NOTES : Being Auctioned Off Doesn’t Hurt Ego

As baseball moves into a new era, even the way a player’s notoriety is judged is changing.

Ask Ed Sprague, whose two-run home run in the ninth inning gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the World Series.

Sprague, a backup catcher, received loads of handshakes, phone calls and press clippings, but he didn’t know he had arrived until he turned on the television Monday.

ESPN?

No, the Home Shopping Network.

“I turn on the TV and I see them auctioning off my rookie card,” Sprague said. “There were other cards in the set, but my card was the only one they were talking about. It was kind of funny.”

It wasn’t as funny when he almost didn’t have a place to sleep after arriving here for Games 3, 4 and 5.

“I forgot to make a reservation for this week, and every place in town was booked,” said Sprague, whose belongings are at his home in Northern California. “The Blue Jays had to find me a room.”

Next year, it will be as difficult for the Blue Jays to find him a place to play. Stuck behind Kelly Gruber at third base and Pat Borders behind the plate, Sprague seems to have little future with the Blue Jays, despite his home run.

After spending most of the last two seasons at triple-A Syracuse, never hitting higher than .240 or having more than 10 home runs, he is a candidate for a trade or selection by an expansion team.

If Tom Candiotti had his way, that trade would be to the Dodgers. Before the end of the season, Candiotti talked often about the possibility of acquiring his former teammate to fill their need at third base.

Look for Candiotti to bring up Sprague’s name this winter, if Fred Claire, Dodger vice president, asks.

“This guy can really hit and play the position, and it would be great if we had a chance to get him,” Candiotti said then.

Sprague, an off-season neighbor of Candiotti’s, caddied for the pitcher at the AT&T; National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach last year. This winter he will use that tournament as another barometer of his popularity.

“I’m signed up to caddie for him again this year, but if they want me to play . . . now that would be something,” Sprague said.

At this rate, the Toronto Blue Jays will allow 41 stolen bases in 43 attempts during the postseason.

But the Blue Jays also might end the postseason as World Series champions, which says little for the art of holding and catching runners.

“I don’t like it that people are stealing bases. I don’t like the fact that it reflects poorly on me,” said Pat Borders, Blue Jay catcher. “But, it hasn’t hurt us.”

It nearly hurt the Blue Jays on Sunday when the Braves equaled a Series record with five stolen bases. Atlanta’s willingness to run--even Sid Bream was sent on a hit and run--led to three of their four runs.

Stolen bases also should have hurt Toronto during the playoffs, when the Oakland Athletics stole a playoff-record 16 bases in six games.

During the regular season, the Milwaukee Brewers stole seven bases in a game off David Cone. Teams run often against the hard breaking pitches of Jack Morris and Juan Guzman.

“The pitchers on this team are not holding the runners on base, and everybody knows it,” said Buck Martinez, longtime Blue Jay catcher and current television commentator. “I remember in Milwaukee, (Brewer Manager) Phil Garner put a stopwatch on Cone’s delivery and told everybody on the team to run every time they get on base.

“There is nothing Borders can do about it.”

What worries the Blue Jays most is that the Braves will force throwing errors by Borders, who committed one Sunday. Gene Tenace, Toronto bench coach, worked with Borders on his mental approach Monday.

“If the guy on the mound doesn’t give you a chance, don’t force it,” Tenace said. “I don’t mind if they get one. But I don’t want them to get two.”

Unlike many teams who will let a starting pitcher throw as many pitches as required, the Braves watch their young arms closely.

“We don’t pull a guy after a certain number of pitches, but we know when they usually begin laboring, and we are very careful,” said Leo Mazzone, Atlanta pitching coach. “Tom Glavine usually throws 100 pitches in a game, John Smoltz throws about 110 and Steve Avery throws about 99.”

Mazzone said they never go into a game with a pitch limit, but: “We use a lot of common sense. We know what we are looking for.”

With two hits in seven at-bats, Dave Winfield is already ahead of his one-for-22 performance in the 1981 World Series.

After beating out a grounder to third base in his first Series at-bat, on Saturday, Winfield went hitless in five at-bats before pushing a roller through the right side of the infield for a run-scoring single in the eighth inning Sunday.

“My big opposite-field roller,” Winfield said, grinning. “The other day, the (second baseman) plays me up the middle. If they’re going to play me to pull, ha! I’ll go to the opposite field.”

At 22, Avery is young enough to be Winfield’s son. But Avery was more impressed with the 41-year-old’s stature than his age.

“I hadn’t realized how big he was,” Avery said after watching Winfield take batting practice Monday. “He looks pretty intimidating up there.”

Hours after their flag was flown upside-down at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on Sunday night, the Blue Jays were wondering if their travel plans weren’t being sabotaged.

They were forced to wait at Hartsfield International Airport for three hours while a part was being flown in from Memphis to repair a backup charter airplane. The original charter never left New York because it also was undergoing mechanical problems.

The team finally left Atlanta at 5 a.m. and arrived in Toronto at 7:30 a.m.

“Some of the guys got pretty grouchy,” John Olerud said. “We just sat around in the airport and on the plane. It was pretty bad.”

Olerud said he didn’t think the team would be tired today, because they often arrive home in the morning after playing night games on the West Coast.

“We have gotten home at 6 in the morning before and played that same day, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.

Blue Jay outfielder Joe Carter said he hoped Canadian fans irate over Sunday’s upside-down display of the Canadian flag in Atlanta wouldn’t retaliate tonight with a show of disrespect toward the American flag.

“I’ve heard people say the want to hold the U.S. flag upside-down. Why stoop to that level?” he said. “It was just an oversight. The people in Atlanta treated us well.”

Pop singer Anne Murray will sing the Canadian national anthem before Game 3 today.

Murray said she has a score to settle.

“I’m more upset with the way the anthem was sung than with what happened with the flag,” said Murray, referring to a botched rendition of the anthem before Game 2 by Tom Cochrane, a Canadian singer.

While most of the Braves were glad of the warmth and comfort afforded by the SkyDome on a blustery Toronto afternoon, Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said he wouldn’t mind playing the World Series in Exhibition Stadium, the lakefront stadium that was the Blue Jays’ home from 1977 through June, 1989.

“I loved that ballpark,” said Cox, who managed the Blue Jays from 1982-85. “It’s got the elements, but that’s all right.”

Winfield didn’t share that opinion. “I don’t know how this team could have played the World Series outdoors,” he said. “I guarantee you the roof will not be open during this series.”

The Toronto bullpen has pitched 6 2/3 hitless innings in the Series. . . . This is the first time a World Series has been tied, 1-1, since Detroit and San Diego split the first two games in 1984. It’s also the first time since 1979 that the home team won the opener and the visiting team won Game 2; Baltimore won the first game at Memorial Stadium that year and the Pirates won the second game. . . . The Blue Jays have at least one home run in each of their eight postseason games. . . . The Blue Jays are batting .203 in the Series, but they are far outhitting the Braves, who are batting .155. Atlanta has five more at-bats than Toronto with runners in scoring position (17-12), but they each have four hits in those situations.