BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : WORLD SERIES / ATLANTA BRAVES vs. MINNESOTA TWINS : WORLD SERIES

Frustrated by his team’s lack of productivity and the 0-for-15 World Series drought of Shane Mack, Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly took what he described as a gamble for Game 5 Thursday night, starting Chili Davis, his idled designated hitter, in right field.

What were his recollections of Davis as an outfielder with the Angels?

“Not good,” Kelly said. “That’s why he’s a DH.”

His problems in the outfield?

“Catching the ball,” Kelly said.

Davis led American League outfielders with 19 errors as the Angel left fielder in 1988. His last outfield start was on Sept. 26, 1990, while still with the Angels. He played three innings of two games for the Twins in left field this year.

Davis looked uncomfortable at times and went one for three as the Twins were routed, 14-5.

Kelly said he would have preferred to start Gene Larkin, but Larkin has a sore knee.

Davis pinch-hit a home run to tie Game 3, but Kelly said then he could not risk employing a weaker defense by keeping Davis in the game. Two one-run losses and Mack’s ongoing struggle changed his perspective.

Mack batted .310 with 18 home runs and 74 runs batted in during the regular season, then hit .333 in the playoffs. He said he was neither surprised nor disappointed to come out of the lineup Thursday night.

“Whatever helps the team,” he said. “I felt there would be some kind of shake-up. I haven’t been real comfortable at the plate over the last part of the season. I’m swinging at bad pitches, not being patient. I have no excuses.”

Kelly said Mack would return to right field in Game 6, when Davis can be used as the designated hitter again.

Commissioner Fay Vincent continues to maintain that Tuesday night’s Game 3, in which 42 players appeared and the Twins employed eight pinch-hitters, was the “ultimate argument for baseball without the designated hitter.”

Supporters of the DH, however, can point to this statistic: Since Tim Stoddard’s Game 4 single for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1979 World Series, AL pitchers are a combined one for 87 at the plate. That includes an 0-for-78 stretch before Mike Moore of the Oakland Athletics doubled in Game 4 of the ’89 Series.

“I agree that both leagues should be the same,” AL President Bobby Brown said, “but what would be wrong with using it in both leagues? Aside from the National League and the Japanese League, there isn’t one other league in which it isn’t used.”