Paul Hagen: McNair had a flair for baseball, too

Jennings, then an area scout for the Mariners, happened across the game against Mendenhall.

"I pulled in, looked around, no scouts there," Jennings told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Running out to shortstop for Mount Olive was this Adonis. Cut up, athletic. Oh, my God. I saw him throw. He had a great arm. Not much in fielding. He kind of went down on one knee like he was genuflecting at Mass."

At Jennings' urging, Seattle drafted McNair in the 35th round. The team offered him about $15,000 to sign, but he had already decided to emulate his brother, Fred, and play quarterback at Alcorn State.

"I went to his home in Mount Olive, real small, like a three- or four-room house," Jennings related. "His grandmother and I, we sat on the couch after we talked and made the offer, and we were playing 'Wheel of Fortune,' trying to solve the puzzle, while the mother and brother were in the back bedroom and talked about our offer.

"Steve came out and said, 'You know what, Mr. Jennings? I'd love to give this a try, but I idolize my brother. I look up to him and I want to follow in his footsteps at Alcorn State. I don't know if it's a mistake, but my heart is in football.' I left the house. We tried the rest of the summer, but he was set on going to play."

Four years later, Jennings went to a Senior Bowl workout to see McNair.

"He comes up to me, gives me a big hug," Jennings said. "I told him, 'Son, I don't know that you would not have been a major league player because you certainly had great talent, but looking at where you are right now I think you made the right career decision.' He was a special athlete. It was a scout's dream. Little did I know this guy was going to be Air McNair."

The hot corner

 

* The Phillies have been looking for a righthanded bat off the bench for a while now. Well, Orioles shortstop Cesar Izturis is ready to come off the disabled list, possibly as soon as today. That means somebody has to go. And that somebody just might be 31-year-old Oscar Salazar, a professional bat from the right side with some pop and a track record of success as a pinch-hitter.

* Tigers manager Jim Leyland thinks Twins first baseman Justin Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer are the best back-to-back hitting tandem in baseball. "I think Minnesota has two of the top 10 players in all of baseball," he added. "I think Mauer is probably in the top five and Morneau in the top 10."

Around the bases

 

* According to the Wall Street Journal, Major League Baseball and the Australian government are discussing creating a league that could begin play as soon as next year. The previous Aussie league folded in 1999.

* When the All-Star rosters were announced Sunday, the Mets had four representatives on the NL roster. That was more than the number of runs they scored (three) in the entire weekend series against the Phillies.

* The Cardinals' starting pitchers are growing mustaches in a show of unity.

On deck

 

CHEERS:

For White Sox righthander Jose Contreras. He was getting hammered early this season and, partly at his own suggestion, returned to Triple A Charlotte to work on his forkball.

The results have been dramatic. Since going back into the rotation, he's 4-2 with a 2.06 earned run average in six starts. And the South Siders are 18-10 since he returned.

JEERS:

For Rays lefthander David Price. This hasn't been a good season for the touted Tampa Bay prospect. Even after a strong effort against the Blue Jays yesterday, he's 3-3, 4.70. More telling, he has walked 31 in 44 innings and is averaging less than five innings per start.

But while he has described his performance as "embarrassing" and "inexcusable" he doesn't think that going back to the minors to further hone his skills is a good idea.

"I need to learn to pitch at this level, not Triple A," he asserted. "I'm going to learn here by pitching here. If I take my lumps and bruises now [it's] kind of going to be a blessing in disguise."

Even if that's true - which is hardly a given - Price seems to be missing an essential point: It's not all about him. The Rays are a contending team. Their primary goal is to win as many games as possible, not to give him on-the-job training at the big-league level.

BY THE NUMBERS:

3: Pitchers who have 10 starts in which they pitched at least six innings and allowed one run or less: San Francisco's Matt Cain, Seattle's Felix Hernandez and Houston's Wandy Rodriguez.

45: Games in the hitting streak for James McOwen, outfielder for High Desert of the Class A California League, going into last night.

109: Negative run differential for the Nationals, worst in baseball. Washington had allowed 467 runs going into play last night while scoring just 358.

UP NEXT:

Mariners lefthander Erik Bedard dropped off the trade-rumor radar when he went on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation last month. But he returned with an impressive outing Tuesday. Working under a pitch count, he threw only four innings, but struck out eight. Catcher Rob Johnson said his "stuff was electric."

So keep an eye on Bedard when he makes his next scheduled start Sunday against the Rangers. He'll be allowed to throw up to 90 pitches before coming back without restrictions after the break. If he's healthy and effective, he's another pitcher who might just be available before the July 31 deadline.

Weeklings

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

Rockies reliever Alan Embree, who got a win out of the bullpen Tuesday night without throwing a pitch after entering the game in relief, on whether he could pitch Wednesday: "I'm not sure I'll be available. I'm beat."

MEA CULPA OF THE WEEK:

The Padres are a mess and general manager Kevin Towers now thinks his decision not to re-sign outfielder Mike Cameron after the 2007 season, when San Diego came within a game of making the playoffs, might be part of the reason. "That [2008] club had veterans like Greg Maddux and Randy Wolf and [Trevor Hoffman], but it just didn't click," he said. "I take some blame because now I understand the value of a guy like Mike Cameron ... He kicked everybody in the rear. Not having him was a huge void for this club."

SIGN OF THE WEEK:

When Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers visited Citi Field to play the Mets this week, one New Yorker held up a sign that read: "Welcome Back From Maternity Leave." That's a reference, of course, to the female fertility drug that Ramirez tested positive for, earning him a 50-game suspension.

KNUTE ROCKNE OF THE WEEK:

Diamondbacks infielder Mark Reynolds ripped into his teammates last week. "It seems like we get down one or two runs and no one [cares] anymore," he fumed. "I don't want to say guys are packing it in, but it sure seems like it. And it upsets me." He added that it sometimes seems like some Diamondbacks are "loafing" and that such behavior is "unacceptable at any level."

Arizona promptly won five straight going into last night.

Finally

 

There has been a lot of talk this week about the wisdom of trading top prospects to get a top starting pitcher. Here's a cautionary tale.

The Mariners won 88 games in 2007. They thought they were close to being a legit contender, so they sent five prospects to Baltimore for lefthander Erik Bedard. What happened next wasn't pretty.

Bedard was on the disabled list twice last season. The M's lost 101 games and manager John McLaren was fired.

Meanwhile, one of the players the Orioles received, George Sherrill, is now their closer. He made the All-Star team last year. Another, outfielder Adam Jones, made the All-Star team this year. And the key to the deal, 21-year-old righthander Chris Tillman, has been named to the All-Star Futures team as well as the Triple A All-Star team.

Just saying ...