I don't want to go through this again. Baylor will lobby for his favorites at the organizational meetings during the second week of October. The first-year manager also is determined to change the mindset of the players who will return. He believes his troops should be better prepared for playing day games, in which they are 35-56. Saturday's loss dropped them to 29-41 at night.
Conditioning also has to be better.
Rain, bothered by ankle problems, has been unable to run. Jon Lieber asked Baylor if he could pitch in this weekend's series at Three Rivers Stadium. It did, so Lieber will take the mound Sunday for the series, season and ballpark finale. Lieber earned his first major-league win at Three Rivers in 1994 and pitched for the Pirates through the '98 season. He later added a double to boost his average from .197 to .208.