BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Rodgers Managing in Montreal

Buck Rodgers has earned widespread respect by leading the Montreal Expos to an average of 83 victories in his six years as manager, overcoming an almost annual defection of free agents that forces constant rebuilding.

In Canada, however, his position is reported to be in jeopardy.

The new owners of the Expos extended the contracts of several in the front office last winter but rejected Rodgers’ extension request. His contract expires after this season.

A slow start--as well as general manager Dave Dombrowski’s appointment of Tom Runnells as third-base coach and managerial heir--fueled the April speculation but Rodgers continues to dismiss it as a distraction.

He says the Expos can win the National League East title, and they seem to be in gear now. They took a three-game winning streak into a weekend series in San Diego and will open a three-game series in Dodger Stadium Monday night.

“After I asked for an extension last year and was turned down, I made up my mind I wouldn’t bring it up during the season,” he said.

“As far as I’m concerned they have to come to me or I’m gone at the end of the year, but that doesn’t change my goal.

“A lot of things have to go right, but we have the potential to be the best club in the division. It’s wide open again. I don’t see anyone running away with it. Pittsburgh and New York have problems. So do the Cubs.”

After the 1989 season, Rodgers lost right fielder Hubie Brooks and three-fifths of his rotation--Mark Langston, Bryn Smith and Pascual Perez--to free agency but the Expos were within 4 1/2 games of the lead as late as Sept. 20 last year before finishing third with 85 victories.

The manager used 15 rookies, merging a youthful blend of pitching, defense and speed, the speed producing a league-leading 235 stolen bases.

The Expos began the 1991 season with three starting pitchers--Brian Barnes, Mark Gardner and Howard Farmer--on the disabled list. Then the heart of the lineup--Tim Wallach, Larry Walker and Andres Galarraga--struggled after rain had interfered with their late spring preparation.

“We weren’t sharp,” Rodgers said.

But the Expos’ pitching and hitting are showing signs of revival now and Rodgers is euphoric about his 1-2 hitters, second-year players Delino DeShields and Marquis Grissom. He compares them to the former St. Louis tandem of Vince Coleman and Ozzie Smith or the New York Mets’ former duo of Len Dykstra and Wally Backman.

He is equally high on the trade that sent Tim Raines to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Ivan Calderon and setup man Barry Jones.

As of Friday, Calderon had 23 runs batted in and eight stolen bases. Raines had five RBIs and four stolen bases.

“There’s no words to describe the ways Calderon has picked us up,” Rodgers said. “He’s a good execution hitter, a good two-out hitter and a real gamer. You can’t get him out of the lineup.”

And Rodgers?

Will the Expos find a way to get him out of the manager’s office?

“There’s always going to be speculation when you’re in last place, especially when the manager is in the final year of his contract and the club has new owners,” Rodgers said.

“For a while it took precedence, but now we’re keyed on baseball, looking to move up in the standings.

“And my attitude is pretty basic. If I’m fired, I think I have a good chance of getting another job. In the meantime, I have to do what I have to do.”

SPINOFF OF THE SPINOUT

Lenny Dykstra’s alcohol-related car accident bespeaks a wasted opportunity, and that is the real shame and sadness of it.

The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star center fielder came out of Garden Grove High and proved skeptics of his size and talent wrong.

He did it with admirable grit and determination. He was hard as nails--which became his nickname--and felt he had to be.

But having made it, having hammered out a full-time position and the security that accompanied it, Dykstra abdicated the responsibility that comes with the spotlight, the golden opportunity to serve as a role model for others whose size and talent may be questioned, for others of any size and talent.

He continued to use smokeless tobacco, despite continued warnings of the health risks, almost flaunting his use with stains on his chin and uniform. He lost $78,000 playing cards and was put on probation for a year by the commissioner. After an evening of drinking, he drove his new Mercedes into a tree and will be out for at least two months.

Some contend that if Dykstra didn’t live on the edge off the field, he wouldn’t be the daring player he is on it. They say he will suffer enough, pointing to a loss of at least $400,000 in incentive bonuses and the likelihood that insurance will not cover his $93,000 roadster because of the drunk driving charge.

Nonsense. Dykstra is lucky to be alive and lucky he didn’t kill someone else. Maybe the time he needs to recuperate from his injuries will allow him to reflect on his luck in that regard, and his good fortune in having attained a status most others can only dream about. Maybe he will emerge with his act together. The show demands it.

WILD, OR WOEFUL WEST?

Four of the six teams in the National League West spent fortunes last winter. The result was expected to be the best division in baseball, but so far the Dodgers can’t catch the ball, the San Francisco Giants can’t pitch it and the Cincinnati Reds can’t hit it.

The frustration may be greatest for the defending-champion Reds, who believe they have missed an opportunity to put the division away, as they did in April and May of last year.

The Reds began a weekend series in Chicago after having been swept in three games by the Pirates. Only four of the 14 position players were hitting more than .222. They were 8-2 in games in which they had scored four runs or more and 5-11 when they had scored fewer.

Speaking for the pitchers, Jose Rijo, who was used as a pinch-hitter in one act of desperation, said: “I hope guys aren’t taking this too well. It’s not how you lose. If the score is 1-0, 2-0 or 10-0, you’re still getting your butt kicked. We should be at least six games ahead of everybody right now. Los Angeles and San Francisco aren’t playing that well. This is the time to do it.”

Added hitting instructor Tony Perez: “The way we’re scoring runs, if I was a hitter on this team I don’t think I could look the pitchers in the face. It’s as if we forgot what the word rally means. We don’t rally anymore. We don’t even get anyone on base anymore.”

INTO THE BREACH

With high hopes threatened by injuries that have taken Mike Harkey and Danny Jackson out of the rotation, the Chicago Cubs got help from an unexpected source.

In seven minor league seasons in the Phillies’ system, Bob Scanlan, 24, never had an earned-run average lower than 4.14. No wonder the 6-foot-7 graduate of Harvard High in North Hollywood has been pursuing a mechanical engineering degree from UCLA in the off-seasons.

But traded to the Cubs in the recent Mitch Williams deal and given a chance in the rotation, Scanlan won his major league debut Tuesday. He did not allow an earned run in seven innings of a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros.

Scanlan believes that the addition of a forkball has turned his career around. How did he learn it?

“Diddling on the side,” said the future engineer.

BAD INVESTMENT? The Minnesota Twins are paying Jack Morris $3 million to anchor their young rotation, but the anchor may pull them under.

The rotation, led by Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani, produced 19 quality starts--six innings or more and three runs or fewer--through 28 games. Of the nine that weren’s quality, five were by Morris who is 2-4 with a 5.89 ERA.

A divorce, a prolonged battle with flu and those 3,044 innings Morris pitched in Detroit seem to have combined to ruin his Minnesota homecoming.