Burke displaces Taveras, spin commences
It's interesting to see how different baseball writers frame the same news.
In the case of Chris Burke displacing Willy Taveras from the lineup of late, the Austin-American Statesman ran with a big headline (for only two paragraphs of coverage):
Alyson Footer covered it this way for MLB.com:
Chris Burke's performance of late has made it impossible for manager Phil Garner to not include him in the lineup, and Burke started again Wednesday for the eighth time in nine games.
But Burke's increased playing time has naturally created a somewhat delicate situation. The emergence of one player means a loss of playing time for another, and in this case, it's Willy Taveras who draws the short end of the stick.
Taveras has essentially lost his starting job in center field to Burke, and while Garner isn't tipping his hand regarding how long this arrangement will last, it's apparent Taveras hasn't received a guarantee that he'll be in the starting lineup anytime soon.
Garner has had one meeting with Taveras on this matter. The two met just after Burke dislocated his shoulder swinging at a pitch last Wednesday, and after Burke was set to return after missing just one game, Garner told Taveras he was sticking with Burke in center for the time being.
"We're just going to use it for a little bit, but it's not cut in stone," Garner said. "Let's not forget we went 19-9 [in April] with Willy in center field, too."
Garner also cleared the air about a misconception that Taveras has done something specific that caused him to fall out of favor with the manager.
"Willy's a good kid," Garner said. "He continues to work. Clearly, he wants to play. The only thing you can do when you're like this is do what Chris did -- make sure you are prepared. You get an opening, make the best of it.
"It's not that Willy is out of favor. It's just the combination is working this way at this moment. We've started to play a little better, and Chris has been a part of that. Willy was sliding a little bit. That's really all there is to it. There's nothing else to it than that."
Brian McTaggart framed it slightly differently for the hometown Hearst daily:
Although Chris Burke started in center field for the fifth consecutive game, manager Phil Garner isn't ready to say Willy Taveras has lost his job as starter.
"Let's don't forget, we went 19-9 with Willy in center field," Garner said.
Burke, who went 4-for-4 on Tuesday and tied a franchise record with five runs scored, has started eight of the past nine games, six in center field.
Taveras, hitting .266, hasn't started since June 8.
"Somebody had asked me, 'What's Willy done?' Willy hasn't done anything," Garner said. "It's not like Willy's out of favor here with me or anybody in this organization. It's clearly an issue, just like it was with Jason Lane, looking to try to find a combination, putting somebody in the lineup and see if it works.
"Mike Lamb got his foot in the door and got hot and he's going to play more. I told (Taveras) when Chris came back the other day after the shoulder injury I was going to go with him for a while. There was no definite time period."
And Richard Justice pretty much says who cares -- just keep plugging Burke into the lineup!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/15/06 08:07 AM | Technorati | Comments (1)
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