Major League Baseball is always a local sport

Many people are beginning to feel that Tip O'Neill, the former Speaker of the House and a longtime Democrat congressman from Massachusetts, should have said, "All Major League teams are local." In fact, here what follows are comments that have been pulled from recent conversations in the Mat-Su Valley.

Despite my frequent best wishes and prayers, it appears as if Gar has missed his chance to be MVP of the American League. About a month ago - when Edgar Martinez was leading a Seattle Mariner team that was eight games ahead of Oakland - I was hoping he would be the first pure designated hitter to win the league MVP.

Since then, his batting average has dropped about 30 points, his RBI rate has slowed down to merely torrid, and the Mariners have slipped so badly they appear to be the weakest possible entry in the playoffs.

Frank Thomas and his Chicago White Sox have not had such a nose dive. Even though I just simply don't like Chicago as a city, if I had a vote, I'd cast it for Thomas. But, as a friend pointed out at a Valley establishment the other night, that's all well and good, except the ChiSox had better watch out for Jason Giambi and the A's, who appear to be peaking at the best possible time. After Wednesday's games, they were on an 19-5 tear that put them as the team to beat for the wild card berth in the playoffs. Giambi has been the obvious catalyst and should be the league's player of the month for September.

That same buddy at the same establishment will take five of my hard-earned dollars if Barry Bonds of the Giants is not the MVP of the National League. I personally don't think it will even be close.

The 2000 season has been a delight in one major aspect. It has wadded up, shredded, stapled, folded and mutilated all the championships that were won "on paper."

As in, "on paper," the Arizona Diamondbacks were a lock for the World Series when they acquired Curt Schilling from the Phillies. With Schilling to go along with Randy Johnson, giving the D-Backs an awesome one-two punch in a five- or seven-game series, who could stop them? Well, as it turns out, the rest of the National League.

The Diamondbacks won't even finish second. Now, on paper, it would be hard to ignore them come next spring and someone asks for predictions about the season and the 2001 playoffs.

On paper, the Cincinnati Reds got a whole lot better when they acquired Ken Griffey.

Except that no one predicted he'd be hitting below .250. His home run and runs batted in figures are decent. No - they are excellent. They just aren't Hall of Fame numbers, and they did very little to help the Reds into the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Mike Cameron, the Mariners' new centerfielder, has about one-third to one-half of Griffey's power numbers, and will get a check for the post-season, which will be broadcast on radio and TV right here in the river borough.

Of all the managing changes that have been bandied about by the baseball beat writers and the TV sportscasters, the saddest involves Lou Piniella. The Seattle Times' beat writer who covers the M's has written that Sweet Lou is stepping out of the Seattle dugout, and will either take a year off or be the new manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Lou lives in the Tampa-St. Pete area, and he wants to go home.

Good for him. Wish him well. But always remember that he pulled the M's onto that old cliché - the next level. All three of the M's playoff appearances will have been under Piniella's field management (assuming they don't crash this final week). His knack for spotting talent turned the worst bullpen in the America League into one of the best. He apparently knew his team could win with Cameron in center.

As someone who lived in the Seattle area his entire regime, I can tell you that he is loved by M's fans and is very rarely the target of grousing on the sports-talk radio stations. He has been given as much respect and leeway as Don James had at the University of Washington.

If and when Lou moves back to Florida, the Mariners' front office should give Tony Perez another chance at managing. He'd be a good fit with Seattle's current roster. Besides, who else will be available? Davey Johnson? All that is the opinion of a Mat-Su baseball fan, expressed at halftime of the Colony-Chugiak football game.

There are high school football playoff games on the immediate horizon, and basketball and wrestling will start soon. As will hockey and cross-country skiing. But, apparently, the folks in Mat-Su feel that Major League Baseball is also worthy of local thought.

Lew Pumphrey is the Frontiersman's sports editor.