BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : McGwire Adjusts Focus, on Upswing

I went to John McGwire, who practices dentistry in the Pomona-Claremont area.

I went to that particular dentist because it’s like pulling teeth to get Mark McGwire to talk about his revitalized hitting, and who knows the Oakland Athletics’ first baseman better than his father?

“There are several factors, but basically Mark has eliminated a lot of distractions,” the senior McGwire said. “He’s totally focused on the game.

“He was very disappointed with his performance last year, and he’s attacked the whole scene with aggressiveness. His approach is based on renewed interest and intensity. On a personal level, he’s much happier with himself. The game is 80% mental.”

McGwire is hitting .307, with 14 home runs and 29 runs batted in. If he could maintain that pace he would hit 75 homers and drive in 151 runs.

Last year, continuing a slide from his .289 personal best as a rookie in 1987, McGwire batted .201. He hit 22 homers and drove in 75 runs, but he struck out 116 times and his career strikeout ratio reached one every 4.4 at-bats. This season, it’s one every 4.7 at-bats.

The former USC star said he is taking it a day at a time. He agrees with his dad that he has eliminated some distractions and is better focused.

Part of the reason for that better focus is that he visited an ophthalmologist over the winter and does regular eye exercises. And another part of it is that last summer he ended a live-in relationship with a woman that A’s sources said had become a major distraction.

“I’m by myself for the first time in about eight years, and I like it,” said McGwire, who at 28 also has gone through a divorce. “I have a lot of time now to think, evaluate, sort out my feelings about the game and what I’m doing.

“I watched the playoffs by myself in Las Vegas last October and got caught up in the excitement. It made me realize what I had, where I had been, and it made me want to get back to that level. I don’t feel the years before were bad at all, but last year was definitely an off year. It severely kicked me in the butt and served as a reminder that you can’t take anything for granted.”

So McGwire went to the ophthalmologist, resumed regular weight work and sat down to examine a film library of his batting, recorded by his parents, who have a satellite dish.

He also went to spring training early and met with the A’s new batting instructor, former Angel manager Doug Rader, for ideas on changes in his stance. He has moved closer to the plate for better coverage and operates from a crouch to shorten his strike zone and swing.

Neither Rader nor McGwire will discuss the technical points. McGwire did not appreciate public criticism of his style and alleged stubbornness by former instructors Rick Burleson and Merv Rettenmund, which may be why Rader and McGwire have adopted a code of silence.

There is one other factor in all of this. McGwire will become a free agent at the end of the season, so it could be a crossroads year financially. McGwire said that isn’t in his thoughts, but his father brought it up as a definite consideration and motivation.

Leave it to the dentist to get to the roots.

PRESSURE PLAY

Commissioner Fay Vincent is being lobbied by several National League clubs, including the Florida Marlins, to order the Chicago Cubs to accept 1993 realignment under his “best interest of baseball” powers, but there has been no movement.

At a March owners’ meeting, the Cubs officially vetoed a plan by which they and the St. Louis Cardinals would join the Colorado Rockies in the NL West in 1993, with the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves joining the Marlins in the

East.

Realignment requires unanimous approval, and the Cubs, concerned that a move to the West would create fewer prime time starts for Midwest and Eastern viewers on their cable network, have been the one adamant opponent.

The lobbying effort is said to have delayed National League President Bill White’s decision on a 1993 scheduling concept, though most NL teams seem to favor the plan by which they would play 20 games against each team within their division and only six with each team from the other division.

A’S STEW

Dave Stewart and Tony La Russa used Bay Area reporters to exchange words after Stewart affixed the Oakland manager with a vitriolic stare when removed after 7 1/3 innings of his 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers Wednesday.

La Russa: “If he doesn’t understand or agree with the move that’s his problem.”

Stewart: “Who understands winning more than I do? Does he understand more than I do?”

After winning 20 or more games for four consecutive seasons, Stewart was an injury plagued 11-11 last season. He is obviously sensitive to what he said Wednesday was his “changing role” and his sense that “at certain times it just seems I’m not as important.”

He has also exhibited anger at the club’s refusal to extend his expiring contract, and his comments about La Russa followed earlier rips about General Manager Sandy Alderson and the defensive skills of teammate Jose Canseco.

Of his removal Wednesday, Stewart said he wasn’t tired, his stuff was still good and he isn’t “the type who looks for help late in the game.”

La Russa said he would meet privately with Stewart, and that he considered his most recent comments to be foolish, not in keeping with a team leader. Maybe, La Russa went on, Stewart is sending a message that “I can’t count on him like I used to.”

SHORTSTOP TOLL

In a season of bulging disabled lists, no position has been harder hit than shortstop.

The latest addition was Shawon Dunston, who suffered a herniated disk when he lifted his daughter out of the car last winter. Dunston will have surgery and probably will not return to the Chicago Cubs’ lineup until 1993. His expected replacement, Rey Sanchez, will have to wait until he recovers from chicken pox.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare,” Cub Manager Jim Lefebvre said of a series of injuries. “Every time you turn around it’s something else. We haven’t had a consistent lineup all year.”

Who has? Consider only the one position. There are nine shortstops--starters and would-be starters--out of action. Besides Dunston and Sanchez, they are Ozzie Guillen, Kevin Elster, Walt Weiss, Mike Gallego, Bill Spiers, David Howard and Omar Vizquel.

Weiss and Gallego have yet to play. Guillen and Elster are probably out for the season, maybe Howard as well. A 10th shortstop, Barry Larkin of the Cincinnati Reds, got off the disabled list Friday and played against the Cubs, but will have to wear a knee brace.

Lefebvre reflected on the loss of Dunston among an inordinate number of injuries and said, “It gets to be ridiculous, but we’ll have to suck it up. We’re not going to go out and find someone who can be a Shawon Dunston.”

ADD INJURIES

This is the kind of year it is: On Wednesday night in St. Louis, Rex Hudler of the Cardinals slid into second base and kicked the ball out of the glove of John Patterson, the San Francisco Giants’ rookie second baseman.

Patterson, who was replacing Robby Thompson, already on the disabled list with a pulled muscle, suffered a broken left index finger but gamely retrieved the ball and threw to third, where Matt Williams made a leaping catch and came down on Hudler’s left knee, causing a partial ligament tear.

One play, two injuries, with Hudler becoming the ninth Cardinal on the disabled list, and Patterson joining Thompson as the second San Francisco second baseman on that list.

RETIREMENT?

Kirk Gibson continues to weigh that option at his home in Lapeer, Mich., while leaving the door open for the hometown Tigers or a team with a legitimate chance to win.

Gibson said he took his family fishing after he was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday and had two of his most relaxed days in some time.

“My wife’s on Cloud 9 and my daughter’s in heaven,” Gibson said of his homecoming. “They’d be disappointed if I didn’t retire. We’ve already filled in dates on the calendar.”

Was he surprised by his release?

“For as much as I played, I thought I had contributed,” he said. “But I’m never surprised anymore.”

Gibson appeared in 132 games with the Kansas City Royals in 1991 but has not played regularly since his MVP season with the Dodgers in 1988. He said he is confident he could still contribute in the right environment. But is anyone interested? The Cubs and Tigers might be.

Would he return to the club he spent his first eight seasons with?

“I grew up here and have missed being here ever since I left in ‘87,” he said of Detroit. “Everyone says it’s lousy here, but I’ve been across the country and have no complaints.”