Now, Royals Turn to Savior: Saberhagen : Young 20-Game Winner Tries for <i> One</i> in Bid to Stop Blue Jays

Even Bret Saberhagen believes that he brings out the best in the Kansas City Royals.

If he makes it happen again tonight, in the playoffs, he will be more than just a candidate for the Cy Young Award. He will be something of a miracle worker, the magicians union’s man of the year.

The Royals, as every schoolboy here knows, have lost 10 straight postseason games. Manager Dick Howser is 0-11 in playoff games. His team trails Toronto, 2-0, in this year’s best-of-seven series for the American League championship.

How badly did the Royals play in Canada?

“I can’t remember a loss that hurt worse than yesterday’s,” third baseman George Brett said of Wednesday’s 10-inning 6-5 setback, in which almost all of the Blue Jay runs came gift-wrapped.

“Every time they needed a lift, we gave it to them,” Brett said. “Every time we made a mistake, it cost us a run. It’s very hard to take.

“I mean, you get seven games at the most, and we’ve already helped them get two of them.”

The Royals made 4 errors in the two games. They also gave up 20 hits, 4 walks, 2 hit batters and a wild pitch.

Now, the Royals will get the Blue Jays on Kansas City turf tonight, sending the precocious Saberhagen, who has a 20-6 record and a 2.87 earned-run average, against Doyle Alexander, who won 17 and lost 10 with a 3.45 ERA.

Saberhagen expects to see a difference in his team’s performance. He’s conditioned to it. A lot of it stems from the way Saberhagen performs.

“I notice there’s a difference when I’m out there,” the 21-year-old right-hander said Thursday. “My teammates seem to feel comfortable with me pitching. They seem to play best when I’m out there.”

Why?

“I think the big thing is that they know I’m not going to walk many people,” Saberhagen said. “When you get a pitcher out there who walks four or five guys a game, the other players start to grumble and wonder, ‘When is this going to end?’ The defense gets back on its heels and starts to miss balls it normally gets.”

Saberhagen pitched 30 innings without a walk at one point in midseason and walked only 38 in 235 innings, an average of 1.2 a start.

Said Howser: “When guys like Saberhagen and Dave Stieb are pitching, it actually affects their teammates more than opposing hitters.

“Pitchers like that make a team play a lot better. The team’s outlook is even different.”

Part of it, of course, is the good control, the knowledge that a Saberhagen won’t require a lot of runs and the certainty that the game will proceed at a steady pace.

Saberhagen needed only 2 hours 9 minutes when he defeated the Angels, 4-2, in the pivotal opener of the Western Division’s showdown series.

The win enabled Saberhagen to become the fifth-youngest pitcher in baseball history to win 20 games. And that in the wake of a 2-3 start that had included his shortest stint of the year, a 2-inning 10-2 drubbing by Toronto on April 24.

It was his only appearance against the Blue Jays this year. He made five appearances against Toronto as a 1984 rookie and has a record of 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA against the Blue Jays.

“They have one of the best left-handed hitting lineups in baseball,” Saberhagen said. “But that (the 10-2 loss) was early in the year. I wasn’t pitching well. I hadn’t found my groove.”

It’s imperative for the Royals that the athlete from Reseda’s Cleveland High School maintains his regular-season groove when he makes his second playoff start tonight. He allowed only two earned runs in eight strong innings of a 5-3 loss to Detroit in Game 2 last season. Poise and composure have characterized Saberhagen’s two seasons in the majors.

“The adrenaline will be flowing, and there’ll be butterflies before I start, but once I get to the mound, it’ll be business as usual,” Saberhagen said.

“It’s not all up to me, of course. I can’t throw a no-hitter without defense. And even if I throw a no-hitter, we have to score. This isn’t a tennis match. It’s not all on my shoulders.”

Nor is tonight’s assignment the only thing on Saberhagen’s mind. His wife, Janeane, is expected to give birth to their first child this week.

Does that compound the pressure?

“No,” Saberhagen said. “Janeane’s pregnancy has helped me this year. It’s taken my mind off baseball when I’ve had a bad game, and helped me keep things in perspective when I’ve had a good game. We’re looking forward to being parents, but I’m also looking forward to pitching tomorrow night.”

His manager is looking forward to seeing him pitch. The frustrated Howser said Saberhagen represents a shift in momentum.

“Momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher,” he said. “We have control over momentum--if he pitches the way he pitched all season.”

An all-day rain Thursday washed out workouts here.

There was a press conference for the respective managers and starting pitchers.

Alexander attended, though not happily. He didn’t talk to reporters for most of the summer.

“I’m here because I was asked to be,” he said. “I still don’t want to be here.

“Sometimes, it’s the way you ask your questions that bothers me. Sometimes, it’s the way you write the answers.”

Of the five ground-ball singles he allowed over the last three innings Wednesday, Dan Quisenberry said: “I’m not God. I can’t will them into the gloves.”

Reflecting on the fact that only one of the Royals’ six division champions have gone on to win a pennant, veteran Frank White told Kansas City Star columnist Joe McGuff: “I think we have always been a good club, but not a great club. We’ve always been short a starter or a hitter or a relief pitcher. We’ve always lacked a little balance. We might be the only contending team without proper balance.”

Misery: Kansas City first baseman Steve Balboni, who hit 36 homers and drove in 88 runs, is 0 for 8 in the series and 1 for 18 in his two playoffs with the Royals.

He also made a throwing error Tuesday and a fielding error Wednesday, each contributing to an unearned run.

“I could be happy not contributing as long as we were winning, but I feel the pressure when we don’t,” he said. “The team has won before without me doing well, but I hope it doesn’t come to that. I mean, I want to contribute. I want to be part of it.”

Balboni is considered a mistake hitter. The Blue Jay pitchers simply haven’t made any.