Reds Feeling Young, A’s Are Restless : Game 1: On paper, Oakland is the clear favorite. But teams are unfamiliar with each other, and Cincinnati is loose.

One contender is considered one of baseball’s best teams, ever. The other is considered one of its best soap operas.

Promising to be unpredictable and unnerving, the 87th World Series is dynasty vs. “Dallas.”

In one corner are the Oakland Athletics, the American League champions for a third consecutive season. They are hoping to become the first team since the 1977-78 New York Yankees to win consecutive World Series championships, and could break a Yankee record of 12 consecutive postseason victories.

In the other corner are the Cincinnati Reds, the National League champions. They are hoping that their team mascot, the owner’s St. Bernard, doesn’t bite anybody.

Beginning tonight with Game 1 at 5:32 p.m., PDT, at Riverfront Stadium, the opposites will share a field for the first time since 1972. And for once, neither usually confident team knows what to expect.

“To be honest, we don’t know much about them,” said Mike Gallego, A’s shortstop.

Admitted the Reds’ Rob Dibble: “It’s like they are in a different world.”

The differences begin with the managers, whose only similarity has been their success.

The Athletics are led by the boss most often compared to an IBM vice president, calm and expressionless Tony La Russa. He has led the A’s to 10 consecutive postseason victories, apparently without once mussing his hair.

The Reds are led by Lou Piniella, who joined the team last winter. He helped them become the first National League team to lead a division from the start of the season until the end, but in the process he threw bases, kicked dirt on umpires, and often turned the color of his uniform.

“I’m emotional, I go off the handle,” Piniella said. “I’ll never be able to get rid of that image. But it does not affect my team. As you may have noticed, my team doesn’t follow me--they don’t follow anybody. I pretty much let them do and act however they want.”

La Russa and Piniella played together for American Legion Post 248 in Tampa, Fla., in 1961. But they were not close friends.

“He was pretty serious (and) I was pretty much of a screw-up,” Piniella said.

La Russa appeared at Monday’s workout looking as neat as if it had been picture day but Piniella showed up sporting a two-day stubble and uncombed hair.

“Managing in the National League, it must be tough,” La Russa said.

And today’s starting pitchers reflect their managers.

The Athletics will use Dave Stewart, the man with “the Stare.” He is also known for a 7-1 record with a 1.98 earned-run average in 12 postseason games.

The Reds will start Jose Rijo, the man with “the Silly Grin.” He is also known for wearing a floppy fisherman’s hat during workouts, and for an unusual plan to stop the A’s.

“We’ve got scouting reports, but I don’t go by those scouting reports,” Rijo said. “I go by my own scouting reports.”

Complicating matters was another, unwritten, scouting report being passed around Monday, to the effect that the A’s only appear unbeatable.

Certainly, they have baseball’s current best player in left fielder Rickey Henderson. And two of its most powerful hitters in Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

They also have National League batting champion Willie McGee, a late-season addition. And a third baseman with a postseason batting average of .337, Carney Lansford.

Their pitching rotation is so good, the No. 2 starter is a man who won the most games by an American League pitcher since 1968. Bob Welch went 27-6 but is not good enough to pitch the Series opener.

Their bullpen is so good, one statistic seems fabricated. In the last two seasons, stopper Dennis Eckersley has walked seven batters. Jose Rijo walked that many in the recent National League championship series.

“You look at their lineup on paper, and it’s no contest,” said the Reds’ Todd Benzinger. “They look invincible.”

But look closer.

Partially because of Canseco’s nagging back and finger injuries, the A’s did not hit a home run in their four-game sweep of Boston in the American League championship series. They were the first team in 71 years to win a postseason series without one. They also have hit only four homers in their last 18 games, dating to Sept. 22.

Canseco isn’t the only one who will be playing hurt and possibly showing the effects of it. McGee has badly bruised ribs. Dave Henderson, the A’s other center fielder and possible designated hitter against left-handed pitching, is still hobbled after recent knee surgery.

And none of those compare to the problems of Walt Weiss, the shortstop who has been removed from the roster because of strained ligaments in his left knee that might require surgery.

He will be replaced by Gallego, a natural second baseman who cannot compare to Weiss on artificial turf, the surface for four of the seven games, if there are seven games. Former Dodger Willie Randolph, who scouts say has slowed on defense, becomes the regular second baseman after being platooned with Gallego during the season.

Another A’s star will be sidelined even though he is fine. Harold Baines, who hit .266 for the A’s in September, will sit on the bench for as many as four games because the designated hitter is not used in National League parks.

For a team not used to confusion or uncertainty, these changes are not good news.

“You know, this team is not unbeatable,” Gallego said. “We may be good, but we’re not that good.”

The Reds, however, are just flighty enough to think they can be unbeatable.

The Reds’ lineup also matches up well against the abundance of A’s right-handed pitching. Paul O’Neill and Hal Morris, both left-handed hitters, batted .471 and .417 respectively in the playoffs. Both will start.

The Reds, though, are worried about outfielder Eric Davis, who is playing in constant pain on a knee that requires surgery. He batted .174 in the playoffs with one extra-base hit.

But they are hoping that with their “Nasty Boys” bullpen, they won’t need too many runs.

“I am jealous of them--I wish I could throw that hard,” Eckersley said of Randy Myers, Norm Charlton and Dibble.

The A’s also seem jealous of the Reds’ nonchalant attitude. It was the most telling difference between the Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League playoffs, and could work in the Reds’ favor again.

Said Eckersley: “We don’t win, everybody says we choked.”

Said Dibble, smiling: “We don’t win, everybody says, ‘So what?’ ”