Oakland, aged

[RME JICO]

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9450291/1

Now in Oakland, Thomas struggles through the twilight

May 20, 2006

By Scott Miller

 

OAKLAND -- He's making the best of it, wading through the wounded pride and pressing forward with dogged determination. But it's difficult not to look at Frank Thomas out here on the Left Coast and view him as the Big Guy in Exile.

 

"I'm not doing too good," Thomas said, "I'm not doing too good.

 

"You want me to lie?"

 

He smiled his big smile and his eyes twinkled like they do. One day, he will be speaking from the podium at Cooperstown.

 

But limping along figuratively (with a .188 batting average) and literally (with a strained right quadriceps), Thomas has rarely looked smaller than he does right now -- especially when measured against the shadow of the Barry Bonds Show that opened a weekend run at the Coliseum on Friday.

 

"We were pretty close in numbers for a long time," said Thomas, who has 455 career homers and started the season with a .307 career batting average -- most of which came, of course, in Chicago with the White Sox.

 

"He has a few more years on me. Barry's been sensational. It really helps that he's a lefty."

 

Thomas said Bonds is the best all-around player he's ever seen, pointing specifically to the combination of home runs (still sitting at 713 after going 0-for-3 with a walk in Oakland's 1-0 win) and stolen bases (506). No other player in baseball history has even reached 500 career homers and 500 steals.

 

At the turn of the century -- you know, going into the 2000 season -- Thomas had 301 career homers and Bonds had 445.

 

Now, Bonds has out-homered him by 250.

 

But while Philadelphia pitcher Cory Lidle and Houston reliever Russ Springer in recent days have joined the He Man Barry Haters Club -- Lidle publicly labeled Bonds a cheater; Springer used him for target practice -- Thomas remained highly complimentary.

 

The only thing Thomas said during a long conversation about Bonds, Thomas' own career and Thomas' current struggles that raised a mild question was the comment about him and Bonds once being close in numbers.

 

Yeah, I told him, until Bonds suddenly had the suspicious, late-career shift into turbo.

 

Is that what Thomas meant?

 

"I'm not going to touch that one," he said, "I'm not going to touch that one.

 

"The bottom line is, he got it done. That's the bottom line."

 

Does it bother Thomas that players who seem big enough to have emerged from a laboratory have left him in the dust statistically since, oh, 1998 or so?

 

"I won't touch it," he said. "Because at this point, who cares?

 

"I worry about my own house. Not everybody else's."

 

Thomas, who will turn 38 on May 28, has plenty to concern himself with in that department. Pushed out of his beloved Chicago when the White Sox acquired Jim Thome to be their designated hitter over the winter, Thomas seems to be having continuing difficulty in adjusting to life west of the Rockies.

 

Interestingly, there could be parallels between him and Bonds in the adjustment area, too.

 

Bonds, 41, last week spoke of possibly finishing his career in the American League as a DH if the Giants don't offer him a contract for 2007. While it's a colossal waste of time to discuss Bonds' contract status at this point -- by September, his bad right knee could force him from the game entirely -- Thomas is living proof that an end-of-career change sometimes might be more trouble than it's worth.

 

At least for those interested in retaining their pride -- which Bonds has in epic supplies.

 

Among other things, from 2000-2005, Thomas hit 108 of his 147 home runs in his home ballpark in Chicago.

 

Away from that comfort zone in Oakland, he's struggling to adapt in areas that the average ticket-buyer doesn't necessarily see.

 

"I had everything set up in my old house," he lamented.

 

For one thing, the White Sox have an indoor batting cage just off of the dugout. Between at-bats, Thomas not only had his own guy supplied by the team to throw him batting practice, he often also received in-game advice from the White Sox hitting coach in that batting cage.

 

In Oakland, there is an indoor batting cage, but it's all the way up the dugout runway past the clubhouse -- too far to conveniently work during the game. And certainly too far away for Oakland hitting coach Gerald Perry to leave the dugout in the middle of the game and give Thomas tips.

 

In Chicago, Thomas had "thousands and thousands" of videos of opposing pitchers at the ready in a room right off of the dugout, next to the batting cage. While working as the DH, he could easily watch video of the opposing pitcher between at-bats.

 

In Oakland, he must run back to the clubhouse to watch video.

 

So now, between at-bats, he said, "I stay in the dugout and cheer the guys on."

 

"Everything is new here, as far as working with different people around me," he continued. "They don't know me as a hitter. This is the first time I've got to figure things out myself. I'm out of my element."

 

Though Bonds' situation is different from Thomas' -- he doesn't have career ties to just one organization -- he has been in San Francisco long enough (this is his 14th season) that a break would be similarly difficult.

 

"That's going to be hard," Thomas said. "That's going to be a hard thing.

 

"You're talking about the greatest player, in my eyes, of all time. It's a little different. All eyes have been on Barry over the last three or four years. For him to leave the Giants would be tough. Who knows if his knee is going to be 100 percent better than it is now?

 

"If it is, I think he'll continue to play there."

 

In Thomas' case, he simply couldn't get his aching left ankle to where it was 100 percent better and, in the end, with the White Sox, business was business.

 

So here he is, looking odd in Oakland's green and gold, staring at mysteries without any clues.

 

"I'm feeling good now," he said. "My quad pull, I'm getting over that. I just didn't get off to the start I wanted to.

 

"I've missed a lot of baseball in the last two years. Inside right now, it doesn't feel too good. I'm used to producing at a high level.

 

"I've just got to keep churning. Gotta keep churning. It's a little difficult right now."

Edited May 20, 2006 by RME JICO

[Kyyle23]

Away from that comfort zone in Oakland, he's struggling to adapt in areas that the average ticket-buyer doesn't necessarily see.

 

"I had everything set up in my old house," he lamented.

 

For one thing, the White Sox have an indoor batting cage just off of the dugout. Between at-bats, Thomas not only had his own guy supplied by the team to throw him batting practice, he often also received in-game advice from the White Sox hitting coach in that batting cage.

 

In Oakland, there is an indoor batting cage, but it's all the way up the dugout runway past the clubhouse -- too far to conveniently work during the game. And certainly too far away for Oakland hitting coach Gerald Perry to leave the dugout in the middle of the game and give Thomas tips.

 

In Chicago, Thomas had "thousands and thousands" of videos of opposing pitchers at the ready in a room right off of the dugout, next to the batting cage. While working as the DH, he could easily watch video of the opposing pitcher between at-bats.

 

In Oakland, he must run back to the clubhouse to watch video.

 

Jeez, this paragraph makes it seem like Oakland is a AA ballclub with no amenities(sp?) for the players

[RME JICO]

Jeez, this paragraph makes it seem like Oakland is a AA ballclub with no amenities(sp?) for the players

That's what I was thinking. It doesn't seem like a player friendly environment.

[YASNY]

That's what I was thinking. It doesn't seem like a player friendly environment.

 

It's not a baseball friendly environment.

[Dick Allen]

I wonder if Frank's batting average will be higher than Brian Anderson's when he steps to the plate at USCF for the first time in Oakland colors.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

I wonder if Frank's batting average will be higher than Brian Anderson's when he steps to the plate at USCF for the first time in Oakland colors.

 

 

Forget about Brian Anderson..........the real question is whether the Big Skirts waistline or his batting average will be bigger.