BASEBALL / BILL PLASCHKE : These Braves Play Together and Stick Together, Too

Instead of checking the scoreboard 17 times every night, the Dodgers could probably learn more about the Atlanta Braves by observing them off the field.

On a recent afternoon at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, after a 1-0 loss to the Padres, the visiting clubhouse was hot, the Braves were frustrated and the night was waiting.

But where did the players go? Nowhere, partly because the beer was cold and the baseball talk was enlightening.

Sitting in little groups, the Braves remained together, talking shop, long after the game had ended.

If they become the first team to go from last place to first place in one season since divisional play began, clubhouse scenes like this will certainly have something to do with it .

“This team has learned not to let the newspaper, television, other teams, anything bother us,” said third baseman Terry Pendleton, the leading candidate for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. “The hell with what everybody else has to say. A lot of people are telling us we can’t do this, we can’t do that. . . . Well, those people aren’t between the lines with us.”

At the next locker, Greg Olson was talking about recent comments by the Dodgers that the second-place Braves may not be their competition.

“The key to a pennant race is pitching, and right now I would put our pitching up against anybody’s,” Olson said. “I think it’s stupid for anybody to say we aren’t a contender.”

That pitching staff is led by NL Cy Young Award candidate Tom Glavine, who has already tied the club record for victories by a left-hander with 15. And since the All-Star break, when the Braves have climbed back into the race with a 22-12 record, he is not even their best pitcher.

John Smoltz and Steve Avery are a combined 12-3 since then.

“Anytime you hear talk about the (NL West) race, you hear about the Dodgers, Giants and Reds. . . . Nobody is giving us much of a chance,” Glavine said. “But that’s just fine by us. Those teams can worry about each other, and we’ll sneak in the back door.”

An Atlanta title would certainly be a surprise, considering that the Braves have a shaky bullpen and have done most of their winning without the injured Sid Bream and Dave Justice.

But if you have scored 17% of your 530 runs in the first inning, who needs a bullpen? And in the first 63 games that Bream and Justice missed, Pendleton filled much of the breach by hitting .355 with eight home runs and 34 runs batted in.

Their other key players are not as well known. Brian Hunter, replacing Bream at first base, has hit .373 with runners in scoring position. Otis Nixon, replacing Justice in right field, recently had a 20-game hitting streak that was the longest by a Brave player in 12 years.

Unlike the Dodgers’ situation, when the Braves need help, General Manager John Schuerholz can immediately find it in his minor league system.

Keith Mitchell, an outfielder who is the second cousin of San Francisco’s Kevin Mitchell, batted .458 in his first six starts. Armando Reynoso, a Mexican League refugee, won his first big league start with six shutout innings.

Justice, suffering from a sore back, should return next week. After finishing in fifth or sixth place 13 times in the 20 full seasons since divisional play began, the Braves could start to have some real fun.

“In years past, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t shake the losing,” shortstop Jeff Blauser said. “That has made us appreciate where we are now. And it has made us want to fight to stay there.”

Wild ride

It’s not that the Philadelphia Phillies’ recent 13-game win streak was a bit lucky, but:

--They did not beat a team with a winning record.

--They won one game after Mitch Williams, the “Wild Thing” who was 5-0 with three saves during the streak, saved one game despite loading the bases in the ninth inning on two walks and a throwing error.

--They won one game in the bottom of the ninth when Lenny Dykstra hit his first home run since April.

--They won a game after Montreal Expos Manager Tom Runnells suffered an incredible memory lapse.

On Aug. 12, Runnells had nobody warming up in the bullpen when right-handed Ricky Jordan batted for Darren Daulton against left-hander Scott Ruskin with the bases loaded and the Phillies trailing.

Runnells rushed Barry Jones into the game unprepared. Jordan hit a game-winning, three-run double off Jones. Afterward, Runnells said he had not expected Phillie Manager Jim Fregosi to have Jordan bat for Daulton.

But in a game between the same teams one week earlier, in a similar situation, Fregosi had made exactly that same move.

Not everything about the 13-game winning streak was lucky. It ended on Aug. 13 when No. 13 for Pittsburgh Pirates, Jose Lind, scored the eventual winning run with a fifth-inning triple. Incidentally, it was the Pirates’ 13th consecutive victory over the Phillies.

Brute force

The adage that you cannot win without good pitching is being clubbed to death by the Detroit Tigers, who are remaining in contention despite a pitching staff that is, well, terrible.

The Tigers’ hitting is so good and their pitching so bad, they recently went 29-25 despite a staff earned-run average of 5.22 during that span.

When the pitching staff, led by Bill Gullickson and Walt Terrell, recently held opponents to one run in 32 innings, Manager Sparky Anderson said, “If we get four more games like that, I’ll buy Chinese food in Alaska.”

The Tiger pitchers allowed 22 runs in the next two games.

The pitching staff is so inept that journeyman Jeff Kaiser was recalled from Triple-A Toledo despite a 9.46 ERA there. He replaced infielder Scott Livingstone, who was demoted even though he batted .333 in 17 starts at third base.

When a team has power hitters such as Cecil Fielder and Rob Deer to help it average 5.7 runs a game since the All-Star break, anything is possible. Fielder has a chance to become the first player to lead the American League in both homers and RBIs in consecutive seasons since Jimmie Foxx of Philadelphia in 1932-33.

Stolen moments

The sad irony of what happened to former manager Dick Williams last weekend is that when police asked him the worth of the memorabilia stolen from his Las Vegas home, he had no idea.

“I never dreamed of selling the stuff,” Williams said last week. “I was only keeping it for the memories.”

In yet another example of the current baseball souvenir frenzy, thieves broke a window in Williams’ home and stole three of his four World Series rings, all four World Series bats, both of his All-Star game bats and more than 65 autographed baseballs containing names of fellow players and managers during his 37 years in major league baseball.

Williams said the thieves, who also stole more than $175,000 in jewelry belonging to him and his wife, had no idea how much they were really taking.

“When you’re talking about those balls and bats, you’re talking about a good part of my life,” said Williams, a part-time scout for the Padres. “People should understand, those things are all I have left. I guess there is a big market for all those things, but geez . . . if anybody wants to return any of the stuff, I’ll take it, no questions asked.”

How crazy have collectors become? One early suspect in the Williams case, standing handcuffed while Williams and police inspected the man’s memorabilia collection, asked Williams to autograph a baseball.

Trade winds

Kirk Gibson is second on the Kansas City Royals with 13 homers, fourth with 43 RBIs and on a pace to play 136 games, his second-highest total since 1985.

So why are the Royals, who have won 22 of their last 28 games, trying to trade him?

Perhaps it’s because his career .190 average at Royals Stadium has proven to be no fluke. He is batting .204 there this season, with two homers and 18 RBIs. His overall .239 average is far below his .276 career American League average.

Gibson and his two-year contract were nearly moved to the Minnesota Twins last month.

At least one person thinks a change could be in the works.

“They’ve got a big youth movement, and I don’t know whether I’ll be here or not,” Gibson told the Kansas City Star. “I like it here, I like the organization, I like my teammates. But the game changes.”

Firing

So when are the New York Mets going to fire Bud Harrelson?

As far as the Chicago Cubs are concerned, they hope he stays. The Cubs were recently 8-7 in a 15-game stretch, with each victory coming over the Mets.

“It’s frustrating to watch this whole team disintegrating,” Met pitcher Frank Viola said. “I feel like I’m back with Minnesota, when they lost 90-100 games a year.”

Because Met General Manager Frank Cashen does not like to admit mistakes, Harrelson will probably not be fired until after the season. Until then, the players will have to deal with a manager who:

--Refused to intervene immediately during an on-the-field shouting match between Vince Coleman and third base coach Mike Cubbage.

--Refused to intervene in a war of words between former pitcher Ron Darling and second baseman Gregg Jefferies--the argument became so heated, Jefferies sent an open letter to radio station WFAN giving his side of the story.

--Refused to leave the dugout to remove a pitcher at Shea Stadium recently because he was afraid of being booed.

--Refused to appear on the traditional pregame radio talk show because of what he considered negative questions by the host.

With four victories in a recent 23-game stretch, the Mets dropped as far out of first place--10 1/2 games--as they have been since Darryl Strawberry’s first season in 1983.

“I’m sure they are taking a lot of heat from people telling them, ‘So, you said you didn’t need Darryl Strawberry, and here you are, 10 1/2 games out of first place in August,’ ” Strawberry said last week. “Something is missing in that team, like a fire. It was something that was always there in August and September when I played there.”

Over the line

The disturbing trend of fans attempting to steal the show from players by running onto the field reached a new low at Dodger Stadium last week when a fan actually stole a ball from Dodger left fielder Kal Daniels.

In the fourth inning Tuesday night against Cincinnati, a fan opened a gate in the left-field corner, stepped onto the field and grabbed a ball hit by the Reds’ Glenn Braggs.

Just as Daniels arrived from his position in medium left field, the fan returned to his seat, closing the gate behind him.

Braggs, who perhaps could have had a triple, was ordered to return to second base with a ground-rule double while Daniels stared at the fan.

“You know what the worst part was?” Daniels said. “The fan actually shoved the ball in my face, like, ‘Hey, I got it and you don’t.’

“I felt like saying something to him, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to encourage him.”

Do the Dodgers do enough to discourage such behavior? The players wonder.

Said one veteran who watched Tuesday’s scene: “It seemed to take forever for them to throw that guy out. And the first person to come get him was an usher. An usher! If this was Philadelphia, a couple of cops would have been beating on him immediately.”

Earlier this season, Dodger Stadium was also the site of a toddler’s lengthy run from the right-field seats to right fielder Darryl Strawberry. No guards came onto the field. Strawberry carried the child off by himself.

Bob Smith, Dodger vice president for stadium operations, could not be reached for comment.