ANGER MANAGEMENT

Larry Bowa didn’t want to scare anyone. He knew, in preparing his first spring address as new manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, he would have to control his characteristic intensity, emotion and volatility, or as he said, “I didn’t want anyone thinking Gen. Patton had returned.”

How did he do?

Third baseman Scott Rolen wasn’t reminded of Patton, or even George C. Scott.

Asked to describe Bowa’s performance in two words or fewer, Rolen said, “Caged animal.”

Of course.

Hasn’t that always been part of Bowa’s persona? Didn’t he always have to snarl, stalk and bare his teeth some?

After all, he wasn’t even drafted as a high school or college player, got a $1,200 signing bonus from the Phillies as a guy who might fill in at the minor league level and set out to prove that scouts should carry stethoscopes as well as stopwatches.

Deemed short of talent and size, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Bowa played in five All-Star games, won two Gold Gloves, collected 2,191 hits, set a National League record for lifetime fielding percentage by a shortstop and appeared in 2,222 games, second most among NL shortstops and fourth all-time.

It was a 16-year career built on grit and determination, landing Bowa a managing job with the San Diego Padres only a year after he had retired, too soon in retrospect.

He expected players to have the ethic he did, the same intolerance for defeat. It was too much to ask.

The expectations yielded to expletives and a tumultuous tenure of splattered food spreads, kicked in water fountains, chastised players, demonized umpires, and a record of 81-127, good enough to get him fired in May of 1988, his second season. Bowa emerged with a reputation for failing to control himself and his players, a marked man in an industry with a long memory.

So long that Bowa had to spend 12 years as a third-base coach with the Phillies, Angels and Seattle Mariners before getting this second managerial opportunity. He was even passed over by the Phillies in ‘96, when they hired Terry Francona, and was a finalist this time with Darren Daulton, the club’s former catcher and the choice of some in the front office.

“Obviously, Larry was the people’s choice in Philadelphia,” General Manager Ed Wade said, referring to Bowa’s bulldog style during 12 years as a player in a city big on bulldogs, “but that was strictly a residual benefit and not the reason we hired him.”

Wade said that Bowa received a three-year contract because his profile was the perfect fit for a team that lost 97 games last year and has not had a winning season since 1993. He said Bowa will challenge a core group of young players to step up and provide the leadership they complained about not getting from Francona last year, to take responsibility for themselves and their teammates, to think about playing the game right, putting aside personal goals.

“We know about Larry’s intensity and volatility,” Wade said. “We’re not looking for a watered-down version. We’re looking for a 55-year-old Larry Bowa who we believe has learned the value of moderation through maturity and experience. We know there were issues in San Diego, but he probably took that job before he was ready. I mean, it was 12 years ago. Heck, there were issues with the Phillies.”

Going back to his playing days, Bowa had not spoken to club Chairman Bill Giles for 20 years, believing Giles had reneged on a contract promise. Bowa called Giles a liar publicly and was soon traded to the Chicago Cubs. He returned to spend eight years as the third-base coach, but his failure to land the managerial job in 1996 reopened the old wounds, which were further inflamed in 1999 when the Phillies, claiming it was inadvertent, failed to invite him to an end-of-the-century celebration of the team’s greatest moments and players.

Stubbornness helped make him an all-star, and Bowa was still licking his wounds last year when he rejected an invitation to attend a 20th anniversary celebration of the 1980 World Series title, telling Philadelphia reporters he would never go back as long as one man was still there. He meant Giles, who continues to hold an imposing title but is basically on the fringe of the club’s power structure.

A three-year managerial offer can do wonders in easing sensitivities, healing wounds. Bowa jumped at the job, met with Giles for three hours after accepting it, and now says that to finally get another managerial opportunity, and to get it in Philadelphia, “makes it extra-special. After all, I was raised in the organization, won a World Series with the Phillies, played in the All-Star game as a Phillie and now live there. I know it’s a challenge. I know it’s a team that’s not ready to go to the World Series, but I think there’s a lot of upside. The kids just need to play and gain experience. They have nothing to hang their hat on, the way they’ve been beaten up the last few years. You lose as frequently as they have and you start doubting yourself. It’s my job and my coaches’ job to reinforce that they’re better than they think they are.”

Bowa didn’t have the patience for it in San Diego. He knows now he should have spent a second year managing in triple A and can’t expect every player to go about it as he did.

“I was a mediocre player who became a good player with hard work,” he said. “I felt I had good players in San Diego who might become great if they worked like I had. There’s no question I made mistakes. It takes one or two games to get a label in baseball and 20 years to get rid of it. I’m sure there are people who are still very hesitant about me.”

The rap was that he was tough on young players, failed to communicate individually, and rode the won-lost roller coaster.

Often overlooked, however, is that several young players, including Roberto and Sandy Alomar, John Kruk, Joey Cora and Benito Santiago, emerged from the Bowa boiler to enjoy long careers and credit his schooling.

Nevertheless, Bowa acknowledges that he recognizes the need to dial down his intensity and treat every player differently, protecting psyches in the process.

He credits Lou Piniella, who came to grips with his own volatility over time, for providing guidance last year, when Bowa served as Piniella’s third-base coach with the Mariners. Piniella told him:

* Don’t be more intense than your players or you’ll be left with the feeling that no matter what they do it isn’t good enough.

* Don’t take each loss personally or you’ll drive yourself crazy.

* Be forthright with the media, but keep some things private.

* Sleep on it before berating a player. If you still feel it’s necessary the next day, go to it.

The Phillies will be a test. There is promise in a group of young position players, including Rolen, outfielder Pat Burrell and rookie shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Management signed veteran relievers Jose Mesa and Rheal Cormier in an effort to rebuild a porous bullpen, but Curt Schilling and Andy Ashby are gone from last year’s rotation, and there are no automatic replacements or established winners among the starters. A payroll of $43 million is far below that of the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves in the National League East, but Bowa says he doesn’t want to hear it, pointing to last year’s playoff emergence of the modestly salaried Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox and Mariners.

“We need to do a lot of things right to compete, but I think we’re capable of playing .500,” he said. “You lose 97 games, that’s a lot of losses, but I firmly believe the adversity should make these guys tougher, hungrier and better players. We have to break the pattern of accepting losses gracefully and of only playing not to lose. We have to help them understand what it takes to get to the next level.”

Bowa reached the playoffs six times as a player. He might have mellowed since that tenure in San Diego when, among other volatile incidents, he exchanged clubhouse punches with Stan Jefferson, one of his own outfielders. Still, his opening oratory showed that the caged animal is not extinct. The Phillies can be expected to bring out that growl more than once.

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Shades of ‘88: Orosco’s Back

Left-handed reliever Jesse Orosco, 43, a member of the Dodgers’ 1988 World Series champions, is expected to make the roster. D10

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Wally World

Looks Good

Wally Joyner appears to have a slight edge over Larry Barnes and Scott Spiezio in the battle for the Angel first-base job, but the position is still up for grabs. D11

AROUND THE MAJORS: D10

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The Philadelphia Phillies hired Larry Bowa, above, to turn around a string of losing seasons. A look at how the Phillies have fared since losing the World Series in 1993:

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Year Record Pct. Finish Games behind 1994 54-61 .470 4th place 20 1/2 1995 69-75 .479 2nd place 21 1996 67-95 .414 5th place 29 1997 68-94 .420 5th place 33 1998 75-87 .463 3rd place 31 1999 77-85 .475 3rd place 26 2000 65-97 .401 5th place 30

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Note: Phillies are one of four NL teams not to make playoffs in that span (others are Montreal, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, which joined league in 1998)