, they just got Ugueth Urbina to shore up the pen and the rotation is sterling.

NL All-Star manager Dusty Baker got lucky when the injured Brown had to pull out of tonight's game, creating a space for Willis, whom Baker originally didn't put on the roster because he hadn't seen the gem.

Willis (9-1) won his eighth consecutive start Sunday, in Montreal, and the 21-year-old efty with the high leg kick will be a second-half hit at the box office wherever he goes.

His new CD, "The Journey Within," has received critical acclaim, from no less an authority than Sir Paul McCartney. "It's a home run, Bernie," McCartney has written. Williams is a classically trained guitarist who moonlights as an outfielder.

It lost seven of its first 11, then won 27 of its next 32 to continue to flex its muscles in the NL East. The Braves are 60-32, best in the majors, and we agree with ESPN analyst Joe Morgan.

"Their focus used to be pitching," Morgan said on a telecast a few weeks ago. "Now, it's hitting. They're built for the postseason, now, instead of the long haul."

However, its victory Sunday improved it to 25-67, a game ahead of the record-worst pace of the 1962 New York Mets. In addition, the likelihood of the Tigers having three 20-game losers was dissipated when they dealt Adam Bernero (1-12) to Colorado.

Wait, Nate Cornejo (4-7) is still around, and perhaps his second half will match the first-half slides of Mike Maroth (4-13) and Jeremy Bonderman (3-13)?

They're headed for their fourth consecutive last-place finish in the AL West, after entering the season with baseball's fifth-highest payroll, of $104.5 million. Good thing they have a loosey-goosey manager.

Oops, it's Buck Showalter.

The Valley High product mostly gets to catch knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. When he does, the BoSox place him ninth in the batting order. Put away the tissue, though -- Wakefield's caddie gets $805,000 this season.

Add Steve Trachsel (Mets), Terry Mulholland (Indians), Darren Holmes (Braves), Mark Grace (Diamondbacks), Tony Clark (Mets), Dan Plesac (Phillies) and Mike DeJean (Brewers), the worst closer in the game, to the list.

He won MVP honors in last Thursday's Atlantic League All-Star game in Nashua, N.H., for doubling in the deciding run in the fifth inning of a 2-1 victory for the South Division.

Henderson, 44, led the league with an on-base percentage of .493, he was tied for the lead with 52 runs, and was second in hitting (.339) and slugging (.591). Does it matter? We'll see after the Dodgers signed him Monday.

In the Detroit organization for seven years, he was initially bummed when Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski did not tender him an offer in December. He passed on Anaheim and Seattle to sign a one-year, $1-million deal with the Braves.

Fick, a hard-edged redhead whose locker neighbor is Greg Maddux, quit drinking on Feb. 1, vowing to play hard every day. During spring training, he often showed before dawn and brought extra biscuits for others.

A 29-year-old first baseman, Fick has been overwhelmed by the professionalism he has witnessed in the Atlanta organization. He is hitting .296, and he has belted two of his career three grand slams in the first half.

All he's done wrong this season is lose his glove. Actually, he put it down on a seat to sign autographs after a game at Dodger Stadium on Monday, May 12, and witnesses said a young woman strolled off with it.

Combined, three of the Giants' top-five hitters are 112 years old. However, their Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters -- Marquis Grissom (36), Barry Bonds (39 next week) and Benito Santiago (38) -- are a productive trio.

Belying their age, they are hitting a combined .306, with 54 home runs and 151 RBIs. Mostly batting behind Bonds for three years, Santiago has played a critical role in keeping pitchers honest; during that span, Bonds has hit 149 homers.

archive