BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : In New Uniform, Stewart Finally Finds Old Stuff

Reflective of a transient business, there is this strange twist to the Toronto Blue Jays’ bid to repeat as the American League and World Series champion:

Dave Stewart, who helped pitch the Oakland A’s past the Blue Jays in the 1989 playoffs and almost did it again last year, will now be making important pitches on Toronto’s behalf.

“I never dreamt I’d be wearing blue and white and trying to win a pennant for the Blue Jays,” Stewart said the other day.

“I always envisioned ending my career in Oakland, but it’s just a sign of the times.”

Stewart’s September surge after a frustrating summer of injuries and his 6-0 record and 2.03 earned-run average in playoff games influenced Manager Cito Gaston to select him as the Game 2 starter against the Chicago White Sox, which means he could start Game 6 as well, if it is needed.

“I’m pitching as confidently right now as I did at any time in Oakland,” the 36-year-old right-hander said. “My stuff is as good as it ever was.

“I’ve come up to a good place mentally and physically. I’m where I should be.”

Stewart, 2-0 in that ’89 playoff against the Blue Jays and 1-0 last year, is 12-8 this season with a 4.44 ERA. He was 4-0 in five September starts and has given up only four earned runs in his last 25 innings.

“I like this time of year,” he said. “But I had to deal with a lot of head games to get here.”

Besides the adjustments common to joining a new team, Stewart had to cope with injuries that had him wondering if everything the A’s had suggested might be true, that he was past his prime and breaking down physically.

A torn muscle in his right forearm put him on the disabled list coming out of spring training. Hamstring and groin pulls kept knocking him out of the groove later.

“You can talk about experience, but I still found myself going out there and trying to win two games at a time,” Stewart said. “I’d go along OK, then, boom, another injury.

“It’s natural to worry about what people think, and I was frustrated. I felt I had things to prove to the A’s and Blue Jays but couldn’t do it.”

Toronto General Manager Pat Gillick said Stewart had nothing to prove, that if the Blue Jays hadn’t thought he was still capable of winning, they would have signed someone else after Jimmy Key and David Cone had left as free agents.

The Blue Jays even offered Stewart a three-year contract, but he chose two years at $8.5 million, uncertain that he wants to pitch beyond that.

“Stew is a competitor and leader,” Gillick said. “He helps a club even when he isn’t pitching. He helped us even when he wasn’t winning, but we felt it was only a matter of time before he did.”

Said pitching coach Galen Cisco: “In the second half, he started to improve every time out. His last seven or eight starts, he’s been in total command. It looks like his velocity is back and he’s able to maintain it for 100 or so pitches.

“He’s throwing 88, 89 (m.p.h.). At one time he might have been 90, 91, so he’s about where he’s always been, and he probably could have three or four more wins if we’d held leads for him.”

Stewart won 20 or more games four years in a row with the A’s, starting in 1987. He pitched at least 257 innings every year in that span, but stints on the disabled list restricted him to 226 and 199 1/3 in his last two years with the A’s, when he was 11-11 and 12-10.

He has no complete games this year but has pitched into the seventh inning in eight of his last 11 starts.

“Guys like Reggie Smith, Davey Lopes and Dusty Baker taught me that you go all out today and don’t worry about tomorrow,” he said.

“Cito has been very protective of me and I appreciate that, but he’s started to stretch me out as we’ve gotten closer to the playoffs. The injuries wore me down mentally, but chasing a pennant gives me the juice to go after it.”

For a long time, of course, Stewart’s juices were boiling over his treatment by the A’s. They made only one offer last winter, and that was for $500,000 less than his $2.5 million of 1992.

The insulted Stewart said that was it. There were no negotiations. And Stewart did not shop bids. He looked for an interested club with a winning tradition and found it.

He is still perplexed by Oakland’s stance.

“I felt I was stepped on, offended, dogged,” he said. “No one could have done more for the team, the organization or the community. I deserved better.

“I don’t even understand it now. They said they were cutting the budget, but then they signed Mark McGwire and Ruben Sierra to five-year contracts, and made multiyear deals with Ron Darling and Terry Steinbach.

“For a team claiming it didn’t have cash, there was a pretty good flow, and it’s difficult to understand why I couldn’t command more after everything I had done.

“I mean, the way I pitched in the playoffs (giving up five earned runs in the 16 2/3 innings of two starts), I don’t think there could be any doubts I still carried the same assurance and confidence and was capable of pitching as well as ever. I didn’t doubt it, but the A’s obviously did.”

As Stewart prepares for his sixth trip to the playoffs, he isn’t gloating about the A’s last-place status in the West.

“I have too many friends there to do that,” he said. “Only a person totally unhappy where he is would turn around and knock where he has been.

“My goal was to pitch two more years. I’m with the club that gives me the best chance to win in those two years. I don’t regret the choice for a minute.”

Stewart, of course, has been linked with another former Oakland star, left fielder Rickey Henderson. Each says the other has been getting sharper as the team nears the playoffs, but Henderson, eligible for free agency when the World Series ends, may not be with the Blue Jays beyond that.

Stewart knows he has another year and has developed some of the same programs with homeless and needy youths in Toronto that he maintains in Oakland. He grew up in the East Bay and still has a home there, but looking past ‘94, perhaps, he is building another home near San Diego.

FINAL INNINGS

Some are calling the dogfight between the Braves and Giants the last great transcontinental pennant race.

Transcontinental, yes, but the new alignments should produce other great races as early as next year, with the Braves confronting the challenge of the Phillies and Expos in the National League East, the Giants locking up in a more personal duel with the Dodgers in the NL West, and the Central Divisions of both leagues appearing wide open. . . .

--If Darryl Strawberry returns to left or right field for the Dodgers, with Brett Butler in center, Raul Mondesi and Henry Rodriguez might platoon in the other outfield spot. The Dodgers already seem to believe those holes in Billy Ashley’s swing need further closing. . . .

--It might not be an either-or for the Braves. Otis Nixon and Ron Gant could both be moved, opening center field for Deion Sanders, left field for Ryan Klesko and significantly trimming the payroll, providing the Braves can resist trading Gant for for the high-salaried Bryan Harvey as the cure for their lingering bullpen ills. . . .

--It’s a weak free-agent market for pitching, but the Montreal Expos are certain to trade one or more of the eight players they have eligible for arbitration, and left-handed starter Chris Nabholz seems to fit a Dodger priority despite his disappointing season. . . .

--Tom Lasorda believes the need for a left-handed starter and reliever is imperative and he seemed to be emphasizing that again during Friday night’s game with the Giants. He seemed to be sending another message to Vice President Fred Claire. Can there be any other explanation for walking Barry Bonds intentionally in the first inning but then letting Omar Daal and Steve Wilson, both behind in the count, pitch to him with first base open and the game still on the line? “Get it Fred,” Lasorda seemed to be saying. “These are the best lefties we’ve got and they can’t get it done.” Bonds homered off Daal and doubled off Wilson. . . .

--Angel historians may have difficulty deciding which was more costly: Exposing Harvey to the expansion draft or the cavalier attitude regarding the first-half success. By closing the door on a midseason trade and insisting its young club needed to tour the league again before considering a trade, the front office sent a no-faith message to the players. . . .

--No matter how it evolves in the West, the Braves or Giants will be the eighth team this century to win 100 games and finish second, and the Dodgers have known the feeling. They were 101-61 in ‘62, losing the pennant to the Giants in a one game playoff, and they were 104-50 in ’42 but still trailed the St. Louis Cardinals by two games. . . .

--The Yankees will apparently attempt to re-sign free agent eligible Lee Smith, although he had only three save opportunities after his acquisition in late August and Smith himself says they would have benefited more by acquiring a starting pitcher. “I don’t know what good I was if they couldn’t get to me,” he said. . . .

--Finding his niche as the Cardinals’ first baseman, Gregg Jefferies enjoyed a powerful season--.346 average and 46 stolen bases--and deserved more recognition. . . .

--Former Angel Bruce Kison is expected to become the Kansas City Royals’ pitching coach under the rehired Hal McRae, with Guy Hansen, who signed Bret Saberhagen, Kevin Appier, Jeff Conine and others, returning to scouting. . . .

--The Dodgers will move backup catcher Carlos Hernandez in the right deal, and there should be interest. . . .

--If Montreal is the National League team to watch in ‘94, Seattle is the American League pick, needing only to beat the Angels, Texas Rangers and Oakland A’s. The Mariners used the disabled list 19 times and operated for long spans without Norm Charlton, Edgar Martinez, Chris Bosio and Dave Fleming but still flirted with .500 and a contending role in the West. . . .

--Seattle Manager Lou Piniella put it this way: “We did a lot of force-feeding that will be very important to us no matter where we finished this year. We’ve established a positive tone for next year. We’ll be a contender from Day 1.” . . .

--It might have escaped attention, but the Angels had more than the AL West cellar at stake down the stretch. Their 1961 expansion record of 70 victories survived the challenge by Florida and Colorado, but another expansion looms--as early as ‘95, perhaps.

THE ENVELOPE PLEASE

One man’s look at the best and worst of 1993:

MVP

National: 1. Barry Bonds, San Francisco; 2. Lenny Dykstra, Philadelphia; 3. tie between David Justice and Ron Gant, Atlanta.

American: 1. Frank Thomas, Chicago; 2. John Olerud, Toronto; 3. Juan Gonzalez, Texas.

Comment: Can anyone claim the Giants would have had their surprising season without Bonds? He was more than the best player. He was quintessential most valuable. The difficult separation of the Blue Jays’ three candidates--Olerud, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar--made picking Thomas easier.

CY YOUNG

National: 1. Greg Maddux, Atlanta; 2. Bill Swift, San Francisco; 3. Tom Glavine, Atlanta.

American: 1. Jack McDowell, Chicago; 2. Randy Johnson, Seattle; 3. Kevin Appier, Kansas City.

Comment: No automatic in either league. The selection of Maddux was based on his prominence in the earned-run average, strikeout and innings-pitched categories, as well as his second-half winning streak when Atlanta was making its run. McDowell’s victory total, 22, is as hard to ignore as his abrasive personality.

ROOKIES

National: Mike Piazza, Dodgers. American: Tim Salmon, Angels.

Comment: Have two selections ever been easier?

COMEBACK

National: Andres Galarraga, Colorado. American: Bo Jackson, Chicago.

Comment: Although it’s a little hazy as to what actually constitutes a comeback, Galarraga’s batting title in the wake of 1992’s broken wrist and Jackson’s 15 homers and 40-plus runs batted in with a new hip definitely fit. Two of Jackson’s White Sox teammates, Ozzie Guillen and Ellis Burks, are legitimate candidates, as are Florida closer Bryan Harvey and Philadelphia starter Tommy Greene.

MANAGER

National: Jim Fregosi, Philadelphia. American: Cito Gaston, Toronto.

Comment: Fregosi gave his “gypsies, tramps and thieves” a chance to be themselves and turned that cliche about a team being 25 players into reality. Gaston provided stability despite a major turnover and pitching chaos.

EXECUTIVE

One winner: Lee Thomas, Philadelphia. Thomas resisted demands of fans and media to sign a high-priced free agent in favor of the half dozen or so parts and pieces that brought fruition to his five-year rebuilding. Check Pete Incaviglia, Jim Eisenreich, Milt Thompson, Danny Jackson, David West and Larry Andersen.

FREE-AGENT SIGNINGS

Best: 1. Bonds; 2. Molitor; 3. Galarraga.

Worst: 1. John Smiley, Cincinnati; 2. Greg Swindell, Houston; 3. Todd Worrell, Dodgers.

Comment: Bonds’ productivity equates to two players, and the dividends can be measured by attendance and the record. Smiley cost Cincinnati $18.4 million for four years. He was 3-9 with a 5.62 ERA or $1.5 million per victory.

ALL-STARS

American: 1B--Olerud; 2B--Carlos Baerga, Cleveland; SS--Travis Fryman, Detroit; 3B--Dean Palmer, Texas; C--Mike Stanley, New York; LF--Gonzalez; CF--Kenny Lofton, Cleveland; RF--Joe Carter, Toronto; DH(s)--Thomas, Molitor and Albert Belle, Cleveland.

National: 1B--Fred McGriff, Atlanta; 2B--Robby Thompson, San Francisco; SS--Jeff Blauser, Atlanta; 3B--Matt Williams, San Francisco; C--Piazza; LF--Bonds; CF--Dykstra; RF--Justice. Bench--Gant, Galarraga and Greg Jefferies.