Edition: U.S. / Global

THE PLAYOFFS; Umpires Scrub a Run, Then Cone Scours the A's

Published: October 9, 1992

The Oakland Athletics, thinking they could steal a game from the Toronto Blue Jays, instead literally had the book thrown at them tonight. The bizarre turn of fortune resulted in a 3-1 defeat and with it, a lost opportunity for the A's to take the first two games of the American League Championship Series.

Oakland, failing in the art of the steal largely on a technicality found in the major league rule book, saw a big run against a tough David Cone taken off the scoreboard in the fifth inning of what had been a scoreless game. The A's then faltered while Cone never did, carrying his shutout into the ninth inning. Though the A's did rally late, Cone & Company carried the evening, largely because one of Toronto's more enigmatic hitters, Kelly Gruber, awoke at the plate. He provided the winning margin with a two-run home run, and he doubled and scored the third run.

When Toronto's Tom Henke, a k a The Terminator, stopped Oakland's ninth inning rally at one run, the Jays had their victory. And a hugely important one it was because, as history shows, not one of the 10 teams to have suffered losses in the first two games of a league championship series in their home park ever recovered. In fact, eight of the teams never even won a game as their opponents swept into the World Series. Guzman and Darling Up Next Up

No sweep is possible now in this best-of-seven-game playoff, which moves to the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum for Game 3 Saturday. Toronto Right-hander Juan Guzman (16-5) will face Oakland right-hander Ron Darling (15-10).

Toronto, benefiting from lucky bounces and attention to detail, found its fortune in a truly strange fifth inning.

Oakland, with sprinters' speed at various parts of its lineup, had signaled its intentions early to run against Cone and Toronto catcher Pat Borders. Thus did they pull off the team's second double-steal of the game in the fifth. Ironically, that's when the inning fell apart -- for Oakland.

Specifically, swift A's center fielder Willie Wilson and second baseman Mike Bordick did the stealing, of third and second, respectively. But just as the duo tried their one-out derring-do, a seemingly unnerved Cone threw a 1-1 pitch to No. 9 hitter Walter Weiss so wildly that it careened toward the Jays' third-base dugout. Wilson, in full stride, never hesitated. He rounded third and never stopped until he slid across home plate unchallenged because Borders slid into the dugout after the ball. Hands Off! Hands Off!

Unbeknownst to the celebrating A's, Borders never did touch the ball, mainly because his teammates, coaches and manager were all yelling for him not to. For they knew the importance of non-contact. They knew about Major League Rule 7.05(h).

That rule states that runners only be allowed "one base, if a ball, pitched to the batter, or thrown by the pitcher from his position on the pitcher's plate to a base to catch a runner, goes into a stand or a bench, or over or through a field fence or backstop; the ball is dead."

Toronto Manager Cito Gaston said: "In the heat of the battle, the only thing Pat's trying to do is to get that ball and prevent the other guy from going to home plate. With all of us screaming at him, he did let it go."

Once the ball reached the dugout untouched, Gaston immediately appealed to Larry Young, the home-plate umpire who had given Wilson the safe-at-home sign just seconds before, prompting the scoreboard operator to post the run. "I had to remind them about it, but that is part of my job, too," Gaston said. "Once I reminded him, he was O.K."

Young proceeded to huddle with third-base umpire Joe Brinkman. And then Brinkman pointed to Wilson in the A's dugout and thumbed the player back to third, then turned and pointed Bordick back to second. Oakland Manager Tony La Russa and most of the Oakland bench argued and squawked, but to no avail, failing to convince the umpires that the ball had deflected off Borders.

"We definitely got a reprieve," Cone said in a definite understatement. Run Becomes a Strikeout

Given new life, Cone proceeded to get Weiss to take a called-third strike on a 3-2 pitch, a backdoor slider that Cone especially savored. "He sat up right on the outside corner," Cone said, referring to the position Borders had taken to receive the ball. "That's the key to the pitch. If he sets up outside, that's what I aim for. When the backdoor slider breaks back over the plate it's almost an unhittable pitch."

So were the pitches Cone then threw to Rickey Henderson. When the A's uncharacteristically quiet leadoff hitter ended the inning by swinging through strike three, the Skydome, filled with 51,114 fans, erupted.

The good karma, pumped back into the Skydome in major doses, obviously spilled into the bottom of the fifth inning and all over Oakland starter Mike Moore. The right-hander issued a one-out walk to Candy Maldonado, the first such pass allowed by the pitcher. Gruber then jumped on Moore's first pitch and drilled it over the left-field fence.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," Gaston said. "Kelly's had a lot of injuries, he's struggled at times, but tonight he came up with a couple big hits." INSIDE PITCH

By getting an infield single in the first inning, Toronto's ROBERTO ALOMAR has now hit safely in all seven American League Championship Series games he has played in. Entering the game, the 24-year-old Alomar was 10 for 23 in six such games for a .435 average. . . . RUBEN SIERRA was the only player in the A's starting lineup who had ever batted against DAVID CONE before, and he was merely 0 for 1. Cone had faced the A's once when he was with Kansas City in 1986, allowing three hits and one earned run in two thirds of an inning of relief.

Photo: David Cone came through in the clutch, shutting down Oakland for eight innings, and pitching Toronto to a 3-1 victory over the A's that evened the A.L. playoffs. (G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times)