BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : NATIONAL: San Francisco vs. St. Louis : Notebook : Craig Has to Think Again: He’ll Go With Hammaker Tonight

Early Tuesday night, San Francisco Giants Manager Roger Craig refused to talk about the Minnesota Twins or anything at all about a possible World Series matchup.

At the same time, though, Craig seemed confident that the National League championship series was only hours away from being concluded.

Sample this question-and-answer session:

Question: “Roger, who will you pitch if there is a Game 7?”

Craig: “There won’t be a Game 7.”

Well, after the Giants’ 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday night, it turns out that tonight, Craig and the Giants will be faced with a decisive seventh game to determine the National League representative in the World Series.

The Giants will start left-hander Atlee Hammaker, and the Cardinals will pitch Danny Cox.

Craig had a choice of starting either Hammaker, who gave up three runs in six innings and had a no decision in Game 3, or Mike Krukow, a complete-game winner in Game 4.

But he chose Hammaker because the Giants have had considerable success pitching left-handers against the Cardinals’ depleted lineup. Dave Dravecky, a left-hander, gave up only 1 run in 15 innings against the Cardinals, and Hammaker pitched well in Game 3.

“I’m going to go with Hammaker--and the rest of the staff, if I have to,” Craig said afterward.

Hammaker, the nervous type, said he is approaching this as just another start.

“I’m not going to tell myself that I have to go nine innings or anything,” Hammaker said. “We’ve got the entire bullpen and starters who can help.”

St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog said he is not concerned that Giant left-handers have dominated the Cardinal hitters and said he plans no changes.

“Why should I?” Herzog joked. “We got a run tonight, didn’t we?”

Will Clark, the Giants’ ultra-confident first baseman, was not exactly overflowing with compliments about Cardinal pitcher John Tudor after going 0 for 2 against Tudor.

In fact, Clark didn’t even address Tudor’s pitching. He reached back for a Tudor quote early in the series.

“John Tudor said one team was going to blow out the other,” Clark said. “But I’ve always said that it would be a long, drawn-out series. So I guess I’m right and John Tudor is wrong.”

Well, at least the Giants had something to celebrate Tuesday.

Bobby Hughes, a batting practice pitcher for the Cardinals, collapsed on the mound and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher.

Hughes was examined by a doctor at a local hospital and was released. It apparently was merely a fainting spell. Hughes formerly was a utility infielder in the Dodger organization.

Herzog said again that Jack Clark’s continuing inability to run will prevent him from playing tonight and could even prevent him from being used as a designated hitter in the World Series. Herzog said that Clark’s ankle sprain has healed, but tears in the tissue behind the bone restrict mobility. Did Herzog consider injections?

“I didn’t pursue that,” he said. “I’ve made some money the last few years, stashed a little away and don’t want any malpractice suits.”

After Jeffrey Leonard smiled and said the beer thrown at him by Cardinal was a light beer, he was asked if it tasted great.

“Less filling,” Leonard said.

Even though the fly ball to right field by Jose Oquendo wasn’t very deep, Tony Pena tagged up and scored the game’s only run. He did so under orders, orders that came before Oquendo even swung.

“Nick Leyva (third-base coach) said: ‘You’re going to go on any fly ball,”’ Pena said later.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by St. Louis broadcaster Jack Buck, introduced over the public-address system as “the finest baseball announcer in the country.”

Pitcher Todd Worrell said he was disappointed earlier this year when, during a 12-1 trouncing, Whitey Herzog placed fellow reliever Ricky Horton in right field instead of him.

“I think Ricky let a couple of balls get by him, I’m not sure,” Worrell joked. “Actually, I do remember the cutoff man going about halfway out toward right field, and Ricky’s throw still bouncing to him.

“I know the reason Whitey wouldn’t let me play right field that day. He knew I’d probably try to make a throw to home plate, just to show off how far I can throw. Even if nobody was running to home plate.”

Times staff writers Mike Downey and Ross Newhan contributed to this story.