April 22

Character does count. Sure, talent obviously wins, but what makes the Yankees just win and win and win?

	Jeter was hitless (0-for-13) in his last four games.

"They're good players and good people," says Walt Weiss, who lost a World Series to the Yanks while playing for the Braves. "We had no problem losing to them because they give and earn respect."

The Braves have been the most dominant National League team for a decade partly because of their superb starting pitching and partly because Bobby Cox and their leader, Tom Glavine, simply do not tolerate disrepectful players and quickly rid themselves of anyone who doesn't fit.

This is what Tony Muser, Davey Lopes and Tom Kelly try to impress on their young players, even if they are undermanned for the time being. Kelly did it in the '80s and the Twins won two World Series with the core players he developed.

Ditto for Jimy Williams of the Red Sox.

"When I look at a player," says Williams, acknowledged to be one of the best talent evaluators of any manager, "I look at the way he plays the game first, then the talent. When Wilton Veras first came to us in spring training last year, I saw a kid who was the first one to the park, first one on the field and if we didn't tell him to leave he'd have taken ground balls all night. You win with people like that."

Felipe Alou of the Expos follows a similar philosophy.

"The most important thing is the man, not just the player," says Alou. "I want talent, but I can't win without talent with character."

Indians manager Charlie Manuel, meanwhile, follows the lead of some of his veteran players when evaluating players.

"When you're around Robby Alomar and Omar Vizquel," says Manuel, "you'd better listen, because not only do they know as much about the game as anyone I've ever been around, but they work all the time to make themselves better, pick up little things no one else thinks of and don't tolerate players who don't approach things the way they do. They're not afraid to say what's on their minds, especially Robby, and what's on his mind is almost always right on."

Buck Showalter of the Diamondbacks, on the other hand, prefers guys who know baseball is a day-in and day-out battle.

"I don't care what some people look at and think, I believe it's really important to get baseball players who grind it out every day," says Showalter. "This game is different from the others. It is a grind, and you can't win without players who show up every day ready to give you nine hard innings. Why are the Yankees so good? Why are the Braves so good every year? Because Bobby (Cox) doesn't put up with anyone who doesn't play the game right.

"What makes our team is that we have a clubhouse full of baseball players. Jay Bell; Steve Finley, who has a goal to win a Gold Glove at the age of 40; Luis Gonzalez; Todd Stottlemyre; Randy Johnson. Especially Randy Johnson."

Look at what Johnson did to carry the D-Backs in the first three weeks with their closer (Matt Mantei) and their star player (Matt Williams) both sidelined. In four starts, Johnson threw all but 1/3 of an inning.

So, how come isn't he MVP-eligible for holding things together in such a time of need? He should be.

His pitch counts have gone from 133 to 112 to 109 to 101. In order to do that, he scrapped getting high strikeout numbers and used a two-seamer to get easy outs and keep his pitch count down so he can eat up innings. He has already had two three-pitch innings and went 102 batters without issuing a walk. How dominant is he right now? In 21 of his past 23 starts going back to last season, Johnson has allowed two or fewer runs.

"He can get batters out with that 90-91 mph sinker," says one scout. "Then when he needs a little extra, he dials it to 97-98. He really pitches now, and his breaking ball is the best in the game."

It has carried over to the D-Backs' other starters, because with Mantei out, they had the lead in 14 of 16 games prior to Friday night's 11-5 shelling at the hands of the Giants. Before Friday they were tied with the Braves for total quality starts and both Omar Daal and Armando Reynoso (before his bad start Sunday) were averaging 22 outs per start, meaning they were asking the bullpen to get only five outs for them.

With that said, look at the way the Yankees have started. Let's see: David Cone, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte have struggled or been hurt; the team has six errors at third base without Scott Brosius; and Mariano Rivera surrendered leads two nights in a row. Granted, they might have baseball's third best pitcher in Orlando Hernandez, but they've adjusted and begun stealing bases (1.4 per game thus far; they had 1.3 in 1998) and running pitch counts the way they did when they won 125 games in '98. Thus far, opposing pitchers are throwing an average of 3.83 pitches per batter, a tad below the 3.85 they saw in '98.

"This is a game of consistency, and while you have to have pitching and defense, you have to go after it every day," says Williams. "Look at the way Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon and Troy O'Leary go at it ... Jose Offerman. I had no idea before I came here how much he loves to play and play hard. And Nomar. Does anyone compete any better than him?"

"The reason I do some of the things I do is to eliminate excuses," says Garciaparra. "I don't want to look back after a game and think, 'I was distracted,' or, 'I wasn't ready.' It's why I work so hard in the offseason. I don't want to have to look back on an off year and think there was something I could have done better. I have to come to the park, play as hard as I can and do the best I can, and if I get beaten, I can accept it.

"I don't ever want to think there might be an excuse. One of the reasons this team is so special is that there are so many guys who think the same way I do. They don't do some of the things I do, but they think and play the same way."

Every morning in spring training, Guerrero clears the pitchers out of the outfield from the right field line to dead center and chases every ball hit out there. He hits balls 18 inches out of the strike zone, and his explosion is so phenomenal that he almost always keeps the ball fair, where mortals hook and slice balls foul. He can pick balls up in the right-field corner and throw them on the fly, 10 feet off the ground on a line, to third base.

"You don't mess with what he does," says Garciaparra. "You don't tell him, 'Be more patient.' It could mess up his head."

Vladimir, in fact, sees the fewest pitches per at-bat in the game (2.2), but is fifth in the NL in percentage of swings that put balls in play (58.9 percent). He has also struck out only three times in 66 at-bats through Sunday's action.

"I had a scout tell me I'd never make it to the big leagues because I'm not patient enough," says Garciaparra. "Everyone is different."

Can either player explain how each swings at so many pitches in so many areas and still centers the ball on virtually the same place on the bat every time? "I have no idea," says Garciaparra.

Why tinker with genius?

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