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Mariners vs. Yankees |
Mets vs. Cardinals
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Friday, October 13
McGwire waits to make an impact
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
ST. LOUIS -- The world's most famous pinch-hitter can't figure out what all the fuss is about.
"There were a bunch of pinch-hitters tonight before me," said Mark McGwire. "Why is one pinch-hitter such big news?"
Well, let's explain this to him. There are pinch-hitters. And then there are PINCH HITTERS.
There is Placido Polanco. And then there is MARK MCGWIRE.
Get the picture?
He may be the most magnetic figure in the entire National League Championship Series. Yet he never plays.
It's hard to say what that says about the Mets and the Cardinals. But it sure says something about the presence and the power of Mark McGwire.
All he did in the Cardinals' 6-5 Game 2 loss to the Mets on Thursday was draw a pinch intentional walk. Which didn't exactly make him the pivotal figure in a 3-hour, 59-minute ball game in which 35 other names made it into the box score.
Yet McGwire's huge presence seemed to loom over this game almost continuously for the final six innings. As the Cardinals began to climb back into this game after starter Rick Ankiel dug them a 2-0 first-inning hole, the King of Swing grabbed his bat, put on his helmet, edged down to the corner of the dugout and waited for his shot.
And waited. And waited. And waited. For about three more hours.
Without even swinging a bat, he got more air time than Al Gore and George W. Bush combined.
"Unfortunately," McGwire said, "they've got a camera stuck right in there in the corner, so I can't hide anymore. I could go up in the tunnel. But that (corner) is the only place where I can stand and watch the pitcher pitch."
So he stood. And he watched. And he got ready -- but for what?
Just the sight of him scares the kidney stones out of the other team. But one of his manager's toughest jobs is trying to figure out exactly the right spot to send Big Mac up there. And Thursday night, said Tony La Russa, "I just couldn't get him in that spot that could max him out."
In the eighth inning, though, La Russa thought he had that spot figured out. Two outs. Tying run on second. J.D. Drew at the plate. Out hopped the Mac Man into the on-deck circle, as the obligatory flash bulbs popped.
If Drew didn't get on, the inning was over and McGwire could lead off the ninth. But if Drew did get on base, La Russa figured, the odds were that McGwire would bat with first base occupied and the potential winning run on first base.
It was perfect.
Then circumstances -- and Drew -- conspired to make it not-so-perfect.
Drew did, in fact, get a hit, tying the game at 5-5. But he got a double instead of a single. And that meant that when McGwire did come to the plate to hit for pitcher Dave Veres, it was merely to get intentionally walked. How's that for drama?
But La Russa didn't have much choice. He was down to two players at that point -- McGwire and third-string catcher Rick Wilkins, whose last big-league at-bat was July 27. So La Russa sent McGwire to the plate, to stand there with a bat on his shoulders. Which set the stage for Craig Paquette to end the inning by striking out.
"I was yelling at J.D. to stop at first," La Russa said. "Once he got to second, it's Mac and Wilkins. You're conceding there's no chance to score (by sending up Veres). And I didn't think that was worth giving up that out."
But McGwire thought the notion of having Drew stop at first was almost as ridiculous as the notion of a media horde waiting around the clubhouse for 45 minutes just to ask him about an intentional walk.
"I do what I can," he said. "It's as simple as that. And what I can do is get one at-bat a game."
A few days ago, McGwire made big news just by putting a glove on and hanging out at first base during an off-day workout. But if anyone saw that and thought it meant he could start a game at first before Halloween, think again.
"Is there any chance I could start? No," he said. "My knee's good enough for me to hit once a game, and that's all. I was just taking some ground balls to get ready for spring training. There's a reason Mr. (Will) Clark is here, and he's done a great job."
Clark has, in fact, done a great job. But he also made the critical error that started the Mets' game-winning rally in the ninth. And McGwire saw some irony in that, too.
"I haven't played first base," he said, "in what seems like four months (actually three). If I was out there tonight and made that error, everyone would have been saying, 'What the hell is he doing out there?' So I'm not even going to try that. I'm just happy I'm doing what I'm doing. I didn't think I could get out there at all for a long time."
The problem in his right knee has been described by the Cardinals only as "tendinitis." But when asked if he could just get it scoped and be ready next spring, McGwire shook his head.
"No, there's no scoping with this," he said. "It's a major surgery. That's a possibility. But it's feeling a lot better, so it makes for a good sign that I don't have to have the surgery. But nothing's etched in stone. We're going to wait until this is over with and find out what we all think together."
There's no telling how that think-fest will turn out. But in the meantime, the world's most famous pinch-hitter has other things to worry about.
Like figuring out where he can hide from the cameras in Shea Stadium, as he awaits the next Pinch At-Bat Heard Round the World.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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