MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / June 6, 2000

The baseball season can be a long one.

It can be especially long when your fantasy baseball team is mired in eighth place in a 10-team league.

Oh, it didn’t start out that way. I had the first overall pick in the draft anddid a no-brainer in selecting Pedro Martinez. And for one glorious day duringthe first week of the season, my team climbed into first place.

But what’s that old saying about pride coming before the fall? About that time, my team start looking like an episode of M*A*S*H. PerhapsI need to hire Alan Alda and Mike Farrell as consultants. Sean Casey and MattMantei, both All-Stars in 1999, started the season on the disabled list.

Mantei would later make a return trip to the DL. Fernando Tatis, leading themajors in RBIs at the time, was lost till the All-Star break. Todd Hundley, oneof the best hitting catchers, is currently out at least 15 days. Even Martinezhas missed two starts.

And then there have been suspensions. Martinez and Magglio Ordonez haveboth missed games. Hundley will serve a suspension once he comes off theDL for his part in the Dodgers’ brawl with the Cubs fans a few weeks ago.

This just goes to show you how unpredictable baseball can be at times. Forinstance, Jim Edmonds is currently the favorite to be the MVP in the National League. He went undrafted in our league. Rafael Furcal wasn’t even on thelist of draft eligible players and when he finally became eligible, he was not picked up for almost a week. He is now the leading candidate to be theNational League Rookie of the Year. The same is true for Texas’ Mike Lamb,perhaps the leading candidate in the American League now that teammate Ruben Mateo will miss the rest of the season.

Andres Galarraga (one of my few steals of the draft) has come back from missing last season to probably already having wrapped up the Comeback Player of the Year Award. His counterpart in the American League is FrankThomas, who has 11 home runs already after hitting 15 all of last season.

Darrin Erstad, a good player in the past, is batting over .370. The same goesfor Todd Helton, the major’s leading hitter at .420.On the pitching side, Martinez and Randy Johnson have surprised no one.

Neither has Greg Maddux or Kevin Brown. But who would have thought DannyGraves of Cincinnati would win his first eight decisions? Ditto for St. Louis’Garrett Stephenson. Chicago’s James Baldwin is 8-1. Colorado’s Gabe White is6-0 with an ERA under 2.00, disproving the theory of never selecting aRockies’ pitcher.

On the other hand, who would have thought 1999 All-Star and 20-game winner Jose Lima would be 1-7 with an ERA over 8.00 through May? Or thatPaul Byrd, another 1999 All-Star, would be optioned to the minors after a 1- 5 start? That Mike Mussina and Brad Radke would be a combined 5-12? If those were surprises, how about Ken Griffey Jr. batting .200 through thefirst two months? Roger Cedeno, the second-leading base stealer in the NL last year, is struggling around .250. Casey is batting a .230 with just twohome runs. Craig Biggio, perennially one of the league’s top hitters, is batting.258. Juan Gonzalez, a two-time All-Star, is hitting .268 with nine home runs. Injuries have played a part of course, especially in the cases of Casey and Biggio. Change in teams and ballparks have played a part in the declines ofGriffey, Lima and Gonzalez. On the other hand, a change of scenery hashelped Baldwin while an injury gave Lamb his opportunity.

The baseball season may be long but it certainly isn’t predictable. Much tothe chagrin of us fantasy owners.

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