Giants Are Ready to Start Over

Hitters hit; pitchers pitched. Far away, in the highest parts of the upper deck, workers were finishing their work. It was safe--and proper--for baseball to return to Candlestick Park.

“The inspiration and the drive and the adrenaline will come back,” the Giants’ Brett Butler was saying. “That will definitely come back before the game on Friday. You can start to feel that now.”

As the World Series comes closer to resumption, the gamesmanship starts once more. The A’s scoot off to Arizona for concentrated work in a guaranteed-sunny climate--and relative privacy; the Giants stay home and hope the 10-day delay works in their favor.

Everybody still walks and talks cautiously in public. Probably because the earthquake hit on its time and in its two-city venue, baseball has at times been more deferential than necessary.

No football games, college or pro, got canceled. The 49ers simply moved a bit down the road, to Stanford last Sunday for their match with the Patriots. Other forms of entertainment proceeded as usual, with no apologies necessary.

Baseball executives and baseball players even now feel obliged to include in nearly every thought: “This is just a game.” Butler was nervous enough during a televised interview the other day to say he could “see the tunnel at the end. . . .”

Gradually, it’s becoming okay to lighten up.

“Right now, you hear them relaxing, having a good time,” said Giants Manager Roger Craig. “You didn’t hear that the first couple of days. The physical part will take care of itself. I just want to concentrate on the mental part.”

A mixture of relief, for being spared, and guilt, for being famous but not vital, dominates the thoughts of most thoughtful players and officials.

“My family and friends basically have gone home,” Butler said. “I’ve been by myself, kind of in isolation, trying to ponder my life, about where my priorities are, the fact that I’ve seen my kids four days in seven weeks.

“Now we can start to think about Dave Stewart (Oakland’s starting pitcher Friday night). Guys have been going through the motions. We’ve done a lot of things (during workouts) but it’s really been numbness. Now that’s kind of wearing off, knowing we have the backing of the city.”

Catcher Terry Kennedy heard the clubhouse laughter but felt little joy.

“I don’t think there’s a sense of humor left,” he said. “I just think we’re getting punchy.”

Like any manager in every other business, Craig knows his men must enjoy their work to perform well.

“This is my biggest worry, my greatest test as a manager,” he admitted. “You start in April, building momentum, winning the division, winning the National League, and then tragedy. I will tell them, probably Friday, that this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

“I’ve been in the Series six times. I know what it means. Hopefully, I can bring this out. I know the most important part is mental. Gradually, I hope we can work up to that mental toughness we have to have considering what’s happened, that they’ve experienced something they probably never will again.”

Craig looked toward the empty stands and said: “If we can only win Game 3. They had so much momentum (in gaining a 2-0 advantage in Oakland). They looked like an unbeatable club. Now, it’s different.”

For the Giants, second baseman Robby Thompson (right shoulder) and left fielder Kevin Mitchell (left wrist) are the players helped most by the delay. After taking extra batting practice Sunday, Mitchell felt well enough to cancel a doctor’s appointment.

But Kennedy said the accumulated aches and pains of a long season “don’t go away before Feb. 10.”

Strategically, Craig will go with his original Game 3 lineup, which included Ken Oberkfell and Pat Sheridan, for the simple reason: “We still ain’t but scored one run.”

First baseman Will Clark was trying to convince himself that the A’s coming back with aces Stewart and Mike Moore might work in his favor. “They’re still fresh in my mind,” he said. “I’ve got tapes of them (from Games 1 and 2) I can study. (Bob) Welch and Storm (Davis) I haven’t seen since spring training.”

The Giants have decided to make earthquake-related donations on a personal basis rather than sending a lump sum as a team.

“Everybody wants to help,” players-union representative Butler said, “but we thought it shouldn’t be a set amount. Whatever everybody wants to give, they should give what they think is right. If there’s one lump sum, some people will say that isn’t enough, so we don’t want to release a total figure.”

As the Giants practiced, scaffolding could be seen high above the field, in sections 53 and 37 of Candlestick. A guard shooed most reporters from the areas, but the Oakland Tribune included this comment from a worker being reminded that Tuesday was a week since the quake.

“I thought about it this morning,” said Mike Hedgebeth, “and it was a strange feeling to think that a week had passed already.”

When it became 5:04, Hedgebeth had to be reminded of the meaning.

“Didn’t even think about it,” he said.

Pitcher Mike Krukow has a number of caps from the Fog City Diner in which the logo on the front features an analog clock that reads 5:04 and says above it: “Don’t Worry.”