Baseball / Ross Newhan : Astros, Rangers Are in First Place, but Houston Fans Are Staying Home

Will 1986 produce a Prairie Series, a Lone Star showdown between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros?

The possibility seems to have fans in the Dallas-Fort Worth area a lot more excited than their Houston counterparts, who might have been caught up in the Rockets’ bid for an NBA title.

The Astros opened a weekend series with the San Francisco Giants having drawn 364,360 for 26 dates, an average of only 14,014 and a decrease of 81,182 from last season, when they drew only 1.1 million.

Why are the National League West leaders drawing so poorly?

Astro officials cite competition from the Rockets, high unemployment stemming from a depressed oil market and a wait-and-see attitude by fans who have been disappointed by the club in the past. There have also been continuing rumors of a possible move to Washington, D.C., turning off another segment of fans.

Pitcher Bob Knepper said that the empty seats have had an impact on the team’s play. The Astros are 19-12 on the road, 15-13 at home.

“That may be because there’s a little more excitement on the road,” he said. “I mean, there’s people in the park to watch us. Most of the time at home, we have to play in that big empty house.”

The Rangers, meanwhile, have drawn 601,166 for 29 dates, an average of 20,730 and an increase of 186,250 over last year, when they drew 1,112,497 for the season. The 1986 average projects to a club-record 1,679,130.

Even so, Manager Bobby Valentine is playing it low key. His Rangers had a four-game lead in the American League West opening a weekend series in Oakland. The lead was their biggest ever, but Valentine said: “It’s a long season. I haven’t changed my goal, and that’s to be the most-improved team in baseball.”

The Rangers, who will open a three-game series in Anaheim Monday, are playing with seven rookies, among them starting pitchers Jose Guzman, Ed Correa and Bobby Witt; left-handed reliever Mitch Williams; cleanup hitter Pete Incaviglia, and regular right fielder Ruben Sierra.

They have performed with poise, registering 20 comeback victories and winning five of six recent games in the seventh inning or later. And it hasn’t all gone their way. They have had to overcome injuries and their own aggressiveness. In a 16-inning, 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins Wednesday night, for instance, the Rangers had seven runners thrown out on the basepaths.

Said Valentine: “The key is that we continue to do things to put pressure on the other team. I told the guys in spring training to leave the precision baseball to experts. I want our guys to play with enthusiasm and desire.”

A veteran Dodger infielder, asking anonymity, says that Dr. K needs a new prescription--if not a new catcher.

His theory is that with Gary Carter apparently calling for curveballs 50% of the time, Dwight Gooden will soon lose his fastball. “He’ll soon be throwing in the low 90s (m.p.h.), then under 90,” the infielder said, adding that Carter contributed to the sore arms experienced by Steve Rogers, Charlie Lea and Bill Gullickson in Montreal.

It’s an interesting concept, but where is New York Mets Manager Davey Johnson when Carter is calling for all the curves? And doesn’t Gooden, since he holds the ball, have the final word?

The Kansas City Royals, with an opportunity to strengthen an anemic attack by acquiring outfielder Chili Davis from the Giants last winter, refused to part with starting pitcher Mark Gubicza, reliever Mark Huismann and right fielder Darryl Motley. A bad decision then, it has since become worse.

Gubicza, 3-4 with a 4.88 earned-run average, is on the disabled list, having recently been hit above the right eye by a ball thrown by teammate Danny Jackson; Huismann was traded to Seattle May 21 for a Double-A catcher who was on the disabled list, and Motley was optioned to Omaha Tuesday with a .196 batting average. As of Friday, Davis was hitting .286 with a league-high 44 runs batted in for the Giants.

The Oakland A’s have not played at .500 or better on the road since 1975. They were 34-49 last season, 33-48 the year before, 32-49 the year before that.

Now, devastated by injuries, the A’s may be headed for their worst road record.

They are 14-23, having lost 10 in a row, including all seven on a recent trip to Chicago and then Cleveland, where they were swept in a three-game series while blowing leads of 4-0, 6-0 and 3-0.

How bad has the injury wave been?

Consider the pitching: Of the opening-day starting staff, only Chris Codiroli remains in the rotation. Of the opening-day relievers, only Steve Ontiveros remains. The A’s have five players on the disabled list, among them pitchers Joaquin Andujar and Jay Howell and outfielder Dwayne Murphy. Moose Haas would also be on it because of bursitis, but the A’s have already recalled seven pitchers from Tacoma and used nine different starters in the last 15 games through Thursday.

Said Andujar: “In spring training we had one of the best clubs in baseball, but we don’t have it any more. We’d be in first place by about 10 games. We have a great club. We have everything. The only thing we don’t have is the club together.”

Rubbing it in, Don Baylor of the Boston Red Sox has hit 13 of his 15 Boston homers off right-handed pitchers. The New York Yankees were platooning Baylor last season because they thought that he was no longer effective against right-handers. Baylor demanded to be traded, and was, with Mike Easler going to New York.

With Gary Roenicke and Dale Berra having replaced Baylor as the right-handed half of the designated hitter platoon, the Yankees are 6-12 against left-handers, and owner George Steinbrenner is saying: “We may have made a mistake on the Baylor trade.”

We?

That’s Steinbrenner’s way of hiding his own mistakes. In this case, he reportedly traded Baylor over the objections of his baseball people.

The St. Louis Cardinals, 13-20 at home after losing only 27 games there last season, continue to sing the blues. Tommy Herr and Jack Clark, who combined to drive in 179 runs during 1985, are hitting .148 and .163 with runners in scoring position for a combined 33 RBIs. Ozzie Smith, the only .300 hitter on a team that is in fifth place in the National League in hitting, said: “We’re in a state of mental depression.”

Rumors:

--Tom Haller, recently hired by Ken Harrelson as the Chicago White Sox general manager, is in line to become field manager when the Sox finally put Tony LaRussa out of his misery.

--The Atlanta Braves have renewed their pursuit of Toronto Blue Jays pitcher (and former Brave) Doyle Alexander.

--The Detroit Tigers, down 199,315 in attendance and certain to fall far short of the 2 million needed to break even, are trying to unload the salaries of left-handed pitcher Dave LaPoint, earning $550,000 this year, and center fielder Chet Lemon, guaranteed an average of $700,000 through 1991.

Of Mark Eichhorn, the Toronto rookie who is 6-3 with 4 saves and an ERA of 0.98, Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said, “Somebody asked me when people would start catching up to him, and I said it would take them as long as it took people to catch up with Dan Quisenberry. By that time he’ll be so wealthy he won’t care.”

On the possibility of Candlestick Park becoming a domed stadium, former catcher Fran Healy, now a broadcaster with the New York Mets, said: “Somebody once told me that putting a dome on Candlestick would be like putting lipstick on a pig.”

On the pregame ejection of San Diego Padres Manager Steve Boros by umpire Charlie Williams after Boros had presented Williams with a tape of the controversial play leading to Steve Garvey’s ejection from the previous game, San Diego catcher Terry Kennedy said: “He brought a VHS tape, and Charlie has Beta.”

Injury of the week: Boston’s Wade Boggs missed Tuesday night’s game against Toronto with bruised ribs suffered when he fell against his hotel room couch while removing his cowboy boots. It is presumed that Boggs’ batting eye wasn’t affected.

Consider this, from a Boston statistical whiz: In looking at 1,177 pitches through Wednesday, Boggs had swung and missed at only 20 and had not had an infield pop-up this year.