BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Same Problems at the Same Position

Kelly Gruber of the Toronto Blue Jays is hitless in his last 22 at-bats of the postseason. Terry Pendleton of the Atlanta Braves is batting .211 in the postseason. The World Series hot corner is as frigid as the weather that is suddenly numbing Ontario.

In the temperature-controlled comfort of the SkyDome on Monday, as the two teams practiced in preparation for Game 3 of the Series tonight, Pendleton and Gruber talked of their hopes for a thaw in their batting problems and the weight that stems from those struggles.

It might be heavier for Pendleton, who is at the heart of the Braves’ hopes and is coming off another season worthy of the most-valuable-player award. As his team practiced Monday, Pendleton stayed in the trainer’s room, receiving treatment for groin and knee injuries with which he played during the final six weeks of the regular season. They have become worse, affecting his ability to run and even swing.

He is eight for 38 in the postseason, his most significant hit being the double that ignited the three-run rally in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the playoffs.

“He’s having a tough time following through, finishing his swing, and it’s probably because of his legs,” Atlanta batting instructor Clarence Jones said. “The only thing that would help is rest, but that’s tough to come by right now. He’s been playing hurt for some time, but you can’t get him out of the lineup. He gives 100%, even the way he is.”

Pendleton sat at a clubhouse table autographing baseballs. Come out of the lineup? “Forget it,” he said.

He conceded, however, that it has become tougher to run, and that the injuries are “bothering” his swing.

“No excuses, no alibis,” he said. “It’s not the reason I’m not hitting. I’m swinging at bad pitches, pressing a little. I have to discipline myself. I have to regain a feel for the strike zone.

“Everyone goes through it at some point in the season, but it’s more magnified now. There are only two teams playing. Everyone sees it.”

The Braves are here because of Pendleton, but the Series spotlight has a way of obscuring what came before. He wants to help Atlanta finish the unfinished work of the 1991 Series, and he would like to be 100% now that they are this close.

“The way it feels, I didn’t see any reason to go on the field today,” he said of the groin and knee. “I think I helped myself more getting treatment.

“There were times during the season when it would get better, then turn worse again. It’s definitely frustrating for it to get even worse now, but I’m not worried about yesterday. I mean, I’ve got two games behind me. They’re gone. I’ve let them go.”

Gruber was two for 22 in the playoffs, hitting a two-run homer in Toronto’s 3-1 victory in Game 2. He is hitless in seven Series at-bats, the 0-for-22 streak tying the postseason record set by Dal Maxvill in 1968 and equaled by current teammate Dave Winfield in 1981. By now, said Gruber as he stood by the batting cage after participating in an optional workout Monday, he is almost immune to the frustration and disappointment.

“I ought to be used to it,” he said. “I mean, how can I be putting any pressure on myself when I batted .229 during the season? It’s nothing new.

“Hopefully, I can have a big impact in at least one game like I did in the playoffs.”

Gruber’s season was the worst of his eight with the Blue Jays, the best being 1990 when he batted .274 with 31 home runs and 118 runs batted in. He appeared in only 120 games this year, missing a month in midseason with hamstring and knee injuries.

There were whispers in the clubhouse that he was malingering. Winfield talked to him in early August and told him what teammates were saying. Manager Cito Gaston, indicating that he was fed up with talking about Gruber, joined General Manager Pat Gillick and others of the Blue Jays’ hierarchy in an Aug. 10 confrontation with Gruber. He was told to play or go back on the disabled list.

Gruber did not miss another game, but he batted only .195 in August and .243 in September. He refuses to talk about the Blue Jays’ reactions to his alleged injuries. Winfield was asked about Gruber’s postseason woes and said: “He certainly helped us get here with the home run in the playoffs and he’s certainly playing exceptional defense, so it’s not that big an issue around here. He’s not burying his head. People are impressed by the way he’s handling it.”

Gruber knows what awaits him tonight, however. Once, in his own words, the most popular player here, he has been booed and is likely to get it again because of the ongoing slump.

“It’s something I haven’t learned to like and won’t learn to like,” he said. “Some of the criticism has been tough to take. You have 1% scumbags, but 99% want to see me do good and 60% of those are as frustrated as I am and have been showing it.”

Gruber will receive a kinder and gentler response from bench coach Gene Tenace, who said he would sit down with him tonight and stress the need to relax.

“He’s trying to do too much,” Tenace said. “He’s swinging at everything and anything. He’s got to adjust. He’s got to stay focused and concentrate on swinging at quality pitches. I know what he’s going through. I’ve been there.”

Tenace holds the playoff record for lowest all-time batting average, .088, among players with 50 or more at-bats. Gruber is hitting .103 in the 1992 postseason, but he insisted that he is seeing the ball well, feels comfortable at the plate, isn’t pressing and isn’t discouraged. The Blue Jays have the type of lineup that can carry him, easing the weight.

“I have to realize that I’m seeing some good pitchers, and that I’ve seen some good pitches,” he said. “I’m not worried or frightened. It’s not as if I feel terrible at the plate. I fouled off a couple pitches in Game 2 and was just a hair away from hurting them. I’m still working at it, but I can’t kill anything and nothing will die.”

The 0 for 22 lives as the mirror of Gruber’s season, but he has not lost his sense of humor. He delivered a tomahawk chop after catching Pendleton’s popup for the final out of Game 2 in Atlanta Sunday.

It’s ironic that the two third baseman should be linked that way in a postseason in which they have been linked in other ways.