Plotlines remain thick entering season
The Angels, Phillies and
Astros improved the most
during the offseason
By Larry Stone
The Seattle Times (KRT)
SEATTLE — With spring training
about to be sprung, baseball desper
ately needed a diversion from its brew
ing steroids scandal. Sure enough, one
dropped from the sky this week.
Be careful what you wish for.
A-Rod in pinstripes? So much for the
notion that competitive balance is re
turning to the game. The acquisition of
Alex Rodriguez, if it is completed,
would be the ultimate statement by the
Yankees that the rules don't apply to
them. Not to mention the ultimate "in
your face" to the Red Sox, who spent all
winter trying to land Rodriguez.
For now, of course, teams are hard at
work mustering the usual optimism of
spring, when even Detroit sincerely be
lieves it has a chance to win it all. As a
public service to understandably list
less Yankee-haters, here are a couple of
lists to kick off the impending season.
Three teams that had very, very
good winters...
1. Anaheim Angels. Under aggres
sive new owner Arte Moreno, the An
gels signed the best player on the free
agent market (Vladimir Guerrero)
and the best pitcher (Bartolo Colon),
not to mention Jose Guillen, who hit
.311 with 31 homers and 86 RBI last
year, and Kelvim Escobar, who won
13 games for the Blue Jays.
2. Philadelphia Phillies. After too
many Jose Mesa meltdowns to bear,
they needed a closer, and they got a
great one from Houston, Billy Wagn
er. They retained free-agent Kevin
Millwood, added a quality starter in
Eric Milton and strengthened their
bullpen even more with Tim Worrell
and Roberto Hernandez.
3. Houston Astros. It didn't start
off well, with the loss of Wagner, who
publicly questioned the team's com
mitment to success. But that was fol
lowed by one coup after another —
the signing of Andy Pettitte, which
coaxed Roger Clemens out of retire
ment, and the return of Nolan Ryan
to the organization.
... and three teams that had very,
very bad winters.
1. Milwaukee Brewers. Popular
team president Ulice Payne resigned
in protest of ownership's mandate to
slash the payroll to $30 million; the
team's best and most popular player,
Richie Sexson, was traded to Arizona
for a pile of lesser, cheaper players;
the team was pressured by legislators
to open its books for scrutiny; and, as
a nice capper, pitcher Luis Martinez,
a member of the 40-man roster, was
arrested last week in the Dominican
Republic for allegedly shooting a
man three times.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers. While the
crosstown Angels were creating all
Eric Mencher Philadelphia Inquirer
Jim Thome’s Phillies are expected to fight for the World Series crown this season.
the excitement, the Dodgers were
forced to sit on their hands, unable to
improve the league's worst offense. 3.
Atlanta Braves. Their remarkable
streak of 12 straight division titles is
in severe danger after losing Gary
Sheffield, Javier Lopez and Greg
Maddux en route to trimming pay
roll by $15 million.
(c) 2004, The Seattle Times.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/
Tribune Information Services.
MEN
continued from page 7
then the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona has lost just twice at home
this year, both to top 10 ranked teams.
With its final three home games
against the Washington schools and
Arizona State, will the Wildcats win
the rest of their regular season games?
"Most definitely, we're going to try
to," Adams said. "We're going to go out
there and just play Arizona basketball
— play aggressive, play tough, just go
out there and try and get a win."
Arizona should have little problem
against Oregon State on the road. The
Beavers have one of the worst records
in the conference.
The Wildcats hold down the sec
ond position in the conference, be
hind Stanford, and are a for sure bet
come end of March.
If the Wildcats manage to bring the
same emotion and energy to the court
as they did against the Ducks, they
will be tough to stop.
"This was a very emotional game,"
Arizona sophomore Andre Iguodala
said. "The way things were being
called, we just had to play through it."
Senior Salim Stoudamire, a Port
land native, was very satisfied with his
performance after saying he's never
had a good game in his home state
since being at Arizona.
"I was really feeding off the energy,"
Stoudamire said.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
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