It’s Still Lonely at the Top : Athletics: Despite their recent success, complications since their loss in the World Series encourage AL doubters.

Perception--The act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding. --Random House Dictionary

By any definition, the perception of the Oakland Athletics is one of vulnerability.

Forget their 306 victories of the past three seasons and the possibility that they will become only the sixth team to win four consecutive pennants--or more.

The ineptness of their 1990 World Series performance, when they were crushed in four games by the Cincinnati Reds, injuries and the incendiary nature of Rickey Henderson’s contract situation have created a feeling that Oakland can be beaten in the American League West.

“I’d like to think that anyone or any team believing all of that is into self-delusion,” A’s General Manager Sandy Alderson said.

Pitching ace Dave Stewart put it another way, recalling suggestions of vulnerability after the A’s were upset by the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series.

“And what happened is that we went back to the World Series each of the last two years,” Stewart said. “Now we’re supposed to be vulnerable again, but some teams are saying that only to give themselves hope.

“We have the same nucleus and better depth in some areas. I’m confident we’re looking at 90 or more wins again.”

Amid what he describes as continuing improvement in the West, Manager Tony La Russa believes it will take 100 victories. The A’s have won 104, 99 and 103 games in the past three seasons and need a modest 94 to become the 16th team to win 400 or more games over four consecutive years.

“You can stack all the historical possibilities on a shelf and leave them there as far as I’m concerned,” La Russa said. “If it means something to someone to take them down at some point, that’s fine, but I never expect a carryover from one season to another. I don’t put any weight on the fact that we stunk in the World Series, or that we’ve won three straight pennants.

“I’m always looking to build on the new competition, and this season will be no different than any other. If we don’t play well, we’ll get beat, so in that sense we’re vulnerable, as we’ve been all along.”

Vulnerable one moment, a dynasty the next, so what does it mean? asks La Russa, who said he relies on the view of Harvey Dorfman, the A’s psychologist.

“The important thing is what you perceive of yourself, and I like what I see,” La Russa said. “We can be better than we’ve ever been and had better be if we want to win again.”

Two years after the Dodgers did it, the Reds dented the A’s invincibility by working the inside half of the plate with power pitching, taking advantage of Jose Canseco’s ailing back and reduced bat speed while restricting the A’s to eight runs and 28 hits in four games.

With that stunning sweep serving as a backdrop, consider:

--Third baseman Carney Lansford, a clubhouse leader and .297 career hitter, was lost for the season because of a knee injury suffered in a snowmobile accident. He will be replaced by Vance Law, a .257 career hitter back from a season in Japan, and Ernest Riles, a .264 career hitter obtained in a trade with the San Francisco Giants.

--Rather than risk additional escalation of a $36-million payroll by losing to Scott Sanderson in arbitration, the A’s traded the 17-game winner to the New York Yankees and will attempt to replace him with free agent Eric Show, who had back surgery in 1989 and won six games in an irregular role with the San Diego Padres in 1990.

--If Show is a question mark, there are also doubts about a pitching staff that led the league in earned-run average for the third consecutive year and was the first AL staff since 1974 to lead the majors.

Among them: Can Mike Moore rebound from 13-15? Can Curt Young or Kirk Dressendorfer, who pitched for the University of Texas last year, win as the No. 5 starter? Can Todd Burns adequately serve in the setup capacity while Rick Honeycutt, out until May, recovers from shoulder surgery? Can starters Stewart and Bob Welch, both 34, and relief star Dennis Eckersley, 36, continue to thwart the march of time?

There’s all of that, plus:

--The potentially explosive issue of Henderson’s contract.

--The lingering uncertainty stemming from the back problem that sidelined Canseco for 31 days in midseason and prompted a World Series benching that led his now estranged wife, Esther, to call La Russa a punk.

La Russa reflected on what he has seen from Canseco this spring and said:

“I think he’s determined to establish himself as a great player. He knows what he has to do to prepare on a daily basis, and he seems willing to do it. The way he’s been exercising, he may be in better shape this year than he’s ever been. I certainly have no problem with his approach, and I still feel there’s no limit to what he can do, what he can accomplish.”

Canseco hit 37 home runs and drove in 101 runs last season despite being sidelined for a month.

He tested the back with a measure of G-forces while picking up another speeding ticket during the winter--”Jose grows with each year and each arrest,” Alderson noted--but he avoided surgery and insists he is completely healthy now.

The A’s have provided a frame-of-mind coach in Reggie Jackson, but Canseco said he isn’t into any rah-rah stuff. He does what is best for himself and believes it rubs off on the team.

A new attitude? “It was that or self-destruct,” Canseco said.

Henderson approaches this season needing three stolen bases to wipe out Lou Brock’s career record.

“As far as I’m concerned, Rickey is right on time,” La Russa said the other day. “I have no idea where the contract issue is or if it will resurface, but I’m satisfied that he’s playing hard, working hard and will be ready.”

La Russa’s rose-colored view may mean he has borrowed the wraparound sunglasses Henderson has worn during much of spring training after arriving eight days late to emphasize his displeasure with a four-year, $12-million contract signed before the 1990 season. The deal has been surpassed by nearly three dozen players on the basis of average annual salary.

Henderson calls it a question of respect, that as the greatest leadoff hitter ever and the league’s most valuable player, his salary should be among the highest.

Alderson describes Henderson as the victim of an escalating market in which no player is happy for long. He has refused to renegotiate or extend Henderson’s contract, but did agree to continue discussions on an innovative proposal made by Henderson shortly after his arrival.

Henderson’s plan would dissolve the final two years of his contract and put him back on a year-to-year basis with the right to go to arbitration each year. The stumbling block was that Henderson wants to retain his no-trade clause, and the A’s insist that it be modified to include a list of clubs to which he would agree to be traded.

There have been no negotiations since the proposal was presented, and the issue had seemed to quiet down as Henderson began to play in exhibitions and to prepare himself to La Russa’s satisfaction.

However, amid the derision of Cactus League fans the other day, Henderson said, “They can boo me if they want, but if I’m not there opening day, they’ll be booing Sandy Alderson.”

The A’s open the season Tuesday. Is there a threat, a possibility, that the catalytic leadoff hitter won’t be there? Could a sulking Henderson undermine the A’s?

“It’s not clear to me where we stand,” Alderson said. “I’ve been hoping that time has taken the edge off it and that it will work itself out, but I have to be careful and not let anything get in the way of the season and our objectives.”

Alderson probably will meet with Henderson again at some point before the opener, as La Russa met with his team shortly after Henderson’s arrival to see if anyone objected to the way he was handling Henderson’s preparation, cutting him “a degree of slack” during the early furor.

“My biggest concern is what the players believe about themselves, about the team and about me,” La Russa said. “A manager can have no more important asset than his credibility, and I’m willing to do anything within reason to keep mine.

“I wanted to be sure they were all confident as to how I was handling the Rickey situation. You can’t save one at the risk of losing 24, but I’m satisfied that we’ve come to this point all on the same page.”

La Russa said he also was confident that this team had the potential to be better than any of his others. He cited three factors:

--Better offensive balance from the left side of the plate with the addition last August of Harold Baines and the winter acquisition of Riles and Willie Wilson.

--The continuing maturation of a still young nucleus in Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach, Walt Weiss, Mike Gallego and Canseco.

--Solid pitching depth augmented by the swift development of Dressendorfer.

Yet, with all of that and the A’s accomplishments of the last three years, cynics continue to raise the issue of vulnerability, pointing to the World Series defeats of 1988 and ’90 and questioning what the A’s really have accomplished when measured, for instance, against the great Cincinnati or Oakland teams of the 1970s.

Said La Russa: “All I know is that we’ve won seven of the nine championships in the last three years, and that’s not a bad percentage. People who say we haven’t done anything are only trying to break our backs, and I don’t worry about it.”

Said Stewart: “To have lost two World Series, we’ve had to have been in the last three, and that alone proves something. I mean, how does anyone try to measure seven games against 162?”