Unworthy Rivals

Washington at New York. Expos 4, Metropolitans 2

We need to choose a rival. Sure, the rest of the NL-East will be our rivals for the division pennant. But there are rivals and there are rivals. If the Washington Expos are the good guys in this drama - and they are - then who is the bad guy? If we're Alan Ladd, who will be our Jack Palance?

Whoever it is, it probably won't be the Metropolitans of New York. This is a team named after an art museum, for crying out loud. But while every Washingtonian enjoys beating up on New York, there's just something a little too sad about the Metropolitans. They say you can't expect to solve problems by throwing money at them. That's not entirely true; just look at the Yankees. That team's $200 million payroll doesn't buy $200 million worth of talent; it buys $80 million worth of talent and papers over $60 million worth of mistakes by pouring another $60 million in good money after bad.

The Metropolitans pay their players $86 million, more than any other team in the division and more than twice the Expos' payroll. Eighty-six million dollars, wisely spent, could buy a great team. It could buy the Yankees. But the Metropolitans do not spend wisely. They make spendthrift mistakes $8 million at a time, and you can only make so many of those even on an $86 million budget before you have to pad out your starting lineup with guys earning the league minimum of about $300 grand.

If the Metropolitans slashed their payroll in half, they would be a better team. The general manager could no longer afford to make $12 million gambles on aging veterans; he would have to find and develop good young players. And then maybe New York would be a worthy rival for the Expos. But until that happens, the Metropolitans will just be a team we take particular relish in beating.

Tonight, the Metropolitans paid their players $530,864. We paid our players $234,568. So New York spent $265 grand for each run it scored against the Expos, while Washington spent just $59 grand per run. Watching the Metropolitans flail hopelessly at our pitches - and good pitches they were, too, from starter Scott Downs and relievers Jon Rauch, Luis Ayala, and Chad Cordero - made BallWonk wonder just what New York spends its money on. Did they pick up some of the Air Force's surplus $200,000 toilet seats for the clubhouse at Shea?

On the Washington side, the runs certainly didn't look cheap. It was small-ball all the way, putting runners on - 16 of them - and advancing them a base at a time. Terrmel "Hammer" Sledge and catcher Brian Schneider took turns driving in runs: Schneider singled in the second to drive Hammer home. Then Hammer drove in Endy Chavez with a single in the third. Hammer struck again in the eighth, doubling this time to send Endy home. This upset Schneider, who shouted as he walked to the on-deck circle, "Hey! It was my turn for an RBI." He was right; fair is fair. So Schneider finished the day's work by hitting a bases-loaded single to score Tony Batista.

All in all, a good result against the New York Big-Spenders, but these are not the rivals we are looking for.