BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Gaston Is No All-Star in the Eyes of Baltimore Fans

Remnants from an All-Star notebook:

THE CONTROVERSY

It may seem silly to get upset over disputes surrounding an exhibition game, but how many exhibition games draw capacity crowds and a national spotlight?

Cito Gaston should have given the loyalists what they wanted in Baltimore Tuesday night and used pitcher Mike Mussina of the hometown Orioles.

He should not have been permitted to select four more of his Toronto Blue Jays, besides the three who were voted as starters on the American League team he managed.

He had seven players from a Toronto team that lost 10 of its last 11 first-half games--25% of a 28 player All-Star roster.

The New York Yankees of another era twice put nine players on the American League squad, and several teams have landed eight, but seldom has there been an omission as glaring as that of Mickey Tettleton, the Detroit Tiger catcher-outfielder who before the All-Star break was leading the major leagues in home runs and was second in runs batted in.

The AL office, which has the bottom-line voice on the selection of the team, should have told Gaston to leave Devon White or Paul Molitor in Toronto, pick outfielder Rickey Henderson as the Oakland Athletics’ lone representative over catcher Terry Steinbach and substitute Tettleton for Molitor or White, who are having excellent seasons but are not at Tettleton’s level.

Gaston said he had no reason to apologize for the selection of seven Blue Jays, that six were world champions and the seventh, Molitor, is a future Hall of Famer. Perhaps, but none of that has anything to do with a selection process allegedly based on first-half statistics.

Tettleton is a former Oriole. His omission only compounded the perception of Baltimore fans that the hometown team had also been slighted by the omission of catcher Chris Hoiles and relief ace Gregg Olson.

Tuesday night’s crowd was on Gaston’s case right from the introductions, and the heat was heaviest in the ninth inning as the chant of “We want Mike!” provided a backdrop while Mussina threw in the bullpen and Duane Ward of the Blue Jays retired the National League in order, wrapping up a 9-3 victory.

At the end, when it was obvious that Mussina wasn’t going to face a batter, the crowd’s chant turned to “Cito . . . !” and a nervous Gaston chose not to emerge from the dugout and greet his players leaving the field.

Mussina, according to fans who had a view of the bullpen, threw a chair and his glove as Ward got the final out, but the Oriole right-hander chose not to inflame the incident.

“I’m disappointed but not angry,” he said after the game.

And at Wednesday’s Oriole workout, he said: “If you’re looking for hostility from me to Cito, there isn’t any. If he had any hostility to me, I wouldn’t have even been there. There were a half-dozen other guys he could have picked.”

True, but as Hoiles said: “What was (Gaston) thinking about? It didn’t make any sense. Why pick the kid if he’s not going to pitch him in his hometown?”

Indeed. Why strand Mussina while using both Jack McDowell, who had pitched on Sunday, and Jimmy Key, whom the New York Yankees did not want to pitch?

Gaston said he was saving Mussina in case the game went extra innings, but the AL had a six-run lead in the ninth, and Mussina was up and throwing. He was doing it, he insisted later, to get in his normal work between starts.

Some familiar with his personality, however, suspected he was trying to further incite the crowd. The former Stanford pitcher has been described as ornery by Baltimore Manager Johnny Oates, but Mussina said at the workout that he wasn’t pandering to the emotions of the partisans.

“I did what I have to do,” he said. “I had to prepare for my next start, and I had to wait as long as I could. If we had played extra innings, I would have had to pitch, so I couldn’t do my throwing earlier.”

Mussina, who pitched in last year’s All-Star victory by the American League, continued to absolve Gaston in relation to his own situation, but was critical of the manager for failing to use Pat Hentgen of the Blue Jays.

“Pat has never been in an All-Star game and is one of his own pitchers,” Mussina said. “Cito can make excuses as long as he wants, but the game was 9-3 (in the ninth).”

One thing is certain: The Orioles will not require a motivational speech when they play Gaston and the Blue Jays July 27-28 in Toronto, although Gaston does not have to worry about returning to Baltimore until the final four games of the season.

“If this gives us a little extra incentive to whip Cito’s butt, that’s fine,” pitcher Ben McDonald said. “Maybe he (picked seven Blue Jays and failed to use Mussina) out of spite, I don’t know. But I guess he’ll be a marked man around here for a while.”

THE STREAK

Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken Jr., who has been criticized by some for playing when he might have profited from rest, began the second half needing 307 more games to tie Lou Gehrig’s record of playing in 2,130 in a row.

Two former players, appearing at the Heroes of Baseball exhibition on Monday in Baltimore, said they could sympathize with Ripken.

Steve Garvey, the former Dodger whose 1,207-game streak ended because of an injury and was the fourth-longest, said that the streak even permeated his sleep.

“I started to dream about getting caught in rush-hour traffic and the streak ending because I didn’t get to the stadium until the final out,” he said.

“I started to dream about going for a drink between games of a doubleheader and the manager refusing to play me because I returned late for the second game.

“Those of us playing in streaks are a small fraternity--we know what it takes. It takes a physical, mental and spiritual commitment--spiritual in the sense that you have to be one with the sport.”

Billy Williams, the former Chicago Cub outfielder who took himself out of the lineup after 1,117 consecutive games, the fifth-longest streak, said it virtually isolated him from the team.

“When you’re in a streak, you can’t do things other guys on the team do,” he said. “You can’t go out and enjoy yourself at night because you know you have to get your rest for the next day, all the games having taken a toll on you physically and mentally.

“You literally start to watch every step, afraid you’re going to twist an ankle or something. I’ve heard Cal say that the streak has taken on a life of its own, and that’s true. I think the Gehrig record and Joe DiMaggio’s (56-game hitting streak) are the toughest in baseball to break.”

THE RACES

Bobby Cox, the Atlanta Braves’ and National League manager, put on an appropriately brave front at the All-Star game. Of the race in the NL West, he said:

“We won our 50th game Sunday (before the break). The way the Giants are going, we may need to win 50 more in the second half. But we have the pitching. If the pitching stays as good as it’s been, we have a good chance to catch the Giants.”

Said Barry Bonds, the San Francisco left fielder: “I told our guys that the first half doesn’t mean anything, that the second half is the key. I told them to rest, heal up and get ready to go hard. I’ve been through it three times. We haven’t won anything yet.”

Bonds’ approach is admirable, but the NL West is the one race that may be over. San Francisco’s pitching has given no indication of cracking, and the Giants have shrugged off injuries to Matt Williams and Robby Thompson.

The other three races loom as definite dogfights, and all may hinge on trades in the next two weeks;

--Fred McGriff is expected to go to the Orioles, Braves, Yankees or Cincinnati Reds.

--The Orioles have also talked to the New York Mets about reacquiring Eddie Murray, to the Montreal Expos regarding pitcher Dennis Martinez, to the San Diego Padres about pitcher Greg Harris--plus McGriff--and to the Reds regarding third baseman Chris Sabo and pitcher Tim Belcher.

--The Blue Jays, with those seven All-Stars, are quietly fearful that Jack Morris and Dave Stewart are finished and are certain to deal for a pitcher. Harris, Belcher and Martinez are the obvious candidates, with Martinez the likely choice if the two Canadian teams can put aside their dispute over TV territorial rights.

Said an AL East general manager: “There are five contenders in our division (Toronto, Baltimore, New York, Detroit and Boston), and each is trying to make a trade before the 31st (when waivers become necessary). I don’t know of a team in any division, except Atlanta, that isn’t looking for pitching.”

THE AT-BAT

The lasting image of the ’93 All-Star game will be John Kruk bailing out against Randy Johnson, the Seattle Mariner left-hander. Johnson’s first pitch to Kruk sailed to the backstop screen, then Kruk struck out on three consecutive pitches.

“Probably the worst at-bat of my life,” Kruk said. “Not that I was surprised. I had nightmares about that guy. Six foot 10, throwing sidearm, 90 m.p.h. Give me a break.”

Kruk also struck out against Key in an 0-for-3 performance that Kruk said was an embarrassment.

“My guess is that they’ll never ask me back,” he said.