Not So Amazin’

Ken Griffey Jr. or Barry Bonds? The Atlanta Braves or the Baltimore Orioles? Anyone can argue who’s better. What about who’s worse? The 1997 Philadelphia Phillies or the 1962 New York Mets?

Richie Ashburn should know. He played right field for those anything-but-amazin’ Mets in ‘62, and he’s now the senior member of the Phillies’ broadcast team. His vote, he said, would go to the Mets, hands down . . . way, way down.

“This team is better than the ’62 Mets,” Ashburn said during the Phillies’ recent Rolling Blunder Review stop in Los Angeles. “We were an expansion team; this team isn’t.

“We were a fair hitting team, better than the Phillies, but we didn’t have any pitching. Of course, neither does this team, but they do have Curt Schilling and some prospects. We didn’t have any prospects. . . .”

Not too convincing, is he?

Perhaps a statistical analysis is in order. The Phillies are on pace to finish 50-112, which would be better than the Mets’ 40-120 record, the most losses by a major league team since 1900. But both had identical 23-58 records at the midway point.

The ’62 Mets lost 16 games by seven runs or more; the ’97 Phillies have already lost 18 games by seven or more.

The Met rotation was awful, but at least it was balanced--Roger Craig won 10 games, and Al Jackson and Jay Hook each won eight. Schilling has 11 victories for Philadelphia this season; 11 other starters have combined for 14 victories.

More bitter Phils to swallow: Philadelphia went 50 games without winning two in a row this season. Only four teams in the last 50 years--the 1949 Washington Senators, the 1975 Milwaukee Brewers, the 1980 Seattle Mariners and 1993 Mets--can make that claim to shame.

The Phillies went 7 1/2 weeks, from May 23 to July 15, in which no starter except Schilling won. Matt Beech beat Greg Maddux and the Braves, 4-1, in his major league debut last Aug. 8. He hasn’t won since. Pitcher Tyler Green made the NL All-Star team in 1995. His next victory was July 29 . . . 1997.

Entering the weekend, the Phillies ranked 13th in the league in team batting average and runs and last in homers and stolen bases. They were last in team earned-run average and walks, a lethal formula. One Phillie writer called a particularly ugly 9-2 loss to Houston on May 5 a “stinko de Mayo.”

The Phillies are on pace to win 47 fewer games this season than they did in 1993, when they went 97-65 and lost to Toronto in the World Series. The biggest NL four-year drop after reaching the World Series is 43 games, by the--drum roll, please--Phillies from 1915-19.

“That World Series,” Schilling said, “doesn’t even seem like it was in this lifetime.”

The decline of the ’93 Phillies began with injuries to Lenny Dykstra, Darren Daulton and Dave Hollins, as Philadelphia slipped to 54-61 in 1994. But three years later, who could have imagined this?

Sure, it was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but with a late-winter, $15-million free-agent splurge on Danny Tartabull, Mark Leiter, Rex Hudler, Mark Portugal and Mark Parent, some thought the Phillies could be respectable.

Then Tartabull broke his foot in his first at-bat of the season; he has played only three games. Portugal blew out his elbow after three starts and is still on the disabled list.

Hudler, who had a career year with the Angels in 1996, has been on the disabled list twice and has only eight hits. And Leiter, after a 3-1 start, is 3-10 since.

So, the Phillies have been trying to get by with a patchwork lineup and rotation that includes numerous triple-A caliber players.

“The hardest part for me is seeing the players get so frustrated,” first-year Manager Terry Francona said. “A lot of times I feel they deserve better. I’d like to see them come off the field laughing after wins, but I don’t see that very often.”

Francona, who at 38 is the youngest--and perhaps most energetic--manager in baseball, has remained remarkably upbeat.

“At this level, it’s hard enough when you know you don’t have it,” Parent said, “but when the manager is screaming and yelling at you it makes it even tougher. He’s been very patient, very upbeat. If you can’t play for this guy, you can’t play for anyone.”

Don’t let that cheerful demeanor fool you, though. The season has taken its toll on Francona, who suffered through a 53-109 season as a Detroit coach last season.

Those Tigers had two four-victory months in 1996, and the Phillies went 4-22 this June. That means of the seven worst months since 1951, Francona has been involved in three of them, hardly a resume-builder.

“Sleep is not one of my strong suits,” Francona said. “I just lie awake thinking of ways we can get better.”

It’s a wonder Francona sleeps at all. But as nightmarish a season as it has been, there have been bright spots. Schilling leads the league in strikeouts and remained a Phillie past Thursday’s trading deadline, as did Ricky Bottalico, one of the league’s top closers.

Third baseman Scott Rolen is the leading candidate for NL rookie-of-the-year honors, young catcher Mike Lieberthal has made significant strides, and the trade for first baseman Rico Brogna from the Mets has paid dividends.

And Francona believes Beech and Garrett Stephenson will develop into competent big-league starters. But he acknowledges the Phillies are a long way from respectability.

“I can’t even talk about contending now,” he said. “We don’t deserve that.”

Ashburn is more optimistic. He remembers a 1961 Phillie team that went 47-107 but improved to 92-70 by 1964. Seven years after the Mets’ awful 1962 season, they won the World Series.

Still, after watching these Phillies he can’t help recalling a speech Manager Casey Stengel gave those ’62 Mets after Joe Pignatano hit into a game- and season-ending triple play for their 120th loss.

“We walked into the clubhouse and Casey said, ‘Now, I don’t want any of you fellows to feel bad about this, because this has been a team effort,’ ” Ashburn said. “ ‘No one or two guys could have done all of this.’

“That’s how it is with this team. You can’t pin this season on any one or two guys.”

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Cellar Dwellers

The worst teams in each division and how many games they are behind the first-place team. The Phillies, with a major league worst .309 winning percentage, could finish with the worst record since the 1969 San Diego Padres (.321):

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

NL EAST

*--*

Braves 70-41 .631 -- Phillies 34-73 .309 34

*--*

NL CENTRAL

*--*

Astros 60-50 .545 -- Cubs 44-67 .396 16 1/2

*--*

NL WEST*--*

L.A./S.F. 60-50 .545 -- Rockies 52-59 .468 8 1/2

*--*

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL EAST*--*

Orioles 68-39 .636 -- Tigers 50-57 .467 18

*--*

AL CENTRAL

*--*

Indians 56-48 .538 -- Royals 45-61 .425 12

*--*

AL WEST

*--*

Angels 62-48 .564 -- Athletics 43-69 .384 20

*--*