BASEBALL INSIDER

This Ryan is no strikeout king for Rangers

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

MIAMI | There is no 'K' in Ryan Drese. There is no 'K' in Nolan Ryan, either, but he strung Ks in a long, long line when he pitched for the Texas Rangers.

Not so, Drese. He needs to buy a consonant and it needs to be 'K.'

In four starts this season for the Rangers over 251/3 innings, Drese has two strikeouts. One, two. That's 0.71 strikeouts per nine innings, barely more than half-a-strikeout a game.

Since 1900, only two pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the earned-run average title had fewer than one strikeout a game.

One was a character named Slim Sallee (no relation to Long Tall Sally). He pitched for the Cincinnati Reds in 1919 and had 24 strikeouts in 2272/3 innings, 0.95 strikeouts per nine innings.

There is a humorous attachment to Sallee. He pitched in the 1919 World Series, the one the Chicago Black Sox purposely lost to the Reds. But ... Sallee lost a game in the '19 Series.

The other guy? Ernie Wingard of the 1924 St. Louis Browns managed to go 13-12 despite striking out only 23 and walking 85 in 218 innings. And he didn't lose a World Series game.

Frequent fliers

Many major-leaguers are moaning about travel this year, about how there are too many two-day stops in a city instead of the normal three or four games at a time.

And it does seem cruel and unusual that the Colorado Rockies, who have enough problems, had to fly to Philadelphia from Denver, play two games, then fly back home.

Even worse, they have an upcoming trip to Los Angeles and San Diego — OK so far — but then fly from San Diego to Miami to complete the three-city trip.

The Oakland A's will set a mileage record this year, traveling 57,000 miles. Because they are on the West Coast, that figures, but did the schedule-maker have to include seven East Coast cities among their 12 trips?

Somebody in Major League Baseball flunked geography.

Slamming Zito

When Seattle's Bret Boone hit a grand slam home run against Oakland last week, it was the first grand slam ever off Barry Zito.

In fact, in 9981/3 innings, Zito had held opponents to a .203 batting average with the bases loaded (14-for-69).

Bret's brother Aaron had a more famous grand slam, earning him the nickname in Boston of Aaron "@%^*!!!#" Boone.

Man in a hurry

Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle works like a guy running down the street with his hair on fire ... fast, very fast.

Because of his catch-it and throw-it style, he pitched a game in Seattle that lasted only 1 hour, 39 minutes. And he struck out 12 guys.

As San Francisco Chronicle writer John Shea penned, "Seattle manager Mike 'The Human Rain Delay' Hargrove had single at-bats that lasted longer than that."

Seattle's PR staff factored in 33 minutes and 20 seconds of commercials, so playing time actually was 1 hour, 5 minutes, 40 seconds.

The fastest major-league game in history was played Sept. 28, 1919 — 51 minutes for the New York Giants to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1.

Somebody had a heavy date scheduled that night.

Quick quiz

Which is the only National League team since 1969 that has never had three consecutive winning seasons? Answer at the end.

Garciaparra's gaffe

It certainly is easy to feel sorry for Nomar Garciaparra, who signed a one-year contract this year with the Chicago Cubs below market value so he could have a big year and earn the monster cash next year.

He figures to miss most of the season after tearing his groin completely away from the bone.

Don't feel too sorry, though. He turned down a four-year, $60 million offer from the Boston Red Sox in 2003. Not only could he be on Easy Street right now, but he also would be wearing a World Series ring instead of heavy bandages.

Hit 'em again, harder

Cincinnati's Ryan Freel is a little guy, so he doesn't hit as hard as say, oh, Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis.

Freel did fracture the rib of St. Louis infielder Abraham Nunez with a hard, but clean, slide at second base.

Six days later, Nunez was at shortstop for the Cardinals to play against his old team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was 4-for-4.

Freel probably is receiving messages from infielders all over the league saying, "Slide hard into me, please."

Vicente van go

Philadelphia pitcher Vicente Padilla came of the disabled list and was nearly knocked back on it by the New York Mets. They hit five home runs off him. And they hit seven against the Phillies that day.

Nevertheless, bullpen catcher Ramon Henderson said, "I catch him on the side and I'd compare his stuff with anyone. I caught Curt Schilling and Vicente's stuff is absolutely better."

The Mets certainly liked his stuff.

Load 'em, leave 'em

In two games last week against the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Indians were 0-for-6 with the bases loaded, scoring one run. Twice they hit into double plays.

The one run came when Travis Hafner was hit on the elbow by a pitch. It "drove" in the winning run in a 2-1 win.

Hafner set a club record last year by getting hit 17 times, but isn't proud, saying, "You could send a monkey up there to get hit by a pitch. Actually, though, I hit better with a sore elbow, so I was looking to run into something."

Monkey see, monkey do.

Moseley on up

Dustin Moseley could be wearing a major-league uniform in a town near you soon. The pitcher the Reds traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim/Orange County/California/USA for pitcher Ramon Ortiz is 2-0 with a 0.00 earned-run average at Triple-A Salt Lake City, giving up no runs and five hits in 12 innings.

He could take the place of staggering John "Lackluster" Lackey, who is 24-29 since a 9-4 rookie year in 2002 and the winner of Game 7 of that year's World Series against San Francisco.

Meanwhile, Ortiz has made one start and is on the disabled list.

Wood: lights out

When Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood was removed from a game last Monday after giving up five runs and eight hits in six innings to the Reds, he did some fixture and light removal on his way up the tunnel in Great American Ball Park, using a bat to bash every object he saw.

The bill is forthcoming.

The answer is ...

If you said Montreal, you're wrong. If you said the New York Yankees, it is wishful thinking. If you said San Diego, take off that Padres hat because you know you're right.

Contact Hal McCoy at hmccoy@DaytonDailyNews.com