Baseball / Ross Newhan : Angels, Cubs, Orioles Surprise, but A’s Most Impressive

They lost Jose Canseco and were motivated to prove they were more than a one-man team.

They lost Dennis Eckersley, Walt Weiss, Storm Davis, Mark McGwire and Carney Lansford, but continued to display remarkable depth and versatility.

The Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs may be the surprise teams of the first half, but the Oakland Athletics have been the most impressive, again.

The A’s, despite the injuries, opened a weekend series in Texas as the American League West leader. Their 38-20 record was the best in baseball and identical to their 58-game record of last year, when they went on to win a major league-high 104 games.

What does this portend for the Angels and the rest of the division when the A’s return to full strength after the All-Star break?

“The conventional expectation was that we would go down the tubes because of the injuries,” General Manager Sandy Alderson said. “Now the conventional expectation is that it’ll be all over once we’re 100%.

“The first didn’t prove to be true and the second may not prove to be true either. Crazy things can happen.”

Already have, in fact.

Canseco, the league’s most valuable player in 1988, has yet to play because of a broken wrist that required surgery. He is expected back for the first game of the second half.

Shortstop Weiss, the league’s rookie of the year in 1988, has missed three weeks and will miss at least two more with a knee injury. Eckersley, baseball’s best relief pitcher in 1988, has missed two weeks with a strained shoulder, is eligible to get off the disabled list Tuesday but is strictly day to day.

Davis, a 16-game winner last year, started against the Rangers Saturday night after missing the last three weeks with a shoulder injury.

McGwire, a Bash Brother of Canseco, missed 14 games in April with a bad back. Lansford, leading the league in hitting, had missed five in a row before Friday night because of a hamstring strain. Second baseman Glenn Hubbard recently returned after missing 14 games with a leg injury. Center fielder Dave Henderson has been in and out of the lineup because of leg problems.

“In many respects, our success of last year was attributed to Jose and one or two other very important players, but the team and certain elements didn’t get the credit it deserved and that’s been a source of motivation,” Alderson said.

“If there’s been a benefit to the injuries, it’s caused the other players to work a little harder and created a sense of independence and self-respect among them. That can be a real plus when the others come back, but you never know.”

The A’s have been sustained by the quality and depth of their often overlooked pitching and the versatility of their bench.

Despite ranking only ninth in the league in runs and eighth in home runs without Canseco, the rotation’s big three--Dave Stewart, Bob Welch and Mike Moore--are 25-10. The staff earned-run average of 2.98 is second in the league only to the Angels’.

The bullpen has converted five of six save opportunities in Eckersley’s absence, including three of three by Rick Honeycutt, and is 22 of 24 for the season with a 2.02 ERA. “Pitching has been a major factor,” Alderson said. “It’s kept us in most games.”

Indicative of that is the A’s record in games decided by one run. They were 30-17 last year and are 13-6 this year, both records being baseball’s best.

In addition, Manager Tony La Russa has been working with interchangeable parts while employing more than 50 lineups in 58 games. Terry Steinbach, Stan Javier, Mike Gallego, Tony Phillips, Billy Beane and Lance Blankenship have all played three positions or more.

The A’s, Alderson said, have had two other factors working for them in the bid to overcome the injuries. One is the desire to return to the World Series and erase the memory of last year’s performance against the Dodgers. The other is La Russa’s preparation and professionalism.

Said Alderson: “The manager has done a great job keeping the team focused day to day, rather than on the larger issues of where we should be by a certain date and who’s there and who’s not.”

Here’s what the A’s attack has been like without Canseco: 53 of their last 62 hits have been singles, and 11 of their last 12 homers--they hit only one during a six-game home stand--have been with the bases empty.

Nevada oddsmakers had the Cubs 25-1 and the Orioles 75-1 to reach the World Series before the season started. Now the Cubs are down to 10-1 in most Las Vegas precincts and the Orioles are anywhere from 8-1 to 20-1 and dropping.

Baltimore had a 31-24 record through Thursday, contrasted with 13-42 after the same number of games a year ago. The Orioles are on a pace to win 93 games, an improvement of 39, which would be the best of the century.

But the test for a rebuilt pitching staff will come in the dog days of August. The Orioles have been rained out seven times and face five doubleheaders between July 31 and Sept. 7, a span in which they will play 40 games in 39 days.

How hot is the San Francisco Giants’ Kevin Mitchell? Consider that he has 44 extra-base hits and that there are 36 other major leaguers with at least 150 at-bats who don’t have 43 hits of any kind.

Also, consider that when he hit three home runs in Tuesday nights’s doubleheader in Cincinnati, he combined both quickness and patience in attacking a 92-m.p.h. fastball by Scott Scudder, a 77-m.p.h. changeup by Tom Browning, and a 97-m.p.h. fastball by Ron Dibble.

Add Bo Jackson legend: On Monday night in the Seattle Kingdome, the Kansas City Royal left fielder raced into the corner to retrieve a double by Scott Bradley, whirled and threw at least 300 feet on the fly to catcher Bob Boone, nailing Harold Reynolds attempting to score from first.

Kansas City Manager John Wathan called it the greatest throw he had ever seen and added: “If I’m in the game another 30 years, I don’t think I’ll ever see another like it.”

Said Reynolds: “It’s crazy. I was there, I was the one thrown out, I’ve seen it on replay and I still don’t believe it. The guy is superhuman.”

The Montreal Expos’ Otis Nixon and the Giants’ Donell Nixon are brothers and they do have something else in common. They torment the St. Louis Cardinals. Otis, who was back at it last week, has 23 hits in 63 at-bats against St. Louis. Donell is seven for 14.

Said St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog: “If I was managing against the Cardinals, I’d go get President Nixon and put him in the lineup.”

The New York Mets’ David Cone was 7-0 on the way to a 20-3 record at this time last year. He is 3-5 overall now and is 0-3 with a 6.08 ERA in six starts since catcher Gary Carter was put on the disabled list. Cone believes that it is more than coincidence.

“Whether it’s my fault or not, the numbers are too overwhelming to ignore,” he said. “I know I have to deal with it. I can’t expect to have a Gary Carter or Bob Boone behind the plate all the time. Maybe I got spoiled, having a 12-year veteran like Gary back there, but I’ve got to be a professional and work through it.”

The Mets’ quest for a hitter has now focused on Boston center fielder Ellis Burks, but the Red Sox reportedly want two starting pitchers and center fielder Len Dykstra in return.

“I’m willing to overpay, but there are lines I won’t cross,” Mets vice president Joe McIlvaine said.

Likewise, the Dodgers’ search for a leadoff-hitting center fielder has been stifled, sources say, by demands that any and all packages include Tim Belcher or Ramon Martinez.

“I just don’t think we’d be gaining anything by trading either,” executive vice president Fred Claire said.

Claire met with Manager Tom Lasorda and his coaching staff Friday. The conclusion: Help is needed. But who? And at what price?

The Philadelphia Phillies’ Von Hayes is apparently on the verge of signing a three-year contract and off the market now.

The Mets would trade Dykstra, but only if they get a power hitter in exchange. Oft-injured Willie McGee? The Dodgers seem to doubt he is the answer. Who does that leave? The Phillies’ Juan Samuel is one possibility and the Minnesota Twins’ Dan Gladden another.

Or how about satisfying the New York Yankees’ need for a pitcher by trading one or two for a proven leadoff hitter named Steve Sax?

It started a week ago when pitching coach Dick Pole of the Cubs, citing the pivotal relief pitching of Mitch Williams, who was acquired from Texas in the trade for Rafael Palmeiro, suggested that the Cubs had gotten the best of it.

He said that only the Cubs’ female fans were upset to see Palmeiro go because he’s cute.

“But cute doesn’t win games,” Pole said.

The quote finally reached Palmeiero the other day, and he said of Pole:

“I considered him one of my closest friends in the game. Obviously he’s not. It was a very stupid comment from a very stupid man.”

Added Tom Grieve, Texas general manager: “We didn’t get Rafael because he’s cute. We got him because he can hit. Dick Pole will never be mistaken for a scout. The only thing he knows about hitters is that they were tough to get out when he was pitching.”