Advertisement

No Nomar, no offense?

ryne sandberg

THE CYCLE (the weekend's best series)

HOME RUN
Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays: These are two teams that you normally don't hear about in the AL East, but both have started off hot. Baltimore is led by the bats of Brian Roberts and Miguel Tejada, while Toronto has relied largely on its pitching, namely Roy Halladay (3-0) and Gustavo Chacin (3-1). For both of these teams, this is a good opportunity to win games in the division and to keep up their pace. It'll be interesting to see Halladay face the Orioles' heavy hitters on Sunday.

TRIPLE
Houston Astros at St. Louis Cardinals: Saturday might be the best matchup of the year so far: Roger Clemens (1-0, 0.43) vs. Mark Mulder (1-1, 4.74). Clemens is going to have to get through a tough St. Louis lineup. These two teams were at the top of the NL Central last year, but this early series is more important for the Astros because they hadn't been playing well until a few days ago. They'll have to keep on the switch this weekend against the Cardinals.

DOUBLE
Oakland Athletics at Los Angeles Angels: The two best teams in the AL West face off for the second straight weekend. On Saturday, Oakland will throw rookie Dan Haren, who is one of the best young talents in the league. The Angels' explosive lineup will be a good test. I thought this would be somewhat of a building year for the A's. They're a young team with not a lot of experience, but they still have the capability of making things tough in that division.

SINGLE
Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves: The road to the NL East title always goes through Atlanta. To get in the mix, Philadelphia will have to beat the Braves in Atlanta at some point. It'll be tough because the Braves are sending Mike Hampton (1-0, 0.82) to the mound on Friday and Tim Hudson (1-0, 0.82) on Saturday.

More Sandberg – Don't diss the Dodgers

The injury to Nomar Garciaparra is a big blow to the Chicago Cubs.

Nomar was swinging one of the hottest bats in the spring, and the Cubs were counting on him to contribute out of the three spot in the lineup all year long. Also, with this season being his contract year, I felt he would get back to his superstar status on the field.

In all likelihood, Garciaparra – despite his cold start to the season with a .157 average – was going to be an All-Star this year. Now, the Cubs may have to play the rest of the season without their starting shortstop.

Garciaparra suffered a torn left groin on Wednesday and is expected to miss at least two to three months. But any groin injury is very difficult to come back from during a season. There are so many movements on the baseball field that can affect that area of the body. Sometimes a groin injury, especially a groin tear like Garciaparra's, can last for more than a year.

I don't recall a teammate ever having a groin injury that severe. I've had a slightly aggravated groin pull and I had to have it treated for a week before playing, but even then, my movements were very restricted. The injury hampered my play both in the field and at the plate.

How will the Cubs fill Garciaparra's shoes? They will go with a rookie (Ronny Cedeno) and a utility infielder (Neifi Perez). Cedeno was one of the bright young players in camp, receiving the Cubs' spring training award for the best young talent, and he'll be called up and get some playing time along with Perez, who always has been known for his solid defense.

But neither one of them is a No. 3 hitter. That's why Gariciaparra's offense is the biggest thing the Cubs will miss.

Defensively, the Cubs should be fine. With both Garciaparra and starting second baseman Todd Walker on the disabled list, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Perez are capable of stepping up and forming a good double-play combination. Offensively, though, it'll be hard to replace Nomar's bat.

The Cubs still could have a good offense with Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Jeromy Burnitz in the heart of the lineup, and Hairston has a chance to add a spark in the leadoff spot when he's playing second base. But even if the rest of the team stays healthy and the starting rotation pitches up to its ability, it'll be tough for the Cubs to ease the pain of losing their starting shortstop for most of the season.

THE FINAL THOUGHT

I think it's time for fans to enjoy the game of baseball respectfully and to not interfere with the action. If not, I believe action will start to be taken toward the fans if they act in a harmful manner, just like the Red Sox fan having his season tickets revoked for interfering with New York Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield in Boston.

Major leaguers are entertainers. But they're also working and the fans should not have any physical contact while they are on the field.