Baseball : Cincinnati’s Starting Rotation Has Pete Rose Going in Circles

Has it come to this for Pete Rose?

The Cincinnati Reds’ manager, unable to find a solution to his team’s inconsistency, recently asked sportswriters, of all people, for help.

Rose handed lineup cards to the three reporters covering the Reds and asked them to fill them out. Rose may or may not have been joking, but the reporters’ responses were clearly in jest.

One lineup featured the members of the Reds’ 1976 World Series championship team, Don Gullett on the mound. Another featured players rumored to be heading for the Reds, Orel Hershiser being the starting pitcher. The last was the lineup of the 1987 Sarasota Reds, a rookie league team, with Mario Soto pitching.

The implication is that the Reds cannot win with their current lineup, specifically their shaky starting pitching rotation.

They may be able to sneak past the San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros in the advance-and-retreat race in the National League West simply because of their good hitting and solid bullpen773866101unless there is a late-season arms buildup.

Cincinnati’s starting rotation--Bill Gullickson, Ted Power, Ron Robinson, Tom Browning and Guy Hoffman--had a 31-27 record going into the weekend and has had the highest combined earned-run average of any starting staff for most of the season.

Rose and General Manager Bill Bergesch have tried every alternative short of a major trade. Soto still is rehabilitating his right shoulder after surgery. They gave Jerry Reuss a shot--and regretted it. Bill Landrum, Pat Pacillo and JeffMontgomery have been brought up from the minors and haven’t made a noticeable difference.

The pitching situation has many Red sympathizers--and many players, too--clamoring for a trade. The latest rumor: Pittsburgh’s Rick Reuschel for Kurt Stillwell.

Bergesch, however, has said he will not trade any of his “crown jewels,� infielders Stillwell and Barry Larkin and outfielders Eric Davis, Tracy Jones and Kal Daniels. The Reds even have 2002871910Esasky on the trading block, which further limits their trading options.

Rose sat in the Dodger Stadium visitors’ dugout, in one breath bemoaning his club’s pitching problems and in the next saying they are not so bad that good young players have to be traded away.

“We’re always looking,� Rose said. “People think the easiest thing in the world is to trade for a starting pitcher. You’ve got to look at the cost.

“Sure, I can go out and get some (old) pitcher, but the long term is more important than the short term. As long as we’re still in first place, I’m not going to push the panic button. Now,543778336pushing for a trade, too.�

In the last 10 days, Rose has seen the Minnesota Twins acquire Steve Carlton and the Toronto Blue Jays get Phil Niekro for the stretch drive.

“I wouldn’t do that,� Rose said. of acquiring aged pitchers for a couple months work. “I wouldn’t trade any one of my young prospects for either of those guys, or any 40-year-old pitcher. In my case, we don’t have young prospects. We have young players. Now, I’d risk it by trading one of our minor league prospects, if anyone’s interested.�

For last-minute shoppers interested in stretch-drive pitchers, a few reportedly are available.

The Pirates have let it be known that Reuschel is available for the right young prospect or prospects. Reuschel apparently was offered to the New York Mets for minor league shortstop Greg Jeffries, the Mets’ top prospect, but New York didn’t bite.

The Atlanta Braves reportedly are offering pitcher David Palmer. In his last start in San Diego, there were 10 scouts watching Palmer, mostly from American League teams.

Last week, a public-address speaker hanging from the roof of the Kingdome deprived Ken Phelps of one of the longest home runs in Seattle Mariners history. When Phelps’ blast to right field struck the speaker, the ball caromed off and landed in foul territory.

“That would have been the farthest ball ever hit off me,� said the opposing pitcher, Willie Fraser of the Angels. “For sure, it was headed for the orange seats (in the third deck). But sometimes, you get some breaks. Instead, all it was was a foul ball.�

The Angels’ Jack Lazorko, who pitched for Seattle in 1985, has come to expect such zaniness from games inside the Kingdome.

“I’ve seen guys play balls off speakers, play balls off wires,� Lazorko said. “And the streamers (hanging from over the infield) cause a lot of trouble. It’s like playing Wiffle Ball as a kid. The ball’s still in play if you hit it into the trees. If you catch it coming out of the trees, you’re out. Same thing here.�

Blue Jay outfielder Lloyd Moseby fired shots at both the struggling New York Yankees and the weak National League West in one sentence last week:

“If the New York Yankees want to sell their team tomorrow and move to the National League Southwest or West, I could care less,� he said.

Commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s decision to let managers impound one bat suspected of being corked from opposing players drew this reaction from Met first baseman Keith Hernandez:

“There are too many non-baseball people running the game. Ueberroth’s trying to clean up, you know, America’s game. Pretty soon, they’ll want to change the term stolen bases and call it something else.�

Add cork controversy: The manager who started the rash of bat-checking is St. Louis’ Whitey Herzog, who apparently is convinced that the Mets’ Howard Johnson has doctored a few of his bats.

Met Manager Davey Johnson isn’t happy with Herzog.

“I’m sure every opposing manager is going to (change the bats of) his team,� Johnson said. “Herzog better have plenty of bats for Jack Clark on the road.�

Going into the weekend, no Cardinal player has had a bat impounded.

When light-hitting Casey Candaele of the Montreal Expos finally hit a home run recently, his teammates did not let it go unnoticed. The seat the ball hit was painted yellow to commemorate the event.

Met pitcher Dwight Gooden said he is thinking about hitting left-handed to improve his power. Johnson is against the idea because Gooden’s right arm and elbow would be exposed to pitches.

Add Met pitchers: Ron Darling, who had gone more than two months without a win, won his seventh straight game Wednesday to improve his record to 9-7.

Darling said self-evaluation helped him break the slump.

“I needed to step away, step back,� Darling said. “It seemed every fifth day was every second day. If you’re going to get flustered like I was, it’s hard to keep any semblance of consistency.�

Johnson doesn’t know about that, but he can tell that Darling’s record has improved since he started emphasizing his fastball.

“I think he had fallen in love with his forkball and neglected his fastball,� Johnson said. “Now, he’s just popping the ball.�

Terry Forster, the well-traveled, well-fed relief pitcher who has played for both the Dodgers and Angels, among numerous other teams, is struggling for the Twins’ Triple-A team in Portland, Ore.

As of Thursday, Forster had an 0-1 record with a 7.27 earned-run average in 17 innings. Forster’s walks-to-strikeouts ratio was 18 to 3. It’s not surprising that there has been speculation that Forster soon will be released.

How portly is Forster in Portland these days?

“We list him at 259,� a spokesman for the Portland Beavers said. “That’s what we’re sticking with.�

The Philadelphia Phillies reportedly have put together a list of shortstops they will pursue in the off-season. The Dodgers’ Mariano Duncan is believed to be on the list.

The Dodgers, it is assumed, certainly would listen to an offer by the Phillies.

Strange as it may seem, Atlanta’s Dale Murphy will become a free agent after this season if he does not reach an agreement with the Braves.

The Braves have yet to offer Murphy a new contract, Vice President Stan Kasten saying that he wants to wait until season’s end.

“It’s been on my mind,� Murphy said. “But I’m just looking at it like I’m playing with a one-year contract. I’ve been under one-year contracts before.�

Pitching has been so mediocre this season, a record six teams have used non-pitchers on the mound in desperate situations.

Yankee catcher Rick Cerone became the first to do it twice this season when he relieved last week in Cleveland.

The others who have pitched are Montreal’s Vance Law and Tim Wallach, both infielders; Cincinnati outfielder Paul O’Neill, San Diego utility player Luis Salazar, Philadelphia outfielder Glenn Wilson, and St. Louis utility man Jose Oquendo.