20 Is Magic for Stewart : Baseball: Oakland right-hander pitches five-hitter to notch 20th victory for fourth consecutive season.

It may not win him a Cy Young Award or get him into the Hall of Fame. But the value of a fourth straight 20-victory season wasn’t lost on A’s right-hander Dave Stewart after Friday night’s 9-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

He remembered, once again, how his career nearly ended before the A’s gave him a job in the summer of 1986.

“This is just one more thing to add to a career that’s turned around and been pretty good the last four years or so,” said Stewart, 33. “You look around at the pitchers in the league, and who else has done this? Nobody but me.”

Stewart’s five-hitter helped the A’s reduce their magic number in the American League West to nine. It was--by eight days--the earliest Stewart has won 20.

And he says this fourth No. 20 was his best.

“It has been a tough year for me,” Stewart said. “It seems the opposition has been so much more geared for what I’m bringing them. I’ve had to work so hard for what I got, and so this one is even better than the three before.”

Stewart took a bad cold to the mound and retired the first eight Twins on seven ground balls and a line drive. The Twins didn’t have a hit until Nelson Liriano’s leadoff single in the fourth and didn’t score until Liriano’s RBI single in the fifth.

Meanwhile, the A’s came up with two runs in the fourth, when Terry Steinbach followed a Jose Canseco-Carney Lansford double steal with a two-run single.

Yes, the previously 2-for-18 Canseco reached base Friday on a single -- a ground ball through the second-base hole left open by the Twins’ severe shift. He also walked in the midst of the run-producing fifth inning as the A’s took a 3-1 lead against left-hander Mark Guthrie (6-8).

Guthrie did little more in his 6 1/3 innings than admire his A’s counterpart.

“Stewart is as good as there is,” he said. “I’ve watched him on TV for years, and every time he has something on the line, he wins. He needs 20, he wins. In the playoffs, he wins. He faces Roger Clemens, he wins. He’s the best.”

On Friday, Stewart appreciated the 15-hit aid of his teammates -- many of them hot on the pursuit of their own statistical goals.

Rickey Henderson, for instance, was caught stealing by Guthrie in the fifth to remain seven short of Lou Brock’s record. But Henderson singled twice to raise his average to .328, putting him four points ahead of Kansas City’s George Brett, who was 0 for 4.

And Steinbach’s two-run single in the seventh drove his bases-loaded average to .625 with 21 RBI. Imagine -- the Twins actually walked Lansford intentionally to pitch to him.

The A’s scored three runs in that seventh inning to ease the breathing for their stuffed-up starter. Stewart was so cool about this 20th victory, he slept most of Friday away.

After all, he knew he’d get three more chances. And that has been enough every season, except 1987 when he was so flustered he needed five starts to win No. 20. Last year, he needed four. Only in 1988 had he wasted no time.

“I didn’t take any of that to the mound tonight,” Stewart said. “You can’t carry garbage like that out there.

“I’ve had some lessons -- three years worth of lessons. And I’ve been able to store what happened. All of that helped prepare me for tonight, just to be more focused.”

Ten pitchers have won 20 at least four consecutive times since World War II. Three (Ferguson Jenkins, Wilbur Wood and Dave McNally) aren’t in the Hall of Fame. Stewart, a late bloomer, has said -- seriously or not -- he’ll retire after he fulfills his contractual obligation in 1992.

Odds are, no Hall of Fame.

But, maybe?

“I think I have a chance to one day get into the Hall of Fame,” Stewart said. “I think I need to win 20 my next two seasons -- the duration of my contract. And I’ll keep playing as long as I’m competitive.”

As for that elusive Cy Young Award, the funny thing is that Stewart has come close in the past with numbers not as good as these: 20-10, nine complete games, three shutouts and a 2.70 earned run average.

But teammate Bob Welch has more victories and Boston’s Roger Clemens has a better ERA.

Odds are, no Cy Young.

But, maybe?

“I really don’t care about it,” Stewart said.

OK. But then he reeled off a list of reasons he deserves to be considered.

And his conclusion, considering his performance, didn’t sound a bit arrogant.

It was, “I’m the best.”