Small ball a thing of the past

While watching Friday's Phillies-Dodgers game at the Carnegie Abbey in Portsmouth, baseball greats Mike Schmidt and George Brett pointed out that teams don't use small-ball tactics - sacrifice bunting, moving runners, etc. - as much as during their careers in the '70s, '80s and '90s. Part of it, Brett said, is that players will see bigger paydays with home runs and RBIs than they will with sacrifices.
"After three years, they get arbitration and all they care about is home runs and RBIs, and their salary goes from $500,000 to a million and a half," Brett said. "I don' t think, in arbitration hearings, they say how many times you get the runner over, how many sacrifice bunts you had."
Schmidt said another factor is that managers and coaches aren't the same authoritative presences they used to be and players have no incentive to play small ball.
"The penalty for not doing it, there really is none," he said. "I don't think a manager or coaches will go to that guy and say, 'Next time you're in that position, you get that guy over.' I see them letting it go, like no big deal."
Schmidt added, however, that a lot of teams just plain don't play that way anymore, citing his former team, the Phillies.
"Phillies' teams are probably less noted for doing the little things to win ball games. They live and die by the long ball," he said. "Almost all their hitters hit home runs and they don't understand, or care to understand, the value of A-B-C baseball.
"Doing the little things to score just one run creates momentum. If something big happens, that's great. If they're thinking small, something big's more likely to happen."
Players also don't see it as much of a missed opportunity when they could have used small ball to score a run and don't, Schmidt said.
"'We'll hit a three-run home run to make up for that,'" Schmidt said. "They'll never go back to that and say, 'That was one of the reasons we lost.'"

More issues with Manny

George Brett and Mike Schmidt, Hall of Fame third basemen from the Royals and Phillies, respectively, weren't shy about voicing their issues with the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez on Friday afternoon at The Carnegie Abbey Club in Portsmouth. Among their beefs, which isn't just with Ramirez, was the size of the slugger's jersey. But the way many players wear their uniforms these days is irksome to both men.
"The way they wear their uniforms today is a joke," Brett said. "I'm so disappointing in Major League Baseball for allowing them to do that.
"You look at these guys and their pants go over their shoes, if you're a size 34 waist, they wear a size 38 pants, and baggy and just ridiculous."
Schmidt has less of an issue with today's baggy uniforms.
"I don't mind the baggy part of it. It's their generation, their right to set the style they want to have," he said. "To some degree, we did, with the stirrups and the high socks. That was the uniform of the generation."
Ramirez's jersey, however, goes too far, according to Schmidt.
"Manny's size 50 jersey, sloppy and hanging off of him, should be illegal," he said. "If the ball hits it when he's batting, it's a hit by pitch. He's got this big tent hanging on him, and if the ball hits it, he goes to first base."

Hall of Fame analysis

While watching Game 2 of the NLCS Friday afternoon at the Carnegie Abbey Club, Baseball Hall of Famers George Brett and Mike Schmidt were immediately intrigued when Phillies pitcher Brett Myers threw behind Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez in the first inning.
"He used to be pretty nasty," Schmidt said of Myers. "Kind of a tough guy image. I think he's softened over the last couple years.
"My guess is, this game could get a little nasty"
After the pitch, both Brett and Schmidt figured it was only a matter of time before Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley drilled a Phillies hitter. Brett thought Chase Utley, the Phillies' No. 3 hitter, was a strong candidate for the retaliation.
"He's thinking, 'They didn't hit the first guy, they didn't hit the second guy,'" Brett said. "Ryan Howard's saying, 'Hell, I hope they hit this guy."
Billingsley didn't hit anyone and Brett pointed out that, if he'd come close to doing so, both teams would have been warned and that likely would have been the end of it. Things were different when Brett and Schmidt played.
"They warn people right away now, and then they get fined and get suspended," said Brett, the longtime third baseman for the Kansas City Royals. "You didn't get suspended back in our day. I got in a fight with Graig Nettles the fifth game of the playoffs in '77, in the first inning of the game we got in a fistfight at third base. That happens now, they're kicked out, suspended without pay."

The week in photos

The Celtics made a fast break from Newport a day ahead of schedule, but what a week it was. Check out all the snapshots Daily News photographers took of players and fans during the week at NewportDailyNews.com. Click on the 'Photo Gallery.'