WORLD SERIES / CINCINNATI REDS vs. OAKLAND ATHLETICS : Oakland Situation Not A-OK : Game 3: With Reds up two games to none, Canseco defends his defense. Stewart won’t take back criticism.

Unable to consistently connect off the Cincinnati Reds’ pitchers in the first two games of the World Series, the Oakland Athletics have taken to taking swipes at each other.

Outfielder Jose Canseco, who was criticized by Manager Tony La Russa and pitcher Dave Stewart Wednesday for his failure to catch a triple by Billy Hatcher that sparked Cincinnati’s game-tying rally, said Thursday their declarations haven’t created dissension that might undermine the A’s chances of overcoming Cincinnati’s 2-0 World Series lead.

“It’s really not a major incident. I don’t want to blow it out of proportion,” Canseco said. “We don’t need any major distractions now.”

Canseco met with La Russa Thursday, after the rest of the A’s had begun their workout at the Oakland Coliseum. Canseco emerged from the A’s clubhouse at 5:55 p.m., 55 minutes after the session started, and smiled as he waded through a crush of reporters to get to the batting cage. “Inquiring minds want to know, huh?” Canseco said.

After taking his practice swings, Canseco said he had neither spoken with Stewart nor read newspaper accounts of Stewart’s caustic comments on his lack of concentration in the outfield.

“I’m always concentrating,” said Canseco, who has been hampered by a bad back and a sore right hand and has one hit in seven Series at-bats. “I’ve had (people expressing) doubts all my life. It doesn’t bother me.”

Asked if there were any hard feelings between him and his manager Canseco replied: “None whatsoever. We’re the best of friends.”

La Russa downplayed the significance of the meeting. “When you have a potential problem, you need to talk it out,” he said. “We talked it out and everything’s OK.”

However, Stewart declined to retract his assertion that Canseco should have caught Hatcher’s fly ball, as well as Barry Larkin’s ground-rule double that began a two-run Cincinnati flurry in the first inning. “Why should I?” Stewart said when asked if he wanted to take back his remarks.

La Russa on Wednesday called Canseco’s misplay of Hatcher’s triple “a play that if you want to win the game you have to make.” He added, “I don’t think he got a very good jump and it pushed to his right.”

Told of those remarks Wednesday, Canseco reacted with disbelief. “Tony said that? If he said that, he’s totally wrong. He’s hanging the game on one play,” Canseco said. “Even if I was healthy, I don’t know if I can make the play on that one. This park is weird and you have to make a lot of adjustments. I thought that was an easy play, but I kept turning and running and boom, it hit off my glove. The ball moves quickly in this park, but that one caught me by surprise.”

Canseco repeated Thursday that he had played Hatcher and Larkin properly. “I felt I had a good jump on both balls,” he said.

Former A’s outfielder Reggie Jackson, himself no stranger to controversy, defended Canseco’s actions on Hatcher’s fly ball. “That was not a routine play. It’s a great play if he makes it,” Jackson said. “He couldn’t stop himself at the wall.”

Jackson also said Canseco’s critics may forget that his back problems are hampering him in the outfield and at the plate. “I remember here in ’86 or ’87 they did everything they could to run Joe Montana out of town, all the media,” Jackson said. “He came back. Here’s a guy with a bad back who’s playing.”

Rickey Henderson also cited Canseco’s back as a reason for Canseco’s sub-par postseason play. “He’s gone through a lot with those nagging injuries,” Henderson said. “Sometimes an injury can nag and you can’t do what you’re capable of doing. You can’t know how anybody else feels.

“I don’t think this will have any effect on us. We know what we have to do, and that’s focus on what we’ve been doing all year.”

Mike Moore, the winner of the third game in the A’s playoff sweep of the Boston Red Sox, will oppose left-hander Tom Browning today as the A’s attempt to become only the 11th team to win the Series after falling behind two games to none. Teams that trailed 2-0 won Game 3 of the Series in seven of the last eight occasions, but no team has overcome an opponent’s 3-0 lead.

Facing the A’s will be a cinch for Browning after his adventures Wednesday. Told that his wife had gone into labor while watching Game 2 at Riverfront Stadium, Browning panicked and left with her for the hospital without telling Manager Lou Piniella. Down to four pitchers after bringing Rob Dibble into the game for the ninth inning, Piniella asked radio broadcaster Marty Brennaman to issue a plea to Browning to return, but Browning didn’t hear it until too late.

The story had a happy ending all around. Debbie Browning gave birth to a 6-pound 10-ounce son named Tucker Thomas at 12:27 a.m., 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Reds’ 5-4 victory. Browning cleared up his misunderstanding with Piniella on Thursday, before the club’s charter flight left for Oakland.

“It’s such an unbelievable feeling being able to witness a life coming into the world,” Browning said.

Browning was 8-8 at home this season but 7-1 on the road, a difference he attributed to getting more sleep while away from his children. He expects no difficulty concentrating on today’s game after welcoming his third child.

“I started thinking about Oakland when I got to the airport today,” he said Thursday after the Reds arrived at the Oakland Coliseum. “It won’t be hard at all because I know she’s resting easy and we’ve got some people there taking care of our other children.”

The Reds’ pitching staff has taken care of the A’s, holding them to one home run--by Canseco--and compiling a 1.42 earned-run average. Browning, who won the second game of the Reds’ NL playoff series against the Pirates but lost the fifth game, knows he has a tough act to follow but is sure he can match his predecessors.

“I’m looking forward to pitching in Oakland because there’s a lot of foul territory there and I’m a fly ball pitcher,” he said. “I’ve kind of got an idea of how I need to pitch those guys. As far as who has an advantage, I don’t know. I’m going to pitch the way I usually pitch. I have enough confidence in my ability that I can get them out and at least give our ballclub a chance to stay in the game.”

The A’s want to stay in the Series. “I’m not surprised by the Reds,” third baseman Carney Lansford said, “but maybe by the fact that we haven’t scored as many runs as we’re capable of scoring. I’m disappointed we didn’t get at least one (victory in Cincinnati) but we’re not out of it by any means.”