May  24, 1992, Metro Edition

SECTION: Sports; Dan Barreiro; Pg. 1C
LENGTH:  1007  words
HEADLINE: Erickson saga grows weirder
BYLINE: Dan Barreiro; Staff Writer
DATELINE: Detroit, Mich.

 BODY:
   There might be only one thing more humbling for a 20-game winner than to be traded. That is to be jerked from the rotation.

    The Twins now have the honor of employing a 20-game winner who fits each profile.

John Smiley won 20 for the Pirates last year, and his reward was to be sent to the Twins for a pair of minor leaguers.  Scott Erickson won 20 for the Twins last year, and now, at least for a start or two, he's out of the rotation. The Twins, working overtime on spin control, say Erickson's exodus is temporary, and that the light schedule made this an easy move.

    Nonsense. The Twins are not making this move because the schedule allows them to. They are making this move because Erickson's dreadful performances have forced them to.

    You never make a move like this lightly. You never risk messing with the head of a pitcher such as this, even for a start or two, unless you think you must.

    "I have thought about that," Andy MacPhail admitted. "All I can say is it's going to be a weird year. I can tell. I don't know what will happen, but I can tell it's going to be weird."

    It does not get any weirder than this. A year ago, Erickson owned the Twin Cities. On May 12, 1991, Erickson beat the Tigers 8-3 for his fifth straight victory. Two weeks later, he beat the Rangers 3-0 and ended their 14-game winning streak. He was the AL Pitcher of the Month for May, posting a 5-0 record and a 1.36 ERA.

    He continued to carry the Twins through June. Erickson even became a cult hero and an instant draw at Twins home games. He not only had the numbers, he had a persona: the black socks, the hard stare, the Jim Morrison CD collection.

    Then, suddenly, his arm started to go, and he was not the same pitcher. When Tom Kelly and Dick Such were not messing with Erickson's head, he was messing with theirs. The Twins' hope was that cooler heads would prevail in the offseason, Erickson's arm would heal, and he would come back strong in 1992. The reality was that with Jack Morris gone, the Twins needed him. It was unrealistic to expect him to be as masterful as he was during the first half of 1991 - "that's as dominant as I can remember a pitcher being," said MacPhail - but they absolutely had to get more out of him than they did in the second half.

    They still do, and for the first two months, they have gotten next to nothing. Leads have been blown with alarming frequency. That is why the move hardly should come as a shock. Reading between the lines with Kelly, it sounds as though the Twins have made this move for two reasons: To save Erickson from himself and from his teammates.

    "We had a good conversation for 20 or 25 minutes," said Kelly, who did not seem to have many good ones with Erickson last year. "He was very receptive to what we were saying. We talked about how the team has been scoring runs for him and the danger of losing the players when he pitches, the importance of keeping his head screwed on mentally instead of flying off. He needs to take his time and pitch. I can go out and throw. He needs to pitch. I was real happy when I walked out (of the meeting)."

    When told that Kelly said it had been a good discussion, Erickson shrugged. "I don't think there's any such thing as a good discussion or a bad discussion," he said.

    I have no clue what this means. I am not sure whether Erickson was answering the question or quoting from Morrison's poetry.

    The Twins hope Erickson will work on his mechanics and his head in the bullpen. The good news is that after living in denial on Erickson for some time, the Twins finally have been forced to admit he is not doing the job. "People are saying he's not throwing as hard, and I think he's going out there trying to throw even harder to prove people wrong and he's trying to throw so hard, he's losing his control," said catcher Brian Harper. "He just needs to relax a little bit."

There is, of course, the question that concerns MacPhail: What does this do to a kid's confidence? "A lot of times, it depends on the individual," said Harper. "I think that won't be a problem with Scott, because he's a very determined type guy."

    Erickson has some serious weirdness in him, but he also has some bulldog, as he showed in Game 6 of the World Series. From the first inning, it was clear that he did not have much, yet he found a way to stay afloat and keep the Twins in the game. The trouble is, the Erickson of today doesn't even look as good as the struggling Erickson of Game 6.

    Here are the big questions: What do the Twins do if Erickson returns from his trip to the bullpen and continues to struggle? More than once, a high-ranking Twins official has daydreamed about whether Erickson's save-nothing mentality might make him better-suited for the bullpen.  This is a kid who has a
hard time understanding pace - when to go full-speed ahead and when to throttle back. As a short reliever, he would not have to. And his first-inning numbers are excellent. "In the first inning against Toronto," said Kelly, "he looked like Cy Young."

    At the moment, the Twins gladly would settle for even a slightly less overpowering version of the Erickson who destroyed the American League last May and June. And right now, they do not have even that.