Superstitious minds fond of routines

   By Brian Anderson
   Special for the Republic
   June 4, 1998
   
   Much has been made over the years about baseball superstitions, such
   as not walking on the baselines and not washing lucky clothing items
   and stinking up the clubhouse for weeks.
   
   I guess you could call them superstitions, but they really are just a
   comfort level for the players.
   
   Most guys don't really believe in that stuff, although some have to
   wear specific shirts under their tops for games.
   
   I have a few things that I do that might be considered superstitious.
   
   On days that I pitch, for a 7:05 game, I start to warm up at 6:42 for
   home games and 6:43 for road games. I don't know if that accounts for
   daylight-saving time or an extra spin of the earth or what. I just do
   it. But as you can see, when I was 2-6 to start this week, it wasn't
   helping me very much.
   
   When Jeff Suppan pitched for us, he always wore a Hawaiian shirt on
   days that he pitched. He was sent to Triple-A Tucson this week, but
   I'm sure he'll be back brightening up the clubhouse with those shirts
   before long.
   
   There are guys who are superstitious in the way they organize their
   dressing cubicle.
   
   Andy Fox, for instance, has to have his stuff color-coordinated when
   it hangs there, and he goes by whether the shirts have long or short
   sleeves. You also could probably eat lunch off the bottom of his
   shoes.
   
   Andy struggled early in the season, and he claimed part of the reason
   was that our "clubbie," Chris Guth, and his staff hadn't gotten his
   system down yet, that it was kind of bad karma.
   
   I typically have a dirty locker, although I don't think the health
   department is ready to come in and shut it down yet.
   
   Wade Boggs of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is famous for eating chicken
   before he plays, but he also won't play unless he can wear sanitary
   socks that have only green stitching. Pitcher Turk Wendell of the New
   York Mets sometimes brushes his teeth between innings.
   
   Sparky Anderson never stepped on a line, and I don't, either. It's
   just a habit. It's kind of like that obsessive compulsive character
   that Jack Nicholson played in the movie As Good As It Gets.
   
   Matt Williams was in sort of a slump early in the season and asked one
   of our pitchers, Willie Blair, to carry his bat and wear his batting
   gloves between innings. And what do you know? Matty started getting
   two or three hits a game. From then on, that's what Willie has been
   doing. On days Willie pitches, I think Matty holds his batting gloves.
   We have a nickname for Willie because of this scenario, but
   unfortunately, it can't be printed.
   
Getting some Z's

   The past few weeks, I've been giving you some "Guthisms" from Guth.
   This week's gem comes from Andy Fox.
   
   Andy made an interesting observation the other day about our charter
   flights. We're fortunate to have an entire row to ourselves, but
   sometimes . . . I'll let him explain it:
   
   "At what point do the flight attendants realize we're asleep? Is it
   (a) When we're lying long ways across the seats with a couple of
   blankets on top of us and a couple of pillows under our heads, or, (b)
   when our head is propped against the window and our mouths are open
   with drool running out of the side?"
   
   Oh, and by the way, that is not a good time to ask us whether we're
   hungry.