Jackson Faces Pirates With Sneer and Bark in NL Playoff Game 3

Two days ago, Danny Jackson was sitting in front of his locker, daring someone to meet his darting eyes, already wearing The Face.

“He may call it a ‘game face,’ ” teammate Jose Rijo said. “But I like to call it an ‘ugly face.’ ”

Jackson’s black hair fell in disorganized locks around his forehead. His cheeks and chin were coated in stubble. His jaw was tight and lips were upturned. It was a prize-winning sneer.

The Cincinnati Reds’ starting pitcher in Game 3 of the National League championship series today was talking about how he will approach the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In other words, he was talking about football.

“I remember in high school, my last game as a cornerback before they moved me to linebacker,” he recalled. “I remember shooting through a gap and nailing this running back and knocking him back a few yards, and then he collapsed. I looked down at him and his eyes were rolling around in the back of his head.”

Jackson chuckled softly.

“I remember walking back to my position and saying, ‘You know, I don’t care about him. I just don’t care,’ ” he said. “And I remember smiling, because that is when I realized what competing is all about. When it comes to beating the other guy, you can’t care .”

The Reds could not have picked a better attitude--or pitcher--to carry their hopes against Pittsburgh’s Zane Smith at Three Rivers Stadium at 12:18 p.m. PDT. The best-of-seven series is tied at one game apiece, but having already lost one game at home, Cincinnati feels a bit more pressure.

Jackson, with two of the bigger victories in recent postseason history, knows all about that status.

In 1985, with his Royals trailing Toronto three games to one, Jackson pitched a shutout in Game 5 to lead Kansas City to an eventual series victory.

About a week later, with Kansas City trailing St. Louis three games to one in the World Series, he pitched a five-hitter in a 6-1 victory to again save the Royals from elimination.

They eventually won the World Series championship, accounting for one of baseball’s best postseason comeback stories. And Jackson became known for his golden rule.

You can’t care .

“I pitched those kinds of games the same way I try and pitch every game,” said Jackson, 28. “Don’t matter to me who is batting or who we are playing. Don’t matter how big the game. Every game I try for the no-hitter. Every game, if I don’t do better than good, then I’m mad.

“There ain’t no secrets about me. The batters know what I got, and they know I’m going to come at them with it for as hard and as long as I can. And they know they better be ready, because I’m going to be ready.”

Jackson no longer wears his World Series ring. Because he constantly rubs his fingers together, perhaps a result of his intensity, he had to remove the ring before he rubbed the numbers off.

And since that world championship, mostly because of injuries, he has had only one winning season. This year, with shoulder problems, he has only 21 starts, going 6-6 with a 3.61 earned-run average.

Despite his injuries, and even though the Pirates have not faced Jackson in two years, they will know it is him.

He’ll be the left-hander aiming fastballs at their Adam’s apples. He’ll be the one who is unafraid to throw not just inside, but anywhere it might shock them.

“I go back to 1985 with him,” said the Pirates’ Andy Van Slyke, who played for St. Louis in that World Series. “And I know he can be unhittable.”

The Pirates also know it could be a quick game, because everyone in baseball knows that pitching coaches and catchers are afraid to make those slow trots to the mound to talk to Jackson.

“I go out there and he looks at me like, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ ” Cincinnati catcher Jeff Reed said. “I try to talk, but it’s like I’m talking right through him. He is looking at you, but he ain’t looking at you.”

Stan Williams, the Reds’ pitching coach, recalled the recent bases-loaded situation in which he strolled to the mound to calm Jackson.

“I get out there and he starts barking at me,” Williams said. “He says, ‘Get out of here, you’re breaking my rhythm.’ I tell him, ‘That’s what I’m trying to do.’ ”

That’s how the Reds know Jackson’s shoulder feels better, because he is barking again. That, and the fact that he ended the season with two good starts that led to Reds victories.

Even if they were unsure of his soundness, they would not ask him about it.

“So Danny, how’s the shoulder?” joked a club official Saturday after Jackson had placed a moratorium on injury-related questions.

“You want to die?” replied Jackson, unsmiling.

And this was before a game. After a game, Jackson can be downright unbearable.

Last season after a tough loss, an angry Jackson splintered a side of his locker. With his cleats. While he was wearing them.

And he’s mellowed.

While with Kansas City, he once deposited his uniform and glove on the floor in front of his locker and set them on fire. He then insisted on not just a new uniform, but a new number.

“To be honest, I don’t care what anybody thinks,” Jackson said.

Especially today. And especially the Pittsburgh Pirates.

National League Notes

Danny Jackson is 2-0 with a 2.36 earned-run average in four career appearances against Pittsburgh, all in 1988. . . . Zane Smith, a left-hander, is 2-2 with a 2.98 ERA against the Reds this year.

The Reds are 37-24 against left-handed starters and will stack today’s lineup with right-handed hitters, including Glenn Braggs replacing Herm Winningham in the outfield; and probably Todd Benzinger or Terry Lee replacing Hal Morris at first base. Paul O’Neill, a left-handed hitter, will stay in right field because of his .429 series average, with Braggs moving to left and Eric Davis moving to center field for the first time in a month. . . . If Jeff King’s sore back prevents his playing third base for Pittsburgh, Bobby Bonilla will move to the infield and R.J. Reynolds will play right field.