Morgan's pitching is so thin, Roger Clemens pitched on three days rest Wednesday night in Chicago. Clemens improved his record to 3-0 in the Red Sox's 7-5 victory, but sooner or later, something, somewhere, has to give.
Orioles fans no doubt recall the feud between Texas Manager Bobby Valentine and Memorial Stadium groundskeeper Pat Santarone last season over the condition of the bullpen mounds in Baltimore.
Now Valentine is applying his landscaping expertise to the Arlington Stadium infield; at his request, the grass will be permitted to grow longer. The Rangers have a ground ball pitching staff, and none of their infielders has outstanding range.
"It won't be like Candlestick (Park) or Detroit, but we've gone from zippidy-do-dah to a slower terrain," Valentine said. Perhaps he will discuss irrigation techniques with Santarone when the Rangers make their first visit to Baltimore May 18 to 20.
The discerning fan surely noticed St. Louis' pickup of Tom Niedenfuer, the reliever who helped decide the 1985 National League playoffs by allowing game-winning homers to the Cardinals' Ozzie Smith in Game 5 and Jack Clark in Game 6.
Two years later, Los Angeles traded Niedenfuer to the Orioles for outfielder John Shelby. Niedenfuer became a free agent after the '88 season and signed a two-year, $1.75 million contract with Seattle, only to be released this spring.
"After all he's done for the Cardinals," St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog cracked, "we owed him the chance."
Ugly Team of the Week: National League champion San Francisco is already 5 1/2 games behind Cincinnati after never trailing by more than three games last season. More from the How Quickly Things Change Dept.: The Giants' 0-5 start at home is their worst since moving to San Francisco in 1958. Their 53-28 home record last year was the best in the league.
The Giants weren't swept in a series until the final weekend last season, but this year it already has happened twice, both times at Candlestick. San Diego beat them three straight despite trailing 3-2 in the eighth or ninth inning of each game. Los Angeles beat them twice.
Ugly Game of the Week: The Mets and Cubs combined for 22 walks, six errors and 29 men left on base Wednesday night. The Cubs won it 8-6 on third baseman Howard Johnson's second error in the 13th.
The Mets left the bases loaded in the third, ninth and 10th.
The Cubs left two on in the ninth and 10th and a runner on third in the 11th.
The home run of the week was Jose Canseco's two-run missile off Mike Witt in Anaheim Wednesday night. Observers said the line drive was never more than 30 feet off the ground. "The shortstop could have gotten on that and taken a flight to New York," Oakland pitcher Dave Stewart said. "I've never seen one that low."
The previous night, White Sox DH Ron Kittle became the 21st player to hit a rooftop homer at Comiskey Park. Leave it to the Boston media to figure out that 11 of those 21 blasts were allowed by former or current Red Sox pitchers.
Milwaukee second baseman Edgar Diaz is fifth in the American League with a .423 average after hitting .215 at Triple A last season. "He's like The Natural," Brewers Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. "He went somewhere else for a couple of years. Now he's come back."
How much do the Royals miss Danny Tartabull? They produced 27 hits in consecutive losses to Toronto and Cleveland this week -- 26 of them singles. Tartabull is on the 15-day disabled list with an injured right calf.
