Howser Hopes to Improve His Dismal Playoff Record by Defeating the Blue Jays

In six full seasons as a major league manager--one with the New York Yankees and five with the Kansas City Royals--Dick Howser has four division titles and an overall record of 467-377, a percentage of .553.

His playoff percentage is .553 less than that.

Howser’s Yankees were swept by the Royals in the American League’s three-game playoff of 1980. His Royals were swept by the Oakland A’s in the strike-generated divisional playoff of 1981. His Royals were swept again by Detroit in last year’s league playoff.

Howser is winless in nine games as a playoff manager.

“That’s why I lobbied for making it a best of seven,” he said. “I need all the shots at a playoff victory I can get.”

The American League’s first best-of-seven playoff will open tonight with Howser sending left-hander Charlie Leibrandt (17-9) against Toronto’s Dave Stieb (14-13).

Channel 4 will televise the game at 5:35. A capacity crowd is expected at Exhibition Stadium, which is also the home of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.

It is expected to be Argonaut weather.

A temperature in the low 40s is predicted for game time, but it won’t diminish the enthusiasm of the revved up partisans.

This is akin to Stanley Cup hockey. A crowd estimated at 25,000 attended a downtown rally Monday night.

The Blue Jays, making their playoff debut after nine years of expansion growth, are more than simply the hometown favorite.

Oddsmakers have made them 8 to 5 to beat the Royals, which seems to overlook a pivotal aspect of the series.

In losing 7 of 12 regular-season games to the Royals, Toronto was dominated by left-handed pitching.

Leibrandt was 2-0 with a 1.72 earned-run average in four starts against the Blue Jays.

He combined with fellow southpaws Bud Black and Danny Jackson to produce a 5-0 record and 1.97 ERA against Toronto.

Black, who was 10-15 for the season but 2-0 against the Blue Jays, will pitch Game 2 here Wednesday. Jackson, 14-12 for the season and 1-0 with a 1.99 ERA in three starts against Toronto, will pitch Game 4 Friday night in Kansas City, following right-hander Bret Saberhagen, who will go in Game 3.

Howser alluded to the victories by Black and Jackson in the final two games of last week’s showdown series with the Angels Monday when he said: “Our left-handed pitchers proved again in the California series that when they’re pitching good, they can beat anyone.

“We kept hearing from the Angels that they had the advantage in pitching after the split of the first two games, but Black and Jackson proved it was otherwise. I mean, it isn’t so much a specific matchup as it is quality pitching.”

There may be more to it, however.

The Blue Jays were 75-36 against right-handers but only 24-26 against left-handers. They hit .269 overall but only .251 against Kansas City. They averaged 4.7 runs a game overall but only 3.8 against the Royals.

Left-handed pitching:

--Partially nullifies the Blue Jays’ three key left-handed hitters: first baseman Willie Upshaw, center fielder Lloyd Moseby and catcher Ernie Whitt.

--Forces Rance Mulliniks out of the Toronto lineup in favor of his third base platoon partner, Garth Iorg, who has 19 fewer RBIs.

--Restricts runners’ leads, inhibiting a team that can win with speed. The Blue Jays stole 143 bases and had six players in double figures.

There is also this fact of life about Exhibition Stadium: The prevailing wind blows in from left field, making it tough for right-handed hitters to pull left-handed pitching, to go deep.

Right fielder Jesse Barfield, who hit 27 homers for the Blue Jays, had none against the Royals. Left fielder George Bell, who hit 28, had only two against the Royals.

“I don’t think it was anything more than a failure to adjust,” Bell said Monday. “We kept going up there trying to hit those guys as hard as we could. We’ve finally realized that we have to change our approach, that when they pitch us away we have to hit the ball up the middle or go the other way.”

Said Barfield: “They won’t see the same hitters they’ve seen before. It’s about time we change our approach.”

It wasn’t only the Toronto hitters who suffered against Leibrandt, Black and Jackson.

Stieb was 0-3 against the Royals this year, though he allowed only seven earned runs in 23 innings. He lost to Leibrandt by a score of 2-0 and to Black by scores of 2-1 and 4-2. The three games were characteristic, in part, of Stieb’s season. He shaded Leibrandt for the league’s ERA title, 2.48 to 2.69, despite the modest record of 14-13.

“The games in which we scored a lot of runs didn’t coincide with my starts,” Stieb said. “I’ve experienced that before, but never as bad as this year.”

Stieb also battled a mechanical breakdown that affected his control, but he said that it is behind him despite a 1-4 record in his last six starts.

“With three to five runs, I can win now,” he said.

Kansas City pitchers have won consistently with modest support.

The Royals averaged only 4.2 runs a game but won 91, seven more than last year, when they seemed to win in the West by default.

“Did we win last year or did Minnesota lose?” George Brett asked Monday. “This year, when we had to win, we did, as we demonstrated against the Angels.

“We can now count on a Saberhagen, a Jackson, a Leibrandt more than we could a year ago.

“I’m stronger and coming off a better year.

“Steve Balboni emerged as a bona fide home run hitter (with 36).

“We now have a veteran catcher (Jim Sundberg) who did an excellent job handling our pitching staff.

“We’re simply a better, more experienced team than the team that lost to Detroit.”

Howser hopes so, of course. He’s looking for that first playoff win. He smiled and said: “I knew it would come up as soon as I got here, but it really doesn’t bother me. I look at the total picture. That’s more significant.

“I mean, I’d sure as hell rather get beat in the playoffs than in the regular season.

“Besides, maybe (Toronto Manager) Bobby Cox will look at my record and get overconfident.”

A.L. Playoff Notes Of the 12 games the teams played during the regular season, five were decided by one run and five by two runs. . . . George Brett was 11 for 23 in his last seven games of the regular season. He had 5 homers and 11 RBIs in his 6 games against the Angels and Oakland A’s last week. . . . The Royals will continue to use Lonnie Smith, who hit .313 in September, as the leadoff batter, and Willie Wilson as No. 2. Wilson was 10 for 30 in the seven games after Manager Dick Howser made the switch. “Lonnie is an excellent leadoff hitter because he takes the pitcher deeper into the count than Willie did,” Howser said. “And Willie is an excellent No. 2 because he’s capable of getting 200 hits, a lot of them for extra bases. Only the Cardinals have that kind of speed at the top of their lineup.” . . . Designated hitter Hal McRae, sidelined recently with a pulled hip muscle, will be available for pinch hitting, Howser said, and may start later in the series. Jorge Orta will be the designated hitter tonight. . . . A number of Blue Jays have been nursing injuries, but all are available and close to 100%. They are relief pitcher Gary Lavelle (elbow), first baseman Willie Upshaw (abdominal muscle), second baseman Damaso Garcia (knee), left fielder George Bell (knee) and catcher Ernie Whitt (shoulder). . . . Toronto Manager Bobby Cox said he would use Jim Clancy out of the bullpen and employ just three starters in the series. Jimmy Key and Doyle Alexander will follow Dave Stieb. . . . Mark Gubicza, who has been the Royals’ fifth starter, will pitch only in relief during the series.