THE WORLD SERIES : OAKLAND ATHLETICS vs. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS : So Far, La Russa’s Decisions KO Giants

A graduate of the Florida State law school and a member of the Florida bar, Tony La Russa understands the risk of circumstantial evidence and avoids employing it in his role as the Oakland Athletics’ manager.

La Russa operates from a bank of computers, scouting reports, statistics and comparative percentages.

No manager, his players insist, is better prepared.

Yet in preparing his lineup for the 1989 World Series, La Russa made a pair of decisions that seemed at odds with each other and were hunches at best.

The evidence? On the surface, even less than circumstantial.

“I do trust my gut a lot, but that’s nothing more than feeling I know a lot about my players. I wouldn’t call that a hunch,” La Russa said Sunday night after his A’s defeated the San Francisco Giants, 5-1, for a 2-0 World Series lead.

If the Giants are finding this hard to stomach, blame La Russa’s gut.

First he benched the versatile Mike Gallego--a guy he recently called his team’s most valuable player--and employed Walt Weiss at shortstop.

Weiss was the American League’s rookie of the year last season, but was sidelined for more than two months of the 1989 season with a knee injury and has had trouble regaining his batting eye.

Weiss, however, is a switch-hitter and La Russa announced that he wanted to load his lineup with left-handed bats against right-hander Scott Garrelts, the Game 1 starter.

Weiss responded with a home run in the 5-0 victory.

Along with that, however, La Russa decided to keep another left-handed hitter, catcher Ron Hassey, on the bench and went with the right-handed hitting Terry Steinbach against Garrelts and Game 2 starter Rick Reuschel, who is also a right-hander.

“Different considerations,” La Russa said Sunday of the decision to start Weiss and not Hassey. “That’s why I’m paid to manage.”

So who’s arguing?

Steinbach merely singled against Garrelts to help ignite a three-run rally, then hammered a three-run, fourth inning homer against Reuschel.

His reward?

Hassey will start Game 3 against Don Robinson, who is just as right-handed as Garrelts and Reuschel.

Who can figure?

Not Steinbach, who smiled, shook his head and said he hasn’t come to grips yet with all of La Russa’s thinking and is not sure he ever will.

“Ron and I expect to play every day, but we respect each other and we respect Tony’s decisions,” Steinbach said.

“I may not always agree with his reasoning but his door is open and he’ll always give us a reason--stats, gut instinct, whatever.

“Our pitching staff has led the American League in ERA for two straight years, and both Ron and myself feel we’ve contributed to that.

“I mean, it’s a tribute to the type club management has built here that the nine guys on the field aren’t the only ones who contribute.”

La Russa agreed, saying it was difficult to sit Gallego, difficult to sit Hassey.

“It will be difficult to sit Steiny Tuesday night, but that’s what happens when you have a good club,” the manager said.

And why Steinbach Sunday.

“He generally catches when Mike Moore pitches,” La Russa said, “and I’ve been watching him closely.

“He’s swinging the bat well and working hard and that pays off.”

In addition, La Russa said he was so confident that Steinbach would dig into a Reuschel sinker that he predicted to TV reporters that his catcher would hit a home run.

Steinbach laughed when he heard that.

“Heck, I didn’t even know I was starting until the lineup was posted,” he said.

And did he hit a sinker?

“That’s about all Reuschel throws,” Steinbach said. “I got ahead 2-and-0 and was looking for him to get a sinker up in the strike zone, which is what he did. It was a great feeling.”

Previously, Steinbach’s most notable home run came off Dwight Gooden in the 1988 All-Star game, when he emerged as the most valuable player after Oakland fans stuffed the ballot box, making him something of an unjustified starter.

“The All-Star game is an individual thing,” he said Sunday night. “This put us closer to our team goal. It means a lot more to me.”

The 27-year-old Steinbach hit only seven homers during a strange season in which he batted .301 in April, .385 in May, .292 through June and the two weeks before the July All-Star break, then only .216 over the second half.

“I can’t explain that,” he said, “except that I feel I used up all my luck in the first half. Everything I hit seemed to fall in. I had good at bats and bad at bats in the second half, but not that same luck.

“I definitely struggled some, but I feel my swing has been coming back lately and maybe this will be the start of something good for me.”

Said La Russa: “Steiny isn’t afraid of anything. He isn’t afraid of the pressure of a World Series or starting an All-Star game after being ridiculed nationally. That’s another reason he was in there tonight.”

Which doesn’t explain why he won’t be Tuesday night.

“Different considerations,” reiterated the man who’s paid to manage the A’s.