THE WORLD SERIES : MINNESOTA TWINS VS. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS : Notebook : Along With Game, Cardinals Lose the Ball

The first World Series game played indoors came to pass Saturday night at the Metrodome, and the St. Louis Cardinals provided the house whine after a 10-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins. Cardinal outfielders had problems all night picking up the flight of high fly balls. The most blatant Cardinal episode came in the fourth inning when Kent Hrbek’s routine fly ball bounced in front of center fielder Willie McGee, who seemingly had no clue as to the whereabouts of the ball.

“This place is really tough,” McGee said. “If you take your eye off the ball for just a second, you lose it for good. We had problems (communicating) in the outfield because of (the noise). But if you can’t hear, you just use your best judgment.”

McGee wasn’t the only Cardinal who complained about the roof and the lights.

“It’s those lights,” shortstop Ozzie Smith said. “Not the bright ones, those orange lights (that outline the inside of the roof). Once it gets up there, the ball is almost the same color as the light reflecting off the roof.”

Vince Coleman, the Cardinals’ left fielder, said he felt “helpless” on most high fly balls.

“A few times, I lost the ball entirely,” Coleman said, shaking his head. “When the ball would come in sight, it would be 20 feet from the ground. What can you do then?”

Smith said there is not much the Cardinals can do to adapt themselves to the conditions in such a short series.

“It’s tough if you’re only here for one or two games,” Smith said. “You really got to play here a while, maybe a whole season, before you learn how to handle it. You can’t do it just visiting.”

Added Coleman: “I think the Twins have problems with the roof sometimes, too. (Kirby) Puckett (Minnesota’s center fielder) told me he still isn’t used to it.”

Joe Magrane, the Cardinal pitcher and funny man, on the lighting at the Metrodome:

“It looks like the Guthrie Theatre (in Minneapolis). It looks like a thespian did it.”

All told, this was not a good day for the Cardinals. The Metrodome even was threatening to their wives sitting behind home plate. A foul ball that ricocheted off a concrete railing hit the wife of utility infielder Rod Booker in the head.

She was not seriously hurt.

Bert Blyleven, starting pitcher for the Twins tonight in Game 2, is the American League leader in home runs allowed. But he isn’t worried about giving up home runs to the Cardinals, playing without sluggers Jack Clark and Terry Pendleton.

“The reason I give up a lot of home runs is that I’m always around the plate,” Blyleven said Saturday. “What hurt me last season was that I was giving up a lot of two- and three-run home runs. I think of the 46 home runs I gave up this season, about 30 or so were solo shots. So, in the last two seasons, I’ve given up something like 90 home runs and still won more than 30 games.”

By the same token. Blyleven isn’t concerned about the Cardinals’ vaunted running game, which was harnessed by the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series.

“I don’t worry about it and I’m not going to change the way I pitch,” Blyleven said. “They’ve still got to get a hit to get on first. If they do get on first base and even if Vince Coleman steals some bases, he’s still got to have somebody get a hit to score him.”

There is a feeling among Cardinal players, second baseman Tommy Herr said, that they will be consciously seeking atonement for losing the 1985 World Series to the Kansas City Royals.

“Obviously, the way we lost in ’85 was a hard pill to swallow,” Herr said. “We had a 3-1 lead and then led in the ninth inning of Game 6 and coughed that up. “I think we’re approaching this Series in a more businesslike manner. In that (1985) Series, we were heavily favored, even without Vince, and we learned a lesson from that.”

Herr said the loss of Clark for the World Series did not demoralize the Cardinals. Clark, after all, had made only one pinch-hit appearance in Game 3 of the playoffs, and the Cardinals still managed to beat the Giants in seven games.

“The fact Jack’s not playing doesn’t diminish his leadership role,” Herr said. “Jack’s presence in the dugout is important. Other guys can feed off that. He’s got a mean streak in him, and that rubs off. We need that competitiveness.”

Making a buck off the World Series is, of course, part of the American way, and outside the Metrodome before Game 1, the self-employed vendors were working all the angles.

One guy was hawking stainless steel Metrodome whistles, the kind made famous by Patti Blyleven and the rest of the Twins’ wives during the American League playoffs. Just in case the Dome needed some more noise.

On another street corner, you could buy Sweep-the-Cards whisk brooms, which were handed out with a smile and the exhortation, “SWEEP! SWEEP!” Added one saleswoman: “Don’t forget to cheer loud.”

But just in case it got too loud, you could always shell out a buck and buy a pair of World Series earplugs. Really. “The noise level inside the Metrodome tonight is expected to exceed 100 decibels,” Mr. Earplugs told passersby. “They don’t sell earplugs in the Metrodome. Once you get inside. . . . it’s too late.”

He didn’t mention whether the plugs were officially endorsed by Joe Magrane.

Whisk brooms or not, even Dome diehards have to concede the unlikelihood of a Minnesota sweep. It’s hard to build an argument for the Twins in Game 3--rookie Les Straker (8-10, 4.37) versus St. Louis’ John Tudor Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.

One Twin Cities disc jockey announced the World Series pitching matchups this way: “In Game 1, it’s Frank Viola for the Twins and Joe Magrane for the Cardinals. For Game 2, it’s Bert Blyleven against Danny Cox. And for Game 3, it’ll be Les Straker against John Tudor.”

Pause.

“Well, we better win Games 1 and 2.”

The most anonymous name in the patchwork Cardinal lineup was probably that of catcher Tom Pagnozzi, who served as the designated hitter.

“No one knows who I am; I’m a guy who’s not supposed to do anything; maybe that will work to my advantage,” Pagnozzi said before the game. He also said: “I always prepare myself for the worst. That way I’m not disappointed.”

Pagnozzi had to be disappointed in early April when the Cardinals traded for Tony Pena, thwarting Pagnozzi’s bid to stay with the club as a backup catcher.

Then Pena broke a thumb, and Pagnozzi, 25, returned from Louisville, one of his two round trips during the course of a season in which he hit .188 in 48 at-bats with the Cardinals. Did he feel any pressure Saturday.

“Not really,” he said. “My wife and I walked around the city, had a nice lunch and did some shopping. There’s enough pressure without thinking about how it’s the World Series. There’s enough pressure without putting more on yourself.”

In his big moment, Pagnozzi singled and grounded out twice. He’ll be on the bench tonight when Pendleton, limited to batting left-handed because of a pulled rib muscle, serves as the DH against Blyleven.

Herzog once received his checks from Calvin Griffith, the former Minnesota owner. It was in 1956 and ‘57, when the franchise was still in Washington and Herzog played center field, batting .245 and .167.

“I played between Jim Lemon and Roy Sievers,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t hit. I had to run so far in the outfield that I was tired by the time I came in.”

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

BERT BLYLEVEN

RECORD ERA SEASON 15-12 4.01 PLAYOFFS 2-0 4.05

DANNY COX

RECORD ERA SEASON 11-9 3.88 PLAYOFFS 1-1 2.12