Notebook : Sutcliffe Now Using More Than Just Arm

The discovery, like most things in Rick Sutcliffe’s career, has not come easy. There has been pain and wondering and desperation because a part of his body suddenly didn’t work. There has been conflict with his pride, then conflict with his manager.

But ultimately, as he hopes fans will see Saturday in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, there has been acceptance.

Rick Sutcliffe, at 33, has realized he is growing old.

“Let’s just say, this year has been a good time for growing up,” said the Cub pitcher with a grin. “I am not going to say growing old.”

When he takes the mound against San Francisco’s Mike LaCoss at Candlestick Park, he will be just 17 days removed from his shortest start in four years, a 1 2/3-inning stint against Philadelphia that was halted with a sore shoulder. He was rushed from the clubhouse to see Dr. Michael Schafer, who took one look at the inflamed shoulder and asked just one question.

“He wanted to know, what took me so long to get in here?” Sutcliffe recalled. “I guess the shoulder looked pretty irritated. I guess it had just been overworked.”

Through the miracles of pills and pregame stretching, Sutcliffe did not miss a start, finishing with two decent outings, including six good innings for a 5-1 win in the Cubs’ season finale in St. Louis.

But the pitcher you see Saturday will be far different from the pitcher who was the National League rookie of the year for the Dodgers in 1979 and then won the NL Cy Young Award five years later.

This pitcher may worry about his shoulder. He may worry about his fastball. He may not last more than six innings.

“I’ve finally realized that I can’t do things like I used to do,” said Sutcliffe, who matches his 16-11 record and 3.66 earned-run average against LaCoss’ 10-10 record and 3.17 ERA.

“But,” Sutcliffe protested, “it’s made me a better pitcher. I’ve learned to take something off the ball here and there. I’ve been forced to think more.

“I’ve learned something (former Dodger pitching coach) Red Adams always tried to tell me--great pitchers use their eyes and their ears.”

And don’t overwork their aging arms, something Sutcliffe learned this year against the Dodgers beginning the Friday before the All-Star break. He started and beat the Dodgers, 6-4, that afternoon and then pitched in relief two days later in the Cubs’ 11-4 win over the Dodgers.

“Then I went home and played golf for a day, thinking I would have four days off for the All-Star break,” Sutcliffe said. “But then the National League called me.”

He appeared in Anaheim a day later as an All-Star emegency replacement for Houston’s Mike Scott. Next thing he knows, he’s throwing a relief inning.

“That was three appearances in five days--way too much,” said Sutcliffe, who said he was hurting for much of the rest of the summer.

He would pitch, then complain about the pain, then pitch again. It was a method that was a constant source of irritation for Cub Manager Don Zimmer, who would privately wonder why Sutcliffe didn’t seek medical attention if he was hurt.

“There is a difference between pain and strain, and I thought I always knew that difference,” Sutcliffe said. “I know better now. Like I said, I’m . . . growing up.”

The Giants, who have racked him with two defeats and a 4.03 ERA in his three starts against them this year, only hope that older and wiser does not mean sharper.

Manager Roger Craig received many congatulatory telegrams following the Giants’ Game 1 victory, including a confusing one from the rock group The Grateful Dead.

“Hell I didn’t know anything about them,” he said. “I thought they were a funeral home.”

Remember the former Cub ballgirl who was fired for appearing in Playboy? Marla Collins is now 31, married to a real estate developer and living with him and their infant daughter in a Chicago suburb.

She still wonders why the Cubs were upset after she appeared in the buff in the September 1986 issue.

“You don’t put anyone with lots of curves in real short shorts and a tight shirt if you don’t want her to be noticed,” Collins told the Chicago Tribune. “After the magazine came out, they said I was supposed to be this sweet, innocent little thing, sitting with her hands folded in her lap. Come on!”

In the next couple of weeks, you could be reading plenty about everyone who has helped precocious Giant third baseman Matt Williams survive three years worth of bounces between triple-A Phoenix and the big leagues. You will read about the advice he recieved from Giant batting instructors and fielding gurus and Williams’ many roommates.

But before you believe any of it, Williams would like to clarify one thing.

“I’m the one who has gone through the bad times--nobody else, just me,” he said. “It bothers me that everybody else gets the credit when I do well.

“It was me getting sent to Phoenix, it was me struggling at the plate, it was all me. Just like now, it is me driving in the runs, and me making the plays.”

Williams says that he is comforted by one daily thought.

“I know I’m the one who’s done this,” he said. “Nobody else.”