WORLD SERIES: CINCINNATI 5, OAKLAND 4 : NOTES : Eckersley: A’s Head Home in ‘Big Trouble’

Jose Canseco, all 6 feet 5 and $23.5 million of him, should have known better.

He was fooled in the first inning Wednesday night when Barry Larkin doubled over his head. He was surprised in the third inning at how quickly his home run entered the second deck.

And yet, with the Oakland Athletics ahead by one run in the eighth, Canseco was playing shallow in right field. He knew Billy Hatcher had hits in each of his past six at-bats. He knew Hatcher has power to all fields.

And he knew he made a momentous blunder the moment Hatcher’s ball glanced off his glove, bouncing toward the wall, allowing Hatcher to wind up with a triple.

It proved to be the tying run in Game 2 of the World Series.

It also proved to be the one play that cost the Athletics, who lost, 5-4, in 10 innings to the Cincinnati Reds.

Hello, nightmare of 1988.

It’s the Athletics again.

“It’s very simple,” said Dennis Eckersley, the losing pitcher, “we’re down 2-0, and we’re in trouble. Make that big trouble.”

The Athletics, for the most part, were blaming their woes on their offense. They have scored four runs in 19 innings and are batting .055 (one for 18) with runners in scoring position.

“This is ridiculous,” A’s first baseman Mark McGwire said. “We should be scoring more than four runs. There’s no excuse. This is not the Oakland A’s people are used to seeing.

“I don’t think anyone in the world expected us to be in this situation.”

Still, the Athletics might have been able to hang on without Canseco’s blunder on Hatcher’s ball. It was ruled a triple, but the ball was quite catchable.

“I thought I had that ball every step of the way,” Canseco said. “Then all of a sudden, I’m running, running, running and it hits off my glove.

“The ball was carrying so well to right field it was ridiculous. If we’re in Oakland, that ball drops in front of me.

“This is a very, very strange ballpark. The way the ball carries here, I’m very surprised the Cincinnati Reds don’t have a 50-home run hitter.

“But I’ll tell you one thing, if we come back here, I’ll be playing with my back against the fence the whole game.”

The way the Reds are playing, Canseco might not have to worry about coming back.

Reds pitcher Jose Rijo, eligible for free agency at the end of the 1991 season, said Wednesday that unless he receives a multiyear contract of at least three years--and preferably five--he will test the free-agent market.

“I love Cincinnati. I never want to leave the city,” Rijo said. “But I think a player should be rewarded for what he does.

“I’m not going to be greedy. If you make a million bucks doing what you love to do, you can’t be too greedy. I just want to be treated nice, and I’ll be happy.”

The primary reason his salary demand will be equitable, he says, is because of his roots. This is a guy who signed professionally at the age of 15. He signed for $3,000, keeping only $200, while providing his relatives the rest.

“I remember having just one pair of spikes so long that they tore up my feet. No one had any money. We didn’t even have electricity. But when they gave me $3,000, I thought I was the richest man in the world.”

“Now, my God, I can’t believe what I have. It’s the dream of every Dominican to be doing what I do. I have 18-year-old kids now come to me in the Dominican, and say they want to play professional baseball, and they never played before in their life.

“It’s crazy, huh?”

The A’s have baseball’s best closer in Dennis Eckersley, but they haven’t had the best bullpen in the World Series.

Cincinnati is threatening to upset the defending champion A’s, and their relievers are a big reason why.

The bullpen has pitched 9 1/3 scoreless innings, including 7 1/3 scoreless innings by Scott Scudder, Jack Armstrong, Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble in Wednesday night’s 5-4 victory.

Including the six National League playoff games, the Reds’ bullpen has an 0.33 postseason ERA, allowing two runs, one earned, in 27 2/3 innings. They are 2-1 with four saves.

“The bullpen did the job,” shortstop Barry Larkin said. “They just did a great job keeping us in the game and keeping the score within reach. We really wanted this one. They got a (4-2) lead, but the bullpen gave us the chance to come back.”

Reds outfielder Herm Winningham on wearing two pigeon feathers in his baseball cap during batting practice: “I do it all the time. I get a special knack for finding feathers, and when I do, I put him in the my cap for good luck.

“I better be quiet on it, though, because once words leaks out, (Red owner) Mrs. Schott will probably want to sell them in her gift shop.

“She sells everything else.”

Rijo, on romancing his wife, who happens to be the daughter of Juan Marichal: “He wasn’t too happy with me. I had a bad reputation when I was home. I was a little on the wild side.

“I was scared to ask Juan if I could date her. It was certainly harder than any left-handed hitter I ever faced.”

Despite a driving rain that began after the game, more than 100 people camped out to try to purchase 3,000 tickets that were available for Games 6 and 7, which would be played Tuesday and Wednesday, if necessary. . . . Ron Oester’s pinch-hit single in the fourth inning was his first pinch hit since Aug. 14, 1983. . . . Only 10 of the 40 teams in World Series history who trailed 2-0 have rallied to win the Series. This is the sixth consecutive year a team has taken a 2-0 lead; the last three teams to do it won the Series, including Oakland last year.