It’s a Big Week for the Races

It should be one heck of a baseball week: Blue Jays vs. Yankees, Cards vs. Mets, Royals vs. Angels.

The division races, simmering all season long, finally heat up. A win here, a loss there and pennant fever rises a few more degrees.

“I think everybody is starting to get up for it,” says St. Louis shortstop Ozzie Smith, looking ahead to a three-game series in New York that starts Tuesday night. “When you start playing head-to-head, you can put some distance between yourselves.”

This week won’t determine who finishes first in the National League East and the other divisions, but it will, indeed, set the tone for the final month.

“We’ve been playing better than anyone in baseball. We’re red-hot and we’re still in second place,” says third baseman Mike Pagliarulo of the New York Yankees, who play host to American League-East leasing Toronto for four games starting Thursday. “They’re doing a terrific job of staying ahead of us. But I’ll tell you one thing--I think we can beat them.”

The two teams have split their six games this season. They have not faced each other since July 3, and in the last month New York has steadily whittled away a 9 1/2-game deficit.

“Right now, I’m not thinking about the Yankees,” says Toronto third baseman Rance Mulliniks. “Things can change rapidly. Say we win the next four, five games in a row and they lose the next three, four. The series is totally different then.”

Kansas City Manager Dick Howser, whose Royals were 7 1/2 games behind in the AL West in mid-July, isn’t concerned about a three-game series starting Monday night at Ahaheim--even if it means knocking the Angels out of first place for the first time since May 21.

“I do know enough about the game and what these two teams can do to predict it will go right down to the final week of the season,” he said. “We’ll be in October before a winner is decided.”

The Royals, who have won four of six from California this season, play host to the Angels for four games beginning Sept. 30.

In the meantime, Howser is more concerned about his team’s fitness. Center fielder Willie Wilson could miss another 2 1/2 weeks following a severe reaction to penicillin, catcher Jim Sundberg has been sidelined with a pulled rib muscle and second baseman Frank White just returned after missing a week with a thigh bruise.

“This is absolutely the worst time of the year to start getting a lot of injuries,” Howser said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. You just put your reserves out there and hope they can do the job.”

West Coast fans, meanwhile, have been hoping for a freeway World Series featuring the Angels and the Dodgers. The Dodgers, who took an 8 1/2-game lead in the NL West into the weekend, go to Cincinnati next weekend for a four-game series against the second-place Reds.

Meanwhile, fans in New York can catch a special double feature at the ballpark next Thursday--the Cardinals and Mets meet at 1:35 p.m. at Shea Stadium and the Blue Jays play at Yankee Stadium at 8 p.m.

It’s the only scheduled overlap this season for the New York clubs, with local fans getting a good chance to watch the four teams with the best records in baseball all in one day.

“For both of us, it’s been a banner year,” St. Louis second baseman Tommy Herr says of the Mets. “It’s just unfortunate that only one team is going to be able to win.”

The two teams have shared first place since July, and no more than four games have separated them in the last two months. St. Louis, which lost its first three games against the Mets this season, has come back to win eight of the last nine meetings.

“Hopefully, we can go in there a couple of games up,” says Smith, whose Cardinals entertain New York on Oct. 1-2-3.

Toronto has been in first place since mid-May, and realizes what lies ahead.

“We’re going to have to play great baseball in New York, but we’re up to the challenge,” says third baseman Garth Iorg of the Blue Jays. “We’re going to have to win there because we don’t expect somebody else to do our work for us.”

“Right now, they’re playing the best baseball that they’ve played all season,” he says. “But we’re the team that’s in first place.”

Toronto also gets the advantage of closing the season with three games at home against New York.

Says Don Baylor of the Yankees: “It certainly appears that if we’re in the position we’re in now, we have an excellent chance to catch them.”

“But I would exercise a little caution about looking too far in advance . . . because if you do, teams like Oakland start beating you,” he says. “They are no slouches.”