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Alomar Is Letting the Standings Tell His Story

August 27, 2003
By DAVE CALDWELL






Roberto Alomar played his first baseball game in New York
in two months last night, and he appeared to have no free
time in his schedule.

He arrived at Yankee Stadium late, disappeared for 40
minutes to get dressed, then strode briskly to the field to
stretch.

He noticed some friends in the stands, and he nonchalantly
pointed at them. Late in batting practice, he borrowed an
aluminum bat from one of his Chicago White Sox teammates
and blasted two home runs into the upper deck. He signed
autographs, too.

Alomar, whom the Mets traded to Chicago on July 1 for three
minor leaguers, seemed to be happy. But it was hard to know
for sure. When he was finished with batting practice, he
stopped before he re-entered the clubhouse to address
reporters.

"I don't have nothing to say,'' Alomar said.

He is still a mystery in New York.

His dreary, puzzling
222-game stint with the Mets is long over, and Alomar has
moved on to a team in a pennant race. His older brother,
White Sox catcher Sandy Alomar Jr., said Roberto had helped
to change the way the team plays.

"All I told him was that the slate was clean," Chicago
Manager Jerry Manuel said before the White Sox pummeled the
Yankees, 13-2.

Alomar could never clean the slate while with the Mets, who
lost 20 more games than they won while he was in New York.
That might explain why Alomar was booed when his name was
announced in the starting lineup, then when he led off the
game.

Alomar, who was 0 for 3 with a walk last night, has done
something with his sixth big-league team. The White Sox are
26-17 with Alomar as their second baseman. They were one
game under .500 when he arrived.

The White Sox lead Kansas City by one game in the American
League Central. They were three and a half games out of
first when they acquired Alomar from the Mets.

"He makes our team older, and I think we've gained some
credibility,'' Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko said.
"Thinking back to the point when we got him and Carl
Everett, from that point on we've been playing good, solid
baseball. You definitely have to say that's because those
guys showed up on the scene.''

Roberto Alomar started slowly with the Mets, who began to
lose and alienate their fans. Then veterans like Mo Vaughn
got hurt. Sandy Alomar Jr. said his brother was
disappointed that he could never help the Mets dig out from
their bad start.

"Here, he just couldn't get out from under that cloud,''
Sandy Alomar Jr. said. "He couldn't get out of that
slump.''

It is not exactly as if Roberto Alomar's batting average
has skyrocketed since he joined the White Sox. Alomar, 35,
is batting .259 in 43 games for the White Sox. He batted
.265 with the Mets and had a .304 career average before
this season.

Those statistics would suggest Alomar is slowing down.
Manuel said Alomar did not have the power he had when he
was in Cleveland, but that he was as quick as he used to
be.

"He's been a very patient hitter and very professional
hitter, which is what we expected him to be,'' Manuel said.


Apparently, his patience at the plate has been infectious.
Sandy Alomar Jr. said the White Sox were more of a
free-swinging team before his brother arrived.

By being more selective, the White Sox have tired out
opposing pitchers more quickly.

"He has really changed this team dramatically,'' the
37-year-old Sandy said. "Not only fundamentally, but
defensively. He has changed the style of play. We were more
of a team that wanted to bang the ball around - and we
weren't banging the ball. It's not just batting average and
runs batted in that win games.''

The Mets could have benefited from that approach, too.
Overpriced, aging and unsuccessful, they shed Alomar a
month before the trading deadline. Many other departures
were to follow.

The Mets, young and feisty, do not resemble the team that
included Alomar

But his brother said last night: "He never once said, 'I
want out of New York.' He never told me that.''

Roberto was out of New York quickly enough. He was back
last night but once again as an opposing player. In some
ways, it is as if he had never played for the Mets. Perhaps
that is why he had no time to stop and chat about the last
two seasons.

"I figured it would be best to give him the best
opportunity to be the player he was in Cleveland,'' Manuel
said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/27/sports/baseball/27alomar.html?ex=1062984266&ei\
=1&en=389767ae16a41884


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