New-Look Winfield Is Finally Producing : Angels: Since correcting a flaw in his batting stance, he has been hitting as well as he did during his glory years.

Dave Winfield’s back.

Is fine.

His robust physical condition is one reason Winfield is back at the level of excellence he knew he could regain, having overcome the obstacles of advanced age--38--and surgery on a herniated disk in his lower spine less than 18 months ago.

A change of scenery and a change in his batting stance have evoked memories of the Winfield who terrorized American League pitching as recently as 1988, when he hit .322 with 25 home runs and 107 runs batted in.

The Winfield of the past two weeks isn’t the Winfield who hit .213 in a part-time role with a club that didn’t want him. This Winfield has hit in seven consecutive games and is 10 for 26 during the span with three doubles, four homers and eight RBIs. This is the Winfield the Angels had hoped they would get when they acquired him from the New York Yankees last month for pitcher Mike Witt.

“Presence, all those things can only go so far. It needs to be substantiated,” said Angel Manager Doug Rader, who played with Winfield in San Diego near the end of his career and the beginning of Winfield’s. “To David’s credit, he’s been able to pull it off.”

To Winfield, it’s simple. He’s enjoying himself, free of the rancorous feuds he had with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and the tabloid headlines that detail everyday life among the Yankees.

“Just being there in the lineup everyday in right (field), my position, hitting in a good slot in the lineup, that’s what it is,” said Winfield, who is batting .256 with the Angels--21 for 82--and .238 overall.

“I’m at home here. I’ve gotten my clothes here, gotten kind of organized. Plus, when you’re playing well in front of new people, I look at it each day as trying to build fans. When you show those fans you can contribute, you feel real good.”

Showing his new teammates that he could contribute was also important to Winfield, who had been platooned this season with the Yankees and had only six RBIs in 20 games with them. He sensed the Angels’ doubts when he joined the club, a feeling that has dissolved. The Angels, who open a six-game trip today in Detroit against the Tigers, are 14-6 in games Winfield has started. His six homers with the Angels have given him 365 for his career, 35th on the all-time list.

“They had to be (reserved). I knew I could play but I wasn’t given the chance in New York,” said Winfield. “A couple of things Doug Rader said and did helped me. He said, ‘We’re going to play you,’ and he did. That meant a lot.”

Watching videotapes of at-bats from 1987 meant the difference for Winfield. Baseball’s active RBI leader with 1,457 hadn’t lost his bat-speed, a reliable measure of a hitter’s ability and a skill that, when lost, cannot be recovered. The flaw was correctable, and it was done quickly by Winfield, an eager student.

“He stuck too close to the plate when he came here. He moved away from the plate, and everything fell into place,” said Deron Johnson, the Angels’ hitting instructor. “He took extra batting practice and really worked hard. He’s a real pro. It’s a privilege and pleasure to work with him. . . . He’s strong, wants to get extension and now he’s able to get it.”

Some of the tapes Winfield watched were sent to him by the Yankees. He was able to find others among his transported belongings.

“You can practice all you want, but I was practicing from an uncomfortable position or base at home plate,” he said. “I had to review some mechanics, my approach. I had the same stuff as far back as ’86 and ’87. I do it the same way now.

“It had to do with plate coverage for me and a couple of other things. My style is such that if one thing is wrong or out of sync, a lot of things are. Only people that watched me for a while or worked with me would know, and my new team didn’t know. Doug said he saw things, but I had to see it for myself before things clicked in.

“The difference (since his adjustments) has been tremendous--everything (relative to) hitting the ball consistently well to all fields, for a better average, more production and more confidence. That underlies everything.”

Winfield was always confident that he could rebound from his back surgery. The back dogged him through the 1988 season and finally “gave out” in early ‘89, leading to the operation at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic at Centinela Hospital Medical Center. He is dedicated to his stretching routines and was in excellent condition when he came to the Angels.

“I could see how people could wonder, how they could say, ‘He had a year off. He’s 38. How could he come back?’ ” he said. “You look at Nolan Ryan, Carlton Fisk; they’re still playing, and I’m in better shape than all those guys.

“Now people see and are getting the first exposure to what I can do. It’s a good feeling.”

Winfield said he has no regrets over leaving the Yankees. He examines Yankee box scores and knows that Mel Hall recently decried a lack of leadership, that Don Mattingly threw his helmet in frustration and, of course, that Bucky Dent--who reduced him to the role of bit player--was fired. He watches and listens and refrains from comment, except to say there are certain individuals he wishes well and that he’s glad he’s an ex-Yankee.

“People ask, ‘Do you guys think you can catch the Oakland A’s?’ We’re not afraid. We’re not scared,” Winfield said. “It’s a big mountain to climb, but we probably have a better chance (of winning the division) here than the Yankees might in their division.”