Notebook : Dunston’s Outlook Changes

Sometimes, as Shawon Dunston has learned, all it takes to put these playoffs into perspective is a phone call.

Sunday, just before the Chicago Cubs took the field for the year’s final game in St. Louis, the phone rang in the visitors’ clubhouse. Shortstop Dunston was summoned. It was his wife Tracie, who was three months pregnant. She was feeling bad, experiencing symptoms that often indicate fetal distress.

Dunston rushed from the stadium to the hotel across the street where Tracie was resting. He took her and their young daughter and rushed to the hospital.

“It was the most helpless feeling in the world,” he said. “I sat there while she was with the doctor and I was so scared, like nothing I could do.”

An examination showed no problems, but she was sent home to Chicago. Dunston accompanied her. He missed the season’s final game, but he began today’s National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants with a new outlook.

“I realized, there are a lot of things a lot more important than playoffs,” he said. “I look at my wife and I think, ‘Her job is a lot tougher than my job.’ Carrying that baby, that’s pressure.

“I thought, ‘I wish I could have the baby for my wife, and let her play baseball.’ Right now, baseball seems pretty easy to me.”

It has seemed that way most of the season for the formerly erratic Dunston, as he has hit a career-high .278 with the fewest errors per game--one every 8.1 games--of his major league career.

The coolest hitter in this pressure series probably won’t even pick up a bat until the seventh inning today, but that’s how he likes it. The Giants’ Ken Oberkfell collected a team record 18 pinch-hits this season, leading the major leagues.

“I guess it’s nice to lead the league in something,” said Oberkfell, who batted .375 as a pinch-hitter with a homer and eight RBIs. “Although, this is a different kind of distinction.”

At 32, and having spent parts of his last six seasons in losing Atlanta and Pittsburgh, Oberkfell is a pinch-hitting natural.

“I’ve never done it before, but at this stage in my career, it’s fine,” said the man who was traded to San Francisco from Pittsburgh May 10.

Not that baseball’s hardest task is ever easy.

“To get that many pinch-hits, it’s still amazing, no matter who you are,” he said.

Going into the season’s final weekend in San Diego, he was one shy of the Giants’ record. Although he normally would have started all three meaningless games, along with the other reserves, he was approached by Manager Roger Craig, who had a different idea.

“He told me if I wanted to go for the record, he would pinch-hit me three straight nights,” Oberkfell said. “I laughed and told him only one night would be necessary.”

Turns out, he was right. He singled off Padre starter Andy Benes on Sept. 29, setting the record.

The Cubs and Giants split their 12-game season series. They also split at each stadium, with each winning three games at Candlestick Park, and three at Wrigley Field. Five of the 12 games were decided by one run, two of those in extra innings.

The Cubs’ best hitters in the series were Mark Grace, who hit .386 and had 12 RBIs, and Vance Law, .321. The Giants’ best hitter was Candy Maldonado, whose .370 average may help him get a start in right field.

The Cubs held Kevin Mitchell to seven hits in 37 at-bats, .189, and allowed leadoff hitter Brett Butler to reach base just 14 times in 51 plate appearances.

Cub bullpen stopper Mitch Williams allowed the Giants just two hits in 5 2/3 innings, and Giant stopper Steve Bedrosian allowed the Cubs two earned runs on five hits in three innings.

Oakland’s Mike Moore and Toronto’s Todd Stottlemyre rank among the greatest social climbers in baseball this season.

“It’s a total turnaround,” said Moore, still getting accustomed to the feeling after seven years of losing with the Seattle Mariners. “You could tell when you first walked into spring training camp. It was just the atmosphere. Even if you don’t make the playoffs or the World Series, you go in knowing you’re going to play for a winning team.”

Moore, who will oppose Stottlemyre in Game 2 of the American League playoffs today, owned a career record of 65-96 before signing a three-year contract with Oakland as a free agent last December. Since then, Moore has gone 19-11, pitched in his first All-Star game and, on Tuesday, held his first postseason news conference.

Stottlemyre was in Syracuse as recently as June 30. He lost his spot on the Blue Jay roster after an 0-3 start and spent 1 1/2 months in triple A before rejoining Toronto’s rotation July 1.

Since his recall, Stottlemyre is 7-4 with a 3.38 ERA.

Cito Gaston, the first black manager to participate in a league playoff, was asked if the Raiders appointment of Art Shell as the National Football League’s first black head coach of the modern era would accelerate minority hiring.

“I would hope so,” Gaston said. “I think it’s terrific.

“But as I’ve said many times, I don’t see color. I see only good and bad people, and I try to stay away from bad people.”

Don Zimmer cried in the Cub clubhouse Tuesday as the manager thanked his players for the best year of his life in baseball.

“It’s the first chance I’ve really had to properly thank them for everything they’ve done for me,” Zimmer said later, as the Cubs practiced at Wrigley Field for today’s opener of the National League championship series.

Asked what he said, Zimmer responded: “I said what I wanted to say.”

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