BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : New Kids Have Expos Off and Running

It is not unusual for the Montreal Expos to be on the run.

Normally, they are fleeing Canada and the bilingual culture of la belle province on their way to becoming former Expos.

Mark Langston and Hubie Brooks staged their free-agent getaway last winter.

So did Pascual Perez and BrynSmith.

This latest exodus, it was thought, would consign the Expos to the cellar of the National League East, but they have emerged as one of April’s surprise teams, doing it, primarily, on the baserunning of three rookies: second baseman Delino DeShields, center fielder Marquis Grissom and right fielder Larry Walker, who will not qualify for rookie honors because he spent the entire 1988 season on Montreal’s disabled list.

When was the last time--through either necessity or a deserved promotion--that a club introduced three rookies in impact roles?

“The only time I can remember is the mid-’60s, when Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando and Joe Rudi came up at about the same time with the Kansas City A’s,” Manager Buck Rodgers said. “I’d love to believe we have a Jackson, Bando or Rudi among our three guys, but we’ll know more after 50 or 60 games.”

In the meantime, Grissom is seven for seven in stolen bases, Walker is five for six and DeShields is six for 10.

The Expos led the league in steals with 160 last year, but the current pace makes it look as if the ’89 Expos were standing still.

With 35 steals through a 9-8 start, the Expos are on a pace to steal 333 bases, which would challenge the major league record of 347, set by the 1911 New York Giants, and obliterate the club record of 247, set in 1980, when Ron LeFlore stole 97 bases and Rodney Scott 63.

Rodgers isn’t thinking of records.

He’s looking to be creative, thinking of ways to replace the 70 runs driven in by Brooks last year, hoping to support a patchwork pitching staff by boosting the productivity of a hit-it-where-it’s-pitched offense that has generated 35 doubles in the first 17 games but only five home runs.

He’s cautiously optimistic.

“I’ve seen, over the years, the way some pitchers react when they face the Cardinals,” he said. “They tighten up and change their deliveries. I think that’s starting to happen when they face the Expos, too.”

They tighten up and change their deliveries, Rodgers said, in an attempt to prevent the stolen base. They become more worried about the runner than the batter who, as one result, is likely to see more fastballs.

Of course, it is impossible to steal first base, and only time will tell if the three Montreal rookies will get on often enough to remain in the lineup.

DeShields is batting .333 with 22 hits in 66 at-bats. Grissom is 14 for 68 (.206) and Walker is 13 for 53 (.245).

“There were some big holes, but we had no idea about keeping all three when we went to spring training,” Rodgers said. “It was a situation where they just kept coming and played their way into the lineup.

“One of the important things is that there’s no defensive liability involved because each of them is a good defensive player.”

The unpolished DeShields stole 53 bases in 140 minor league games last year, Grissom 40 in 127. Walker doesn’t boast the speed of either DeShields or Grissom but may be the more intelligent baserunner, Rodgers said.

In what seemed to be an intentionally low estimate, he added that each has the potential to steal 20 to 30 bases this year and should profit from the tutelage of Tommy Harper, a Montreal coach who was an accomplished baserunner.

The three already appear to have produced one other impact, rekindling Tim Raines’ interest in running.

Raines, whose stolen bases decreased from a career-high 90 in 1983 to 33 last year, is eight for 10. Raines, at 30, may be running better than ever, Rodgers said.

“The kids have been a positive influence on Tim, and Tim has been a positive influence on the kids,” he said. “But the key is that Tim’s legs are 100% for the first time in three years. He’s not only willing to run, he’s able to run.”

How fast the Expo Express comes and how far it goes will ultimately hinge on a rebuilt pitching staff that was riddled by free-agent defections.

Rodgers is playing it cool. He sees “lots of parity” in the East, a real rat race.

The Expos made moves designed to produce a winner last year, then collapsed in the second half. Rodgers says there’s a better chemistry now, a better rookie-veteran blend.

“We were over-veteranized,” he said of last season. “We had guys content to stay in the shadow of free agency rather than create their own shadow. We had guys who talked about going to a winner while on a club that was capable of winning.”

It was a painful reminder, Rodgers said, that the Expos can’t get in that situation again. He alluded to the difficulty Montreal has in retaining potential free agents and signing free agents as potential replacements.

“We’re the one club that has to go back to old-fashioned baseball,” he said. “We have to produce our own, then make sure they’re signed or traded before coming up to free agency.

“Fortunately, our scouting and farm system has done an excellent job.”

Providing the legs, in this case, that may put the Expos right back in the rat race.

Rat race? Whitey Herzog, the White Rat, was asked if he was surprised by the Expos’ start.

“No, they’re no surprise,” the St. Louis Cardinal manager said. “What it boils down to is we’re all bad in this division. We’ve all got problems.”

Dept. of Opinion: The abbreviated spring might not have produced Orel Hershiser’s devastating shoulder injury, but it created an atmosphere in which Hershiser felt the pressure to prepare rather than deal with the discomfort.

It is difficult to determine how many other injuries were compounded or created by the short spring, but the Dodgers alone have two in the shoulder injuries of Hershiser and Jeff Hamilton.

The owners’ 32-day lockout failed to accelerate the collective bargaining negotiations and did nothing but damage businesses in Arizona and Florida.

The disabled lists seem to be other painful and costly reminders of the irrationality of the owners’ strategy.

In an attempt to catch the Oakland Athletics in the American League West, the Angels invested $16 million in Mark Langston, and the Kansas City Royals spent almost $20 million on Mark Davis and Storm Davis.

But at the start of the weekend, the Angels were five games behind the A’s, the Royals seven behind and in last place.

To keep Dwight Gooden on a regular schedule, New York Met Manager Davey Johnson sent Ron Darling to the bullpen for a 10-day period that ends with a start against the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night.

“Dwight’s special,” Darling said. “I’m not saying he doesn’t warrant the treatment. I’m saying that I don’t.”

Darling was undoubtedly feeling better about it after needing only one inning to claim his first victory of the season Wednesday night, making only his second relief appearance in 210 major league assignments during an 8-5 victory over the Braves.

Gooden, meanwhile, is stirring memories of his 1985 Cy Young season, having allowed only one earned run in the 15 innings of his last two starts, including a 10-strikeout three-hitter Tuesday night against the Braves.

“I had forgotten what it’s like to dominate,” Gooden said.

Said pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre: “That’s how he pitched when he got the name ‘Doctor.’ He was operating.”

On the same night that limping Bill Buckner hit an inside-the-park homer against the Angels, lumbering Dave Parker, the Milwaukee Brewers’ designated hitter, had a triple against the Royals. Said Parker: “If Bill Buckner hits an inside-the-park homer, there must have been a sniper in the stands. I feel slighted.”

A knee injury has put Cincinnati’s Eric Davis on the disabled list for three to four weeks, maintaining a pattern in which Davis has averaged 132 games a season since 1986 and has never played more than 135.

The latest injury was the result of a stumbling slide on an attempted steal of third base at Philadelphia Wednesday night.

Manager Lou Piniella suspects that the Phillies heavily watered the dirt areas of the synthetic surface to slow the Reds.

“I think what clubs are doing is mushing it up,” he said. “They did that in Houston the last night we were there. The first step or so, that’s where you’re affected. You can complain to the league . . . but we’ll wait and see if it continues.”

The bliss surrounding the Reds’ fast start was broken some last week when Piniella, mindful that Randy Myers, Rob Dibble and Norm Charlton, his Nasty Boy relievers, have challenged the starting pitchers to a strikeout contest, said it looked as if the three were now thinking only of strikeouts and had begun to overthrow at the expense of control.

The Nasty Boys feigned ignorance, saying their wildness during the series in Philadelphia was simply the result of inactivity.

Obsessed with strikeouts?

“Ridiculous,” Dibble said. “Lou has never had three guys who throw 95 (m.p.h.) on the same team, so it might look like we’re overthrowing.”

Unexpectedly strong pitching, as evidenced by the starters’ 7-0 record and five individual or combined shutouts through Friday, has helped Milwaukee weather an array of infield injuries and keep pace with the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East.

And now the Brewers are getting well. Paul Molitor left the disabled list and played his first game at second base Friday night. Shortstop Bill Speiers is on rehabilitation assignment at Denver and due back in 10 to 14 days. Gary Sheffield, physically sound and mentally into it under the leadership of Dave Parker and front office aide Don Baylor, has put a stranglehold on third base with production of a type expected during his erratic rookie year.

Instead of dealing for an infielder, the Brewers may use Glenn Braggs or Rob Deer in a trade for a pitcher.

The oft-injured Molitor is the key. Can he stay out of harm’s way at second base?

“It might be the best position for me because the throws are shorter,” he said. “Everyone is worried about the double play, but I don’t think it’s that much of a factor.”

Jim Gantner, the man he is replacing, may not agree. Gantner was upended on a double-play pivot last Aug. 15, had major knee surgery and still isn’t sure he will ever play again.