Wedge making the pieces fit

With all the focus on Schill, the Yankees, a possible rematch with the Angels, Billy Beane's remodeled machine in Oakland, and the surprising White Sox, is it possible that the Indians will slip into the playoffs while nobody is looking?

''These guys are doing a good job, man," said Eric Wedge, who once caught for Pawtucket, owns a stake in a baseball facility in Danvers (Strike One), and as his primary pursuit manages the Indians, a team that began the weekend in a virtual tie with the Yankees and Athletics in the wild-card race. ''They've always showed up and played hard, and played all the way through."

Mark Shapiro, who is one of baseball's brightest young executives and who was charged with disassembling the powerhouse Indians teams of the '90s, has traded or witnessed the departure of, among others, Robbie Alomar, Bartolo Colon, Jim Thome, and Omar Vizquel; but he predicted last summer that his rebuilt Tribe would be in position to compete in 2005. The fans, who packed Jacobs Field during a record sellout streak in the '90s, have been slow to commit to this team. The Indians rank just 27th in attendance with an average of 24,037, but there is no shortage of believers in the Indians around baseball.

Colon brought star center fielder Grady Sizemore and pitcher Cliff Lee, who is tied with Mark Buehrle of the White Sox for most wins by a lefty (13). Vizquel's replacement at shortstop, Jhonny Peralta, was highly touted, but no one expected what he has delivered. Peralta has 20 home runs, only the second Indians shortstop to hit that many (Woodie Held is the other), and after a shaky start afield, he has settled in nicely. So well, in fact, that the Red Sox indirectly benefited, as the Indians, no longer feeling the need for Alex Cora as insurance, swapped him to the Sox.

''You never know what to expect in a first-year player, doing it for the first time," Wedge said. ''Jhonny had a strong minor league career, but nobody expected him to do what he's doing for us this year. He's been nothing short of fantastic for us.

''One of the kid's strongest attributes is not to get too high or too low. When you take over for an Omar Vizquel, there's an adjustment period, and that's where Alex was a big help to us, and to Jhonny. Early on, he was playing almost every day, and helped Jhonny through that adjustment."

Everywhere you look, the Indians have good young talent, anchored by rising star Victor Martinez behind the plate. DH Travis Hafner started the weekend batting .319, just 8 points behind league leader Johnny Damon (hard to believe, but the Indians have not had a batting champion since Bobby Avila in 1954). And there is Ronnie Belliard, Coco Crisp, Casey Blake, Ben Broussard, and, most impressively, center fielder Sizemore, who has joined Alomar as the only Indians in more than 50 years to post double figures in doubles, triples, and home runs.

But the strength of this team has been pitching. The starting staff has depth and quality, and ace C.C. Sabathia has gotten hot at the right time, running off four straight wins. Free agent pickup Kevin Millwood, a one-year consolation prize for Shapiro after Matt Clement elected to sign with Boston, has a deceptive record (7-10) but is among the league leaders in ERA (3.23) and has been a stabilizing presence in a young rotation.

And the bullpen, with a healthy Bob Wickman at the back end, leads the AL in ERA (2.87) and has resurrected the careers of such Sox castoffs as Scott Sauerbeck, Rafael Betancourt, and Bobby Howry. With Wedge mixing and matching until he can get the game in Wickman's hands, the Sox alumni have all thrived as setup men.

Throw in the fact that the Indians' road record (39-26) is second best in the league, eclipsed only by the White Sox (40-20), and you can understand why the Indians figure to be in this until the end.

''I'm a firm believer in the fact that you can't explain everything in this game," said Wedge, responding to a question about the team's road record but making his point in a broader sense as well. ''You can't put everything on a piece of paper. Teams have great stretches, tough stretches, good weeks, and bad weeks. What you try to do is go about your business, regardless of who you are playing, the same way."

Almost half (16) of the Indians' last 34 games are vs. bottom-feeders Tampa Bay, Kansas City, and the Tigers. They also have six games apiece against the two teams in their division also fighting for playing time in October, the division-leading White Sox and the Twins. The team with the $45 million payroll seems well positioned to give some of the bigger boys as much as they can take, and maybe more. ''It's really on us," Wedge said.

Francona, Bell: buddy system

The question was a setup from Terry Francona. Want to know about my relationship with Royals manager Buddy Bell? Go ask him how many times the farm director and the Double A manager argued when Bell was at Detroit. Bell was the farm director in question, Francona the Double A manager.

Bell laughed when he heard the question.

''Arguments? Just about every time I went into Birmingham," Bell said. ''First of all, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm the smart one. That's one thing about our relationship. He would never tell me what I wanted to hear and I would never tell him what he wanted to hear. I benefited from that; I don't know if he did."

The relationship runs much deeper, of course. They were teammates in Cincinnati in 1987. They worked together in the Tigers' farm system, and when Bell got his first big league managing job, with the Tigers in 1996, Francona was his third base coach.

Sure, Francona felt for his friend when the Royals lost 19 games in a row, but it was after a far more devastating loss that Bell turned to his friend for support. During the Royals' visit to Boston earlier this month, Bell learned that his 22-year-old nephew, Lance Corporal Timothy Bell Jr., was among 14 Marines killed by a roadside bomb.

''I didn't hear from [Francona] about the baseball stuff, that's all part of the game," Bell said. ''But he called about my nephew."

Bell attended his nephew's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

''It's like those seats," Bell said, gesturing toward rows of empty seats in the ballpark and imagining white crosses. ''When you go in the gates, there are protesters, protesting the war. And I'm thinking, 'How ironic is this? I'm going in to bury my nephew for something he was fighting for. That's why these people can protest.' "

Museum gives Negro leaguers their place in history

While in Kansas City last week, Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione did not make his customary visit to the birthplace of Harry Truman, his favorite president, but he did pay a return visit to the Negro Leagues Museum, and brought along Sox coaches Ron Jackson and Lynn Jones.

The legendary Buck O'Neill, who at 93 hosted his golf tournament earlier in the week, was not on the premises, but the museum is a not-to-be-missed treasure trove. Any self-respecting baseball fan should be as familiar with the names of Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Buck Leonard, Satchel Paige, Pops Lloyd, Judy Johnson, Josh Gibson, and Leon Day as they are with Cobb, Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, and Speaker.

By the time you stand, humbled, at the museum's centerpiece, a miniature baseball diamond with bronze statues of the Negro league greats at each position, you realize that the talent assembled at the corner of 18th and Vine is at least the equal of any similar collection of talent you could put together in Cooperstown.

Among the highlights for this visitor: a photo of a 16-year-old Henry Aaron after he'd signed with the Indianapolis Clowns, and a letter from the team's business manager, predicting future greatness for the kid known as ''Pork Chop" because that's all he ordered off the menu.

There is also a newspaper account of a game between a black team and a team of Ku Klux Klan members, in which fans were advised to leave their horsewhips at home (the Klansmen lost, 10-8).

Memo to Bud Selig and Don Fehr: Somehow, a way has to be found to educate today's players to better understand the history of their game, and the sacrifices made by the players who went before them.

Etc.

Brave new world
The Braves have used 16 rookies in their push toward a 14th consecutive division title, including outfielder Jeff Francoeur, who appears this week on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the subject of a story titled ''The Natural." Francoeur, called up from Double A this season, hit .413 in July and came into the weekend batting .350 with 10 home runs and 30 RBIs in just 38 games. One rookie who could have been right there with them is Sox backup outfielder Adam Stern, plucked out of the Braves' system last December in the Rule 5 draft. The Sox thought highly enough of Stern that they kept him on the big league roster all season instead of returning him to the Braves. Stern, who is friends with many of the Braves' kids, is reveling in their success, especially the four players who grew up in the Atlanta area: Francoeur, catcher Brian McCann, pitcher Kyle Davies, and reliever Blaine Boyer. But the Braves rookie with whom Stern is closest is probably backup infielder Pete Orr. Like Stern, Orr is Canadian; they played together on the Canadian Olympic baseball team, and yes, if you hadn't heard already, Orr wears No. 4 (like you-know-who). Said Stern, ''I'd love to meet Bobby Orr one day. I hear he's still in the area."

He'll be in the center ring
The Johnny Damon market watch, roughly eight weeks before he can declare for free agency: The argument can be made that with a paucity of premium leadoff hitters around, the Sox can no more afford to lose Damon this winter than they could Jason Varitek last winter. Varitek's contract can be used as a barometer for what the Sox are likely to offer: four years, $40 million. The dollars may have to be adjusted upward, considering that the Yankees and Cubs are expected to be among the big spenders targeting Damon, but the Sox seem adamant at holding the line on four years, not only with Damon but any elite free agents. Damon will likely enjoy being courted, getting the VIP treatment wherever he goes, but in the end, the Sox would like to believe that if their offer is close, Damon will opt to stay, realizing that he can't match the popularity he enjoys in Boston elsewhere.

No satisfaction for Bellhorn
One final indignity for Mark Bellhorn: When the second baseman inquired about retrieving his stuff from the Fenway clubhouse, he was told he couldn't get it. The Rolling Stones were on the premises, and club officials asked Bellhorn if he could wait until after their concerts. Bellhorn went home to Phoenix. ''Mick Jagger had dibs on the clubhouse," said Bellhorn's agent, Mark Rodgers. ''Even though Mark hit three home runs in the postseason, he's still not Mick Jagger."

The recovery room
Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Twins crack scout Larry Corrigan, who had a heart attack while on the job in Kansas City, and to Gary Hughes, the Cubs' special assistant to GM Jim Hendry who even after hip replacement surgery has yet to concede that Barry Bonds may have surpassed him as the greatest athlete to come out of Serra High in San Mateo, Calif.

Shake it
Want to play baseball till you're 50, like Atlanta's Julio Franco, who turned 47 last week? Get up every night at 3 a.m for a protein shake, like Franco does.

Market forcesA major league executive's assessment of the free agent market this winter: ''It's pretty thin. There's a load of money to be spent in the market, and not a lot of talent. That's a bad market to participate in, when a lot of teams have money to spend and there are only four or five good players out there."

About Schmidt
While Curt Schilling and Jim Rice, among others, echoed Frank Robinson's screed that the records of Rafael Palmeiro and other steroid cheaters should be expunged from the books, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt had another take. Speaking on Sporting News Radio, Schmidt said: ''Do I think records should stand? If there was a way to not make them stand, maybe they shouldn't. I don't know how the hell you could do it. If a player came out and said, 'On June 1, 1999, at 4 o'clock, I stuck a needle in my butt. From that point on, I hit 186 home runs. I stopped sticking a needle in my butt in 2003, on this date, so let's wipe out those 186 home runs.' I think the best way to do it -- and I heard George Will mention this on TV, and I've kind of adopted it as my own particular theory -- is to let the records stand. A lot of this happened, a lot of the needles went into butts at times when there wasn't testing. Like I say, it's all part of the era that the players played in. It was a player's effort to gain an edge. Surely, it's probably unethical, surely illegal. I just don't know how in the hell baseball could ever go to war with that and wipe them out, because you only wipe out the guys who tested positive. What about the guys who got away with it?"

Chiming in
It's a truism of modern sports: All ballplayers want to be rock stars, all rock stars want to be ballplayers (though maybe, remembering Tony C's career as a crooner, this isn't a recent development). Bronson Arroyo rocks for the Sox, and now Indians first baseman Ben Broussard has released his first solo album on Lazy Bones Recordings. His publicist says he's ''an awesome singer-songwriter in the vein of Jack Johnson and the Counting Crows."

Gordon Edes can be reached by e-mail at edes@globe.com. Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.