THE WORLD SERIES : MINNESOTA TWINS vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS : Notebook : The Time Has Come for Herzog to Make Moves, Outfox Kelly

It is an image Tom Kelly has worked hard to cultivate--that of the say-little, do-little, take-it-easy strategist and manager.

“I just sit in the corner of the dugout and don’t bother anybody,” he says.

But now that the World Series has moved to St. Louis, the city without the designated hitter, Kelly may be forced to become a man of action.

It is here, many believe, that the Cardinals can ground the Twins’ momentum. Here, the World Series could become of a test of managing acumen, with wily Whitey Herzog set to flimflam and fleece his callow counterpart from Minnesota.

“I guess we have no chance in those three games,” Kelly said sarcastically. “I guess we shouldn’t show up.”

In the land of batting pitchers and double-switch lineup moves, Kelly insisted that the change of sites will not prompt a change in his style.

“It’s two different leagues and you set your ballclub up for the league that you’re in,” he said. “My ballclub is not set up like a National League ballclub. I can’t do the same things Whitey does.”

For instance, the double-switch, where a manager pulls his pitcher and a position player at the same time, then switches their replacements in the lineup so that the new position player can bat first?

“Who am I going to take out of the game?” Kelly asked. “I’m not going to take Hrbek or Gaetti out of the game. I’m not going to take out one of our league’s best shortstops (Greg Gagne) or Kirby Puckett or Bruno (Tom Brunansky). I doubt Gladden. I’ve got two catchers and if I take one of them out and one splits a finger, we’re in trouble.

“I might be able to fool with second base, but after that, I don’t see a whole lot of people I can play around with. If I have to take a pitcher out or pinch-hit, I’ll do that. (But) I don’t see where I can do too much.”

Kelly has a set lineup and prefers to keep it that way.

“Whitey has (Curt) Ford, (John) Morris, (Lance) Johnson--people he can substitute with,” Kelly said. “We don’t.

“A gentleman for a St. Louis paper wrote about how I can screw it up by taking Hrbek or Puckett out. I think he’s right.”

So how do the Minnesota pitchers feel about batting for the first time all season?

Said tonight’s starter, Les Straker: “The last time I batted was in 1983 in Double-A ball. All we did was bunt and move the runners over. I don’t know if I can still do it.”

Said Frank Viola, probable Game 4 starter: “I’m going to try to swing the bat. My goal is just to make contact.”

American League pitchers have managed one hit in their last 83 World Series at-bats, which may be one reason why Herzog is glad to be playing under NL rules.

“I don’t think baseball was meant to be played the other way,” Herzog said. “If a pitcher’s a good athlete, he gets to help himself with the bat. If he’s a horse-manure hitter, he’ll hurt himself. That should be part of the game.”

Of course, Herzog’s pitchers batted .260 and drove in three runs during the NL playoffs. That’s as many RBIs as the top three in the St. Louis batting order--Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr--had through Game 3 of the playoffs.

“We’re strong throughout,” Herzog quipped.

Game 4 Pitchers: Herzog announced that Greg Mathews will be his starting pitcher Wednesday night, but Kelly is awaiting the outcome of tonight’s game.

If the Twins win to go ahead, 3-0, in the Series, Kelly may gamble with Joe Niekro in Game 4. If the Twins lose, Kelly will start Frank Viola on three days’ rest.

“It’s a good possibility but it hasn’t been written down as gospel,” Kelly said of possibly starting Niekro. “We’re sort of leaning that way, but we haven’t decided yet. My trainer tells me Viola is in very good shape. We’ll wait and see what happens (tonight).”

Having made the World Series in his first try, Kelly was asked about Gene Mauch, who has managed 26 seasons and is still looking for his first trip.

“Here’s a guy who has won an awful lot of games,” Kelly said. “You never know, you might never get a chance at it.

“What are the odds of a first-year manager getting into the World Series? Who’d have thought that would happen? It’s a funny game.”

The run-run Cardinals have been stalled on the basepaths during the postseason, having stolen a total of five bases in nine games--four in the playoffs and one--by Coleman in Game 2--in the World Series.

During the regular season, St. Louis stole 248 bases in 162 games.

“There’s an old adage that says speed never goes in slumps,” Herzog said. “It’s not true. Don’t ever tell me base stealers don’t go in slumps. We’re in one now.”

Streaks: The Twins have won four straight postseason games, beginning with Game 4 of the playoffs. In the process, Minnesota has outscored the opposition, 32-13.

St. Louis, meanwhile, has lost its last five World Series games, dating to 1985, when the Cardinals blew a 3-1 Series advantage over Kansas City. Over that span, St. Louis has been outscored, 37-7.

Memo to the Cardinals: Of the 37 World Series teams that lost Games 1 and 2, 16 also went on to lose Game 3. No team in World Series history has come back from an 0-3 deficit.

The last team to face an 0-3 World Series deficit was the New York Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds in 1976. That was also the last four-game Series sweep.

The U.S. Postal Service has heeded a trademark infringement warning from Major League Baseball and removed the Twins logo from a special World Series postmark.

The Postal Service was warned before Sunday’s St. Louis-Minnesota game to stop using the cancellation mark or pay an 8.5% fee for use of the logo, said Donald F. Sager, communications manager for the Minneapolis division of the Postal Service.

After consulting with the Twins, the postal service agreed to remove the logo and close its mobile post office outside the Metrodome about an hour early, Sager said.