AMERICAN LEAGUE NOTEBOOK : Kiecker Hopes to Pay Steinbach a Strikeout

The Red Sox are looking for Dana Kiecker to deliver a victory tonight when he opposes Bob Welch in Game 2 of the American League playoffs. A few months ago, all Kiecker delivered was packages.

While back home in Minnesota last winter, Kiecker supplemented his minor league salary by working as a package car driver for UPS in Minneapolis. “You know, the men in brown,” said Kiecker, a native of Sleepy Eye, Minn. “You always see them tooting around, rushing like maniacs.”

While he was delivering packages during the pre-Christmas rush and mulling his baseball future after having spent 6 1/2 years in the minors, Kiecker managed to fit in some workouts with an old friend, A’s catcher Terry Steinbach, of New Ulm, Minn. Steinbach not only helped keep Kiecker in shape, he helped keep his hopes up.

“I had a pretty strenuous schedule when I was working for UPS, and I was having trouble finding a place to work out,” said Kiecker, who was 8-12 for St. Cloud (Minn.) State University and 56-66 in the minors. He surpassed .500 only in 1983, when he was 11-5 at Class A Elmira.

“He opened up his time to fit my time. It was a friendship that took off into a working relationship,” Kiecker said. “But I know every time he comes up (in the playoffs), he’ll be trying to get a hit, and I’ll be trying to strike him out. He definitely helped me improve a little more so I could make the club this season.”

The 29-year-old right-hander was 8-9 with a 3.97 earned-run average for the Red Sox.

Bob Welch, whose previous high in victories was 17, attributed his 27-6 record this season to the A’s overall success.

“I’m playing on a team that’s been consistent,” he said. “There’s situation where you pitch pretty good, and you might get a no-decision and the team comes back and gets a run for you. We’ve also played excellent defense through the course of the year. That’s important, because a guy like me isn’t going to go out and strike out eight, nine, 10 men a game.”

A’s pitching coach Dave Duncan said Welch succeeded spectacularly after he learned to stop overthrowing the ball.

“He gets into a power mode when he tries to jump from the mound to the catcher and hand the ball to him,” Duncan said. “He was rushing his delivery. . . . He had to understand that it would be detrimental to him.”

Although Welch won five more games than Dave Stewart, Welch said he had no quarrel with Manager Tony La Russa’s decision to start Stewart in the series opener.

“Why not?” Welch said. “Since I’ve been here, Stew’s been the foundation of the staff.”

Should Roger Clemens have no shoulder discomfort after pitching Saturday--and should the series go that long--it’s possible Clemens could pitch three times, in Games 1, 4 and 7. The Red Sox had said they will be cautious with Clemens, and Manager Joe Morgan has said he plans to start Greg Harris in Game 4 in Oakland Wednesday.

Mike Gallego returned from dinner Friday night and found a voice message from La Russa on his hotel room phone. Said La Russa: “You’ve got the ball. Put on your psych face.”

It was La Russa’s way of telling Gallego that he would start ahead of Willie Randolph at second base in Game 1.

Gallego is considered the better defensive player but hit .206 compared to Randolph’s overall .257 and .303 average in the final 35 games. LaRussa said he felt the A’s could win with either player.

“This is blown out of proportion because of the playoffs, but Willie and I have gone through it all year,” said Gallego, who lives in Yorba Linda. “It’s always, ‘will it be me or will it be Willie?’ I came out on top tonight, but we’ll face that question again tomorrow. The way I feel about it, how can you make a wrong decision?”

The A’s reached the postseason roster limit of 25 players by removing pitcher Reggie Harris and outfielder Darren Lewis.

Times staff writer Ross Newhan contributed to this story.