(Ft. Lauderdale)... Sometimes it's not easy to define what makes a pitcher so talented or to explain how it is that he can go from being the league's biggest winner one year to the biggest loser two years later. There's all sorts of theories applied by scouts and so-called baseball experts, but Orioles pitcher Scott Erickson has the best answer, "after the ball leaves my hand, I have no control over what happens."

   And so it is that Erickson prefers to review his up-and-down seasons as a sequence of random happenings controlled by the environment surrounding him, in other words his teammates. Perhaps it's because so many of Erickson's offerings are hit on the ground that he feels this way. Regardless, his days with the Minnesota Twins from 1990 to 1995 were a study of peaks and valleys.

   Recapping the positive times in the Twin Cities, Erickson finishing second to Roger Clemens for the 1991 Cy Young Award after posting a 20-8 record with a 3.18 ERA out of the third spot in his rotation behind Jack Morris and Kevin Tapani. During that season, his first as a full time member of the Twins starting rotation, Erickson ran a streak of 12 consecutive wins. His record may have even been better were it not for a stint on the 15-day DL with a strained right elbow. He got to make two World Series starts in the post-season although received no decision in either game. All told, it was a quite a beginning to a promising career.

   Erickson continued his mastery the following season, but because of circumstances such as declining run support and bullpen inefficiencies, his record dipped to 13-12. However, it was during the 1993 season that Erickson appeared to breakdown as he dubiously led the league in losses this time with an 8-19 record and a dreadful 5.19 ERA.

   "We had a really bad team in Minnesota for a couple of years even though the pitching staff remained virtually the same," says Erickson. "I mean we were all the same guys that had just two years earlier pitched in the World Series (except Jack Morris)."

   "The staff didn't change much, but we lost a lot of guys," Erickson continues. "We lost Gagne (shortstop Greg Gagne). We lost my catcher Junior Ortiz and he caught most of my games. It's one of those things where guys get better playing with other guys and when you lose that, it can have an effect sometimes."

   The Twins went into free fall during the '93 season and the following year was not much better either for the club or for Scott Erickson. A strained oblique muscle kept bothering him and his ERA continued to climb. However, on April 27th, 1994 Scott Erickson carved a slice of immortality for himself as he twirled a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers, the first-ever at the Metrodome. He faced just 31 batters that day and got 15 of them to ground out. It was a glorious moment, but it didn't obliterate the miserable season that still lay ahead.

   It may sound like an excuse, but Erickson makes note of the fact that after catcher Junior Ortiz left the team, his record plummetted.

   "Nothing against the other guy who came in there (Matt Walbeck), but it makes a big difference to have somebody catching who thinks like you do as opposed to somebody who doesn't understand," claims Erickson.

   There were also problems relating to Twins pitching coach Dick Such, who Erickson claimed was trying to change his tactics as soon as adversity began to take hold.

   "A pitching coach can either be very helpful or very detrimental to what you're trying to do," calims Erickson. "No two pitchers can throw the ball the same way and you can't categorize every pitcher into the same slot doing the same thing some other guy did because he's successful. I ran into that in Minnesota and it just caused me to have more struggles."

   "What happens is they try and change you because you had a couple of bad games and they want to change you into doing something different because it might have worked for somebody else.

   Mid-way through the 1995 season, Erickson was traded to the Baltimore Orioles along with pitcher Jimmy Williams for pitcher Scott Klingenbeck and outfielder Kimera Bartee. The turnaround was amazing. He had gone 4-6 with a 5.95 ERA for the Twins, but after the trade he immediately returned to his old form going 9-4 with a 3.89 ERA. However, he struggled again during the first half of the 1996 season which started people thinking that he was two-season pitcher. He would be a punching bag for hitters to beat up on prior to the All-Star break, but then would settle down and pitch like an ace during the second half.

   Erickson set out to become a more consistent pitcher in 1997. He wanted to take steps during the offseason that would insure he would be able to be the pitcher he was in the second half of 1996.

   "The only thing I did differently to get ready for last season was backing off the weights a little bit," asserts Erickson. "The two years before last year I had really good second halves and it took me about three months before my arm felt like it was in really good pitching shape. So, last offseason I limited the weights in terms of the total weight or heaviness dropping down from 275-pounds to like 225-pounds. It was a matter of maintaining the same looseness I had when I was going well."

   The 1997 season was Erickson's finest since his 20-win season in '91 with Minnesota. He finished the year 16-8 with a 3.69 ERA and led the AL in groundball to flyball ratio with his sinking fastball. Almost 75 percent of the balls put in play against him were ground balls.

   Erickson always had good velocity and once he was even voted to have the best slider in the AL by Baseball America in one of their annual surveys. But, the difference in his approach last season was the fact that the sinking fastball was not just used an "out pitch" when he was ahead in the count, but used all through the count.

   "Without a doubt, that pitch has to be used anywhere in the count," says Erickson. "I mean it's really my fastball and I'm just lucky that it moves. It's not a sinker per say as like when someone goes out there and tries to turn the ball over. I's my fastball and I throw it as hard as I can."

   "It's a basic, two-seam fastball, but I'm fortunate in that has good movement," he reiterates. "There has to be some reason for it and I don't mean to sound vague as to why it moves like it does. But, it must have to do with the the way it runs through my fingers, the way I throw the ball, the angle of my arm, the break of my wrist and the snapping of the forearm. There's all kinds of things that go into it and I don't do anything on purpose, but it works out that way."

   There's no question that a pitcher like Erickson, who induces batters to hit the ball on the ground so often, needs a good defense behind him. The Orioles infield is loaded with superior defenders like Cal Ripken, Mike Bordick, Roberto Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro. The bullpen behind him is not too shabby either. In fact, last season the Orioles got one of the great closer performances from Randy Myers saving 45 out of 46 games. Myers has gone to Toronto now and Erickson feels there's no doubt his loss have repercussions.

   There is also another fact to consider which is that Erickson is one of 13 pending free agents on this team. It's rumored the Orioles intend to re-sign him and get it done before the others, but he refuses to allow it to become a distraction.

   "The guys shouldn't worry about that because everyone is signed for this year and that's why we're here to play," he says rather candidly. "Who knows what's in the future? If they sign people or the dont, it's not really a concern. Just do the job this year and that's the most important thing."

   "Any guys that are letting that get in their way, they're more concerned about money than actually playing the game. It will lead lead to a problem for them. It always does."

  Currently this spring, Erickson shook off some of the cobwebs that were prevalent in his first couple of exhibition starts. He has now thrown 10 consecutive scoreless innings and is sitting with a 3.78 ERA and just now finding his groove. Good news for the Orioles as they need Erickson to be as consistent as he was last year in what promises to be a tough AL East battle.