Rockies Do Things Differently Than Twins

Rochester's Michael Restovich has had markedly different experiences with Minnesota and Colorado. Although he can't know what will happen next, Michael has to be encouraged by what has taken place in Denver so far.

While with the Twins, Restovich proved himself at the AAA level but wasn't brought up to the majors. Team officials admitted he was "ready" but said there just wasn't room. For the next three years Restovich was brought up only to be sent back down, despite playing well enough to stay. He felt the pressure of putting up power numbers and impressing someone enough to stay up, but found out later that there was virtually nothing he could have done to remain on the team. It just wasn't in the cards. He could play well in the major leagues and not be rewarded for it. I don't know if the Twins are to blame, but in the end his experience there proved to be unfair.

His experience in Colorado, so far, has followed a path that makes a little more sense. He was basically given a two week tryout and played well. Resto is hitting .346 with a home run and 3 RBI, seeing action only against left-handers. As a result, he's staying up in the majors while the Rockies sent a couple pitchers down because they didn't do as well.

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle seems to have a pretty good philosophy when it comes to who stays and who gets sent down. While talking about backup outfielder Cory Sullivan, Hurdle said, "He's done nothing to warrant being moved." That type of thinking makes a lot of sense.

I know there are always tough choices that have to be made. I know Restovich still may not get a fair shake. He was in the line-up a few days ago when snow started to fall and the game was postponed. Resto lost out on a chance to get some at-bats. Now Dustin Mohr is back from the disabled list and, although he's certainly no All-Star, he will move into the starting rightfield spot automatically. The bad break is typical to what Restovich has had to deal with in his fight to become a full-time major leaguer. But don't expect to see him pout. Restovich will continue to fight for playing time.

Hopefully the Rockies continue to make logical choices.

Young Pitchers Can Learn From Santana's Success

Johan Santana has won 17 straight games since the last time he was beaten. He strikes out double-digit batters more often than the Twins suffer fluke injuries. He's known around the league as one of the best pitchers in the game, and was honored with the Cy Young award as a result. And the biggest thing young pitchers can learn from him is the most effective way he strikes out opposing batters: with the change-up.

Today's youngsters (and indeed, young players for many years) see the big leaguers breaking off nasty curveballs and sliders and the kids want to do that too. But they don't understand the long-term damage they're doing to their arms.

I'd be lying if I said I knew the percentage of players who have arm surgery, but I can tell you this: every player has arm problems. The lucky ones just have soreness once in a while, but a huge percentage of players either have a nagging injury that effects their velocity (like the tendonitis I fought over the past two summers) or worse, surgery.

Elbow and shoulder surgery have become so commonplace that ball players don't even think much of it anymore. Yes, players can come back from surgery, but ruining your arm with the assumption that a doctor will be able to fix it isn't the best way to go about things. And a lot of damage can be done to a young arm throwing curveballs.

Curveballs, sliders, slurves and any other variations of a breaking ball are tough on an arm--any arm. The motion is unnatural and harmful. It is a sharp snapping at release. Either that, or the pitch won't break sharply enough.

When I was young, 16 was thought to be the age that players could safely start throwing breaking balls. I would say that should be the very youngest. It isn't worth risking injury or loss of velocity. Especially when you consider the way many big league pitchers are drafted.

Scouts today draft on tools, potential and for pitchers, velocity. They are much more interested in a guy who can throw a 90-mile-per-hour fastball than someone with a big breaking ball. So kids should develop their arm strength rather than their slider. They should play long-toss rather than throw split-finger fastballs.

Obviously a pitcher will benefit from an effective off-speed pitch (although at any level, control gives pitchers a leg up on the competition). The answer? Look no further than Johan Santana and his best strikeout pitch: the change-up.

A good change-up will ruin the hitter's timing, it will move (down and in from a righty to a righty) and most importantly for young players, it won't cause arm problems.

The only downfall to the change-up is that it can be hard to control. It takes a lot of practice since the ball is placed back in the palm rather than out in the fingers. But when perfected and kept low in the zone, the change-up is the ultimate pitch for little leaguers. And they should keep it in their repertoire for life.

And keep their arm in the process.

First Test For Tice

Mike Tice has been around for a few years now but has yet to prove himself as a coach. After a couple losing records, Tice's team backed into the playoffs last year and finished the season 9-9 overall. The former Vikings tight end is said to have great rapport with his players, but many of us question his in-game decisions and clock management. Now, the critics (or are they called worshipers) are saying this below average team from the past few years has the chance to be good. Really good.

Although Super Bowl talk is music to the ears of Minnesota football fans, it must be like raking fingernails down a chalkboard to Tice. Finally, the pressure is on.

No one really expected the Vikings to do much last year. Sure, the hometown talk was that their defense was revamped and the squad would win the Super Bowl--like always--but we all know how many times that has happened in the team's history (for those of you who don't know, the number can be counted on zero fingers).

But this time the Vikings faithful have some outside support for their claims. Several draft analyzers gave the Vikings excellent reviews for last weekend's draft performance. With an above-average draft complimenting the Vikings off-season free agent moves, the purple will face some real expectations this fall.

That means one thing. Tice's grace period is over. He can no longer hide behind the fact that he's new. He can't pretend he doesn't have the players (although I still seem to be more concerned about the linebackers than anyone else and they certainly don't have a kicker). Randy Moss' on and off the field interference are no longer an issue. Everyone's happy, nearly every position is solidified and once again the Viking faithful are chanting Super Bowl.

Only this time, Tice better produce.

Title IX Out Of Control

Let me start by tossing a big bucket of water on the fire that a title like that can create. I am all for gender equity in all areas of life, including sports. With a daughter on the way, I'm looking forward to watching her take part in sports in a way that wouldn't have been possible just one generation ago. I agree wholeheartedly with the idea and purpose of Title IX. But I disagree with the way it is sometimes carried out.

A year after I finished playing baseball at Iowa State University, the school announced its intention to cut the baseball program. The Big 12 Conference was ranked the second best baseball conference in the nation, and now it would only have 10 teams (Colorado also has no baseball team). Imagine the Big Ten with eight football teams. That's about what it's like.

The reason the program had to be cut was twofold. First, budget problems had prompted lawmakers to cut funding to state universities. It trickled down to athletics in the form of Title IX compliance. According to the law, ISU had too many male athletes and not enough female. The options were to add women's sports or cut men's. Partially because of the budget problem, the latter option was implemented.

Although I think the loss of the Cyclones baseball program is tragic, especially for Minnesota kids like me who had the rare opportunity to play in a southern conference, I can partially understand it. We didn't draw big crowds and, since we did play in a southern conference, travel expenses were high. We flew to all four Texas schools in the Big 12 as well as to Louisiana my junior year over spring break. It wasn't cheap for the athletic department.

Still, some things didn't make sense. One day I spoke to a young woman who was on a recruiting visit. It was an odd visit in that she was considering a crew scholarship. ISU had no women's crew team, but was looking at instating one to help comply with Title IX. The really odd thing was that she had never been in a boat before. She was being recruited for the sport not because of her athletic talent but because she was a woman. ISU never did get the crew team, but the incident always stuck in my mind as being ridiculous.

Local Implications

The ludicrous side of Title IX hit Rochester a few weeks ago when a Mayo baseball game was postponed because of darkness. It was being played at Mayo Field. For anyone who doesn't know, Mayo Field is one of the best lit fields around...When the lights are on. High schools have had night games there for many years, but not anymore.

Since softball fields at a couple of the schools in town don't have lights, the boys aren't allowed to use theirs either. The argument is as simple as that.

As I said before, I understand Title IX. I get why it was necessary before and why it remains so today. I'm glad, for my future daughter's sake, that it's still around. But can't we use a little common sense in its implementation?

Rather that taking the privilege of playing night games away from high school baseball teams, we should be working on making it possible for softball teams to have the same luxury. If we want to make change, why hold one group down rather than lifting another up? Why focus on vengeance rather than progressive thought?

What we need to do is quit being so trivial. As much as it pains me, I understand why Iowa State no longer has a baseball program. I might not agree with the allocation of resources that played a part in the cutting of the program, but at least I understand. The lights issue is on an entirely different scale. A scale measured by millimeters rather than miles and fueled by bureaucracy rather than common sense.

I say we should shoot for equality through different means. By making boys and girls sports even by lifting them both up rather than cutting one down just so we can use the word "equal."