May 19

Eric Wedge has been faced with a number of tests as a rookie manager with a young Indians team that is trying to rebuild, not the least of which has been a brutal schedule. As of Monday, the Indians had played 23 games against baseball's best division, the AL West (the Yankees have played 24 and are 11-13).

	Milton Bradley Outfielder Cleveland Indians Profile
	2003 SEASON STATISTICS AB HR RBI BA SB OBP 107 3 8 .327 3 .430

But Wedge's most severe test came last week when he took Milton Bradley out of Wednesday's game with the Mariners for not running out a ground ball. Wedge, with the full support of Bradley's agent, Sam Levinson, held him out Thursday. Realizing that Bradley fully acknowledged his wrongdoing, Wedge put him back in this weekend, whereupon Bradley got on base six times and raised his OPS to .934 -- the best of any center fielder in the American League.

Bradley occasionally slips, but he has come a long way, and the time, effort and understanding he has received with the Cleveland organization has helped bring this very good person along.

Incidentally, Indians general manager Mark Shapiro appreciates just how good the AL West really is. "When it's time for us to win again," said Shapiro, "I hope our club is patterned after the Angels and the Mariners. They are good, but most of all, they play the game right all the time."

With injuries come opportunities

	Vance Wilson will be the Mets' everyday catcher while Mike Piazza is sidelined.

The Mets ended up their one week road trip with consecutive wins in San Francisco, no small achievement. But had they not blown a 7-0 lead in Colorado on Tuesday, it easily could have been a 5-2 trip. With Mike Piazza out a month, Vance Wilson will catch and Jason Phillips will get a shot to play first base and do some catching. When Piazza comes back, the Mets will address his switch to first base.

What is clear is that the Mets plan to keep the veteran players -- Al Leiter, Tom Glavine, Steve Trachsel, Mike Stanton, David Weathers, et al -- who clearly enjoy playing in New York and are not intimidated by the pressure. They also could have 12 home-grown products on the roster next year. But the question will be how they market Armando Benitez and Roberto Alomar, and how that works into the possibility of moving Ty Wigginton to second and trading for a third baseman, like Mike Lowell or Shea Hillenbrand. The list of available closers could expand, which might make the Mets think about doing a Benitez-Hillenbrand deal earlier, rather than later.

Ramirez dedicated to his craft
When the Rangers played in Boston, Herbert Perry told some of his young teammates this story about Manny Ramirez. "We signed together (Perry as the No. 2 pick, Manny No. 1 of then-Indians scouting director Mickey White)," Perry said. "And if you guys think Manny is a smart hitter now -- and he may be the smartest in the game in terms of setting up pitchers -- then you should know he was brilliant at 18. Sure, Manny comes across as carefree, but he is all business when it comes to the mental part of the game. We signed, and went to Cleveland. All the signed players are trying to jerk balls out. Not Manny. Head down. Swung through the ball. Line drives. We played a game. First at-bat, Manny set up the pitcher, got the slider he wanted and hit it out."

Ramirez's Boston teammates marvel at his ability to set up pitchers and recall situations against them. And if you want an example of how happy he is this season and how dedicated, go to the Sports Club/LA some morning when the Sox are in town and check out Manny and his wife in the yoga class. No kidding. Manny does yoga, has lunch, goes to Fenway, wanders out to the cage in center field and hits.

Devil Rays narrow choices to Weeks, Young
As it stands today, Tampa Bay has narrowed its choice for the No. 1 overall pick in next month's draft to either Southern University shortstop/second baseman Rickie Weeks or California high school outfielder Delmon Young.

Milwaukee is expected to take left-hander Adam Loewen -- presuming the Orioles don't sign him before the draft -- and the Tigers are expected to choose between Weeks, Richmond right-hander Tim Stauffer and Young.

San Diego wants Young, but will be happy with Loewen, Stauffer or Weeks. The Royals are interested in Dunedin (Fla.) first baseman Ryan Harvey. Wake Forest RHP Kyle Sleeth may have slipped, but won't go much past the Cubs at six, if they pass. After that, it's anyone's guess.

Home-ball advantage?

Imagine the Angels' surprise last week at Yankee Stadium when one of their officials checked out a foul ball and saw that it had a Yankee (1903-2003) logo replacing that of the commissioner and MLB. "They were using it during games," the official said, "so I called the commissioner's office, and they said it's been OK'd. It's a special one-year deal. Visiting teams get a certain allotment of baseballs for BP from the home team when they're on the road, so we're taking BP in Boston with Yankee baseballs. Imagine that."

Minor-league observations