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Dick Vermeil comes under fire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPORTS
They may have been loyal, but this bunch was far from happy.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Kansas City Chiefs executive Lynn Stiles welcomed a group of about 50 fantasy league players to Arrowhead Stadium this week, he assumed they were loyal fans.
To most callers' questions, what seemed to be a general tone. Why did you make so many coaching mistakes? Why is the offense not getting the job done? Why didn't you blitz more during Sunday's loss to jacksonville?
"It costs me a ton of money to buy season tickets and drive to the games," a caller from South Dakota said in an angry tone of voice.
No sooner had a smiling Stiles concluded his remarks than a stout man in a blue shirt spoke up.
"You guys knew you had personnel problems in some areas and you still didn't sign any free agents," he said. "Why didn't you go out and try to sign somebody?"
It's a question that is growing tiring to people who coach, play and work for a team whose season could be on the brink of oblission.
"I don't answer it any more." Vermeil said Tuesday. "The people I communicate with on a daily basis have heard me respond to that."
Later that evening on Dick Vermilil's weekly radio show, it got even worse for the coach of the 1-4 Chiefs.
And, something fans have been carping about since training camp. "Why didn't you sign any free agents?"
With a wide receiver corps that is aging and average and a defense that ranked 29th overall, the Chiefs did have needs during the free agency period.
Moreover, a number of players who changed teams were certain to draw approving glances from
fans, including wide receiver Terrell Owens, defensive ends Grant Wistrom and Jevon Kearse, cornerbacks like Champ Bailey and defensive tackles like Warren Sapp.
But instead of opening Lamar Hunt's wallet and showering free agents with cash, the Chiefs opted to hold on to their own. They resigned defensive end Eric Hicks, safeties Jerome Woods and Greg Wesley, defensive tackle John Browning, and restricted free agent cornerback William Bartee.
"Why not sign Greg Wesley? Why not Jerome Woods? Don't we know they can play good football? That was our approach. And you only have so many dollars when you get that done. Sure, I'd like to go sign this guy, sign this guy. But you only have so many dollars just like everybody else."
"Why not sign Eric Hicks?"
Vermeil said Tuesday. "He leads us in quarterback hits and pressures and has two sacks. Why not sign Eric Hicks over somebody else who might be as good as Eric Hicks or might be better, who may not fit in, who might not have the character level, may not fit the profile of the kind of person we want in this room? May not be able to handle a 1-4 record?"
In keeping their own players, Vermeil said, the Chiefs knew what they were getting.
"The most important thing to do is invest in a quality product that gives you what you think is the best opportunity to win," he said.
Vermeil noted that many Pro Bowl performers have signed free agent contracts around the league and immediately gone on the decline.
"If you really study free agent signings and production and rate of return and a Pro Bowler going back to the Pro Bowl on a new contract with a new team and how many times they do it, it ain't a very good return."
Cardinals backed up against wall
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. Louis Cardinals Cardinals outfielder Roger Cedeno, left, finds a light moment with Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa during a light workout at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, yesterday. Tonight they will play Game 6 against the Houston Astros in the National League Championship Series. The Astros lead the series 3-2.
ST. LOUIS — For the first time in a long time, the St. Louis Cardinals are suddenly in an unfamiliar must-win predicament.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP PHOTO
The Cardinals won 105 games, one off the 52-year-old franchise record. They were the first team to clinch a division, wrapping up the NL Central on Sept. 18. They dispatched the Dodgers in four games in the first round of the playoffs and won the first two games of the NLCS.
But that dominance is all in the past. They have to beat the Houston Astros twice, in Games 6 and 7 on Wednesday and Thursday, or they're done.
"We've got to win, that's it." right fielder Larry Walker said. "It's win or nothing."
They're not particularly surprised or dismayed by their predicament. The series thus far has gone according to form since the Cardinals beat two lesser-known pitchers to get off to a fast start at home and the Astros answered by sweeping three straight at their park, the first two games started by aces Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens.
Now, all the Cardinals have to do is put the home-field advantage to work and they'll be in the World Series for the first time in 17 seasons.
"It's not over," first baseman Albert Pujols said. "Until you get beat four times it's not over. We feel pretty comfortable here and we've played great in the post-season at home, and it's going to help us."
The Cardinals have been remarkably consistent all year, with no losing streak longer than three games until they dropped four straight while coasting to the regular-season finish from Sept. 27-30. Coincidentally the first three losses in that slump came when they were swept at Houston,
which was in a must-win situation most of the final month of the season.
Losing three straight in the playoffs to the Astros did not seem to diminish the team's confidence, built over the course of the season which began with low expectations.
This is how easy it looked for the team that was picked to finish behind the Astros and Chicago Cubs: The Cardinals led the division by seven games at the All-Star break. The cushion had grown into a 17-game bulge on Sept. 12, six days before they clinched their fourth playoff berth in five years.
"This team has a lot of heart and we've been doing it all year," Game 6 starter Matt Morris said. "Hopefully the foundation we've built helps us
games.
For Morris at least, the magnitude of the start is a familiar feeling. He's been inconsistent this year with a 4.72 ERA trailing the rotation, numbers that prompted manager Tony La Russa to bump him to Game 5 of the division series and Game 2 of the NLCS.
through the next couple of games."
Still, he won 15 games this year, has 65 victories the last four seasons and has made the last three opening day starts. He pitched well in an elimination game in 2002, a 2-0 Game 5 loss to San Francisco in the NLCs.
"I think the feeling with this team all year has been that we've been a team that should go to a World Series and compete for a ring." Morris said. "I think that's the difference that we have, just the feeling and the belief in ourselves."
They put no stock in the momentum the Astros apparently have built since leaving St. Louis.
"I don't buy into it because we won two in a row and it certainly didn't seem to follow us into Houston," third baseman Scott Rolen said. "Hopefully, it won't follow them back here to St. Louis."
Rolen has a simple formula for the rest of the series, which he referred to on Monday as a pair of Game 7s.
"It's just a situation where you go out and you prepare yourself and you let it all go." Rolen said. "You play with as much heart as you possibly have and you dig deep and see what you come up with.
"When that first pitch is thrown, we'd better be ready to go."
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