NOTES : WORLD SERIES / CINCINNATI REDS VS. OAKLAND ATHLETICS : Canseco Hits Bench, Then Fails in Pinch

Tony La Russa, manager of the Oakland Athletics, benched baseball’s top money player--on the basis of salary, anyway--before Game 4 of the World Series Saturday.

Jose Canseco and his $23.5-million contract were replaced in right field by Willie McGee as La Russa cited Canseco’s lingering physical problems.

Canseco got the word in a pregame meeting with La Russa, who said Canseco didn’t ask out of the lineup but didn’t argue when told he was coming out.

“I kind of agreed with it,” Canseco said. “I think Tony is trying to do what’s best for the team, putting someone out there who’s healthy. We have so many stars here, anyone can take anyone’s place.

“I’m not 100%, I’m struggling and it’s getting frustrating.”

“His bat speed is down and I’m concerned about his ability to throw,” La Russa said. “I don’t want to put him or the team in a position that’s not fair to either of us. I gave Jose the benefit of the doubt when I literally forced myself to play him in the fourth game of the playoffs.

“If it had continued, he wouldn’t have played. We had the few days off, but I haven’t seen any improvement, and I think he understands what I’m saying. You can’t argue that he’s not 100%.

“It’s a loss, but it would be a bigger loss if we didn’t have a Willie McGee to take his place.

“We still have a quality lineup, and I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Jose Canseco in this Series.”

Canseco did make one final appearance, grounding out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of the A’s 2-1 loss Saturday night. He now gets a full winter to rest and recuperate.

Canseco was one for 12 in the Series and three for 23 in the postseason with one home run and three runs batted in. He had only four home runs after Aug. 2.

La Russa also benched catcher Terry Steinbach and went with the left-handed-hitting Jamie Quirk.

A’s trainer Barry Weinberg said of Canseco’s right middle finger that he jammed several weeks ago opening a refrigerator: “His finger is OK. As far as I know, it’s the same as it was at the start of the Series.”

Are the A’s simply using Canseco as a scapegoat for losing the first three games of the Series?

“I don’t think it’s fair to characterize this decision in that way,” General Manager Sandy Alderson said.

“It is true that Jose’s physical condition hasn’t changed much, but we have to be result-oriented, and what tends to be overlooked is that Jose has been battling the finger and back (he has a protruding disk that might require surgery) for so long that he hasn’t been able to work with weights and do other things he normally does.

“His strength and confidence are down.”

As much, perhaps, as the spirits of A’s fans, who booed Canseco Friday night as he went hitless in four at-bats.

Was La Russa reluctant to expose Canseco to that again? He shook his head and said:

“Jose has established himself as one of the top players, and there’s no free lunch. There are expectations that go with that, and if you don’t meet them, you have to take the heat. It’s part of the game.”

Cincinnati relief pitcher Rob Dibble credited his 9 2/3 scoreless postseason innings to a gift he received two days before the start of the National League playoffs against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It was the gift of perspective, which Dibble said he received after his infant daughter, Ashley, nearly choked to death.

“That made me realize that none of this baseball stuff is very important,” Dibble said. “It made me realize that the only thing that remains after the games is your family.”

The incident occurred while Dibble and his teammates were making a rap song for the Reds. At about the same time he was leaving the studio, his 13-month-old daughter was lying seemingly lifeless on the floor of his home after choking during a coughing spell. His wife, Joanne, was performing CPR on Ashley.

“As Barry (Larkin) and I are driving home, we pass an ambulance,” Dibble said. “Turns out, that was the ambulance with my daughter.”

Dibble said when he walked into his home, he found a note to call the wife of teammate Paul O’Neill. He made the call and rushed to the hospital.

“She was fine . . . thank God my wife knew CPR,” Dibble said. “But it shook us up terrible.”

Two days later, in his first postseason appearance, Dibble entered Game 1 of the playoffs in the ninth inning and struck out the side. He has 14 strikeouts in his 9 2/3 innings.

There was only one reason Jamie Quirk didn’t panic late Friday when his wife told him La Russa was on the phone.

“I figured, it was too late in the season for him to release me,” Quirk said. “I mean, teams don’t release players while they are in the World Series, do they? Don’t they wait until afterward?

“So I figured, it couldn’t be something really bad.”

No, indeed. It was La Russa telling Quirk that he would be making his 27th start of the season, as the A’s catcher in Game 4.

Quirk, who turns 36 Monday, reached the World Series with Kansas City in 1980 and 1985, but didn’t play.

He went hitless in three at-bats Saturday night, with two strikeouts.

The Reds could lose five players through free agency--Tom Browning, Danny Jackson, Ron Oester, Bill Doran and Rick Mahler.

Eleven other players are eligible for what could be arbitration battles--Randy Myers, Jose Rijo, Chris Sabo, Barry Larkin, Paul O’Neill, Norm Charlton, Todd Benzinger, Mariano Duncan, Glenn Braggs, Luis Quinones and Herm Winningham.

With owner Marge Schott’s reputation as a spendthrift, it could be a long winter.

“That is the reason you don’t see many teams repeat as champions year after year,” said Charlton, the Reds’ player representative. “The salary structure increases, and owners aren’t willing to do what it takes to keep that team together.

“Hopefully, we will do that here. I think Marge enjoys winning--that is one of the main cogs that makes her turn--and I hope she will keep us together so we can keep doing that.”

Times staff writer Bill Plaschke contributed to this story.