Stewart Puts Worst Behind, Plans to Do His Best for A’s

PHOENIX — He still is bothered by the death and damage in his hometown of Oakland, but Dave Stewart has conquered the sleepless nights that followed the Bay Area earthquake.

“I think it would have been very tough to pitch then, but now I think I’m ready,” Stewart said Thursday as his Oakland Athletics practiced again at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in preparation for the resumption of the World Series this evening at Candlestick Park.

The A’s lead the San Francisco Giants, two games to none, in the best-of-seven Series that began 13 days ago with Stewart pitching a five-hit, 5-0 victory in Game 1.

Now he starts again in Game 3, postponed Oct. 17 when the 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Bay Area and shook Stewart to his Oakland roots.

“I think I’m prepared to pretty much carry it in like I did in the first game,” Stewart said Thursday. “It’s important for us to show we still have the momentum. It’s important for me to set the tone and control the game, and I think I’m ready to do that.

“I think the team is ready.”

So does Manager Tony La Russa, who joined an estimated crowd of 7,000 in watching the A’s play a six-inning exhibition game against their Arizona Instructional League team on a bright, warm afternoon.

“We’re ready to play, come hell or high water,” La Russa said. “Of course, I didn’t say anything about shakes.”

Time alone will determine how the A’s and Giants have responded to the delay. Time alone will determine the level of their intensity and motivation.

Amid the intangibles, Stewart may represent one of the few certainties.

“Stew is Stew,” La Russa said. “He’s pitched in a hundred different circumstances, and I’m confident he’ll give us a chance to win again.

“People point out that the Giants have now seen him once, but American League teams have seen him for three years now and he’s still winning 20. I feel great sending him out there.”

Born, brought up and still a resident of Oakland, where he conducts his own anti-drug program and is active in other community affairs, Stewart said he was unable to sleep for almost a week after the earthquake.

He said he would finally give in and crawl out of bed between 2 and 3 each night and drive to the collapsed portion of the Nimitz Freeway, an area where he spent a lot of time as a youth.

“You hear about disasters. You see them on TV--hurricanes, tornadoes--and you can never imagine them happening in your hometown,” Stewart said.

“It was a real unsettling time for me and I guess I was feeling a whole lot of different things.

“Needless to say, I felt fortunate that nothing happened to me or anyone close to me, and I thank God for that.

“But I like to think of myself as being unselfish and I thought of all the people less fortunate. I thought about the psychological effects.

“I wondered if it would be safe to drive on the bridges and freeways and how long it would take the city to rebuild to what it was and to grow on that. Was I justified in being happy to be in the World Series, or should the World Series even be played?”

The questions drove Stewart to the collapsed freeway, where police led him on walking tours and he offered support to the workers.

“It was strange,” he said. “I’d then go home and be able to sleep. I can’t explain it, but I guess that to overcome fear, you’ve got to go directly to the source. Now I’m starting to feel comfortable with everything that’s taken place. The devastation is still there, but I’m real proud of the way the city and country have responded.”

And in sorting out his emotions, Stewart said he thinks it proper for the Series to resume.

“It will definitely have a shadow over it, but it’s still the World Series and something the Bay Area needs now, something we still want to win,” Stewart said.

“We’ve finally reached the point where we know we’re going to play (tonight) and I’ve felt the spirit of the Series return, the excitement pick up. Working out with these crowds has helped us turn it up.”

Terry Steinbach, expected to catch Stewart, said the change of scenery has enabled the A’s to concentrate and refocus.

Of the long layoff and it’s possible effect on Stewart, Steinbach said:

“It might be a trial-and-error type of thing. He might go out with his usual sharpness or we might have to work to find a groove, but I don’t anticipate a major problem. Stew is such a good competitor. He’s already talking about the game and what he has to do.”

In fact, Stewart did more than talk Thursday. He watched a videotape of Game 1, wanting to get another look at Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams.

“I saw some things I didn’t notice standing on the mound,” he said. “I saw some things I’ll be able to use.”

He added that the Giants complained about their lack of timing against him in Game 1.

“Now they’ll have been off even longer,” he said. “I think the advantage in this situation is all with the pitcher, and I feel good about the way I’ve been throwing. I have to throw the forkball to be effective, and I had a better one than I did in Game 1 when I threw on the side yesterday. I just hope I didn’t waste it.”

The Giants have suggested that the A’s didn’t go to Arizona to escape the possibility of inclement weather and wet fields in the Bay Area, that in reality the A’s are nervous about returning to Candlestick and wanted to delay it as long as possible.

Stewart shook his head when asked if he were apprehensive about his return.

“What happened that night is behind me,” he said. “I won’t be thinking about anything but pitching and doing my best.”

Said La Russa: “If I thought my players were anxious about going back, we would have stayed in the Bay Area and worked out at Candlestick today. That’s nonsense. They know what they have to do and aren’t concerned about where they have to do it.”

What benefit, if any, the A’s will have derived from the trip here may not be known until the Series is over. The two workouts attracted about 13,000 fans who donated more than $20,000 to the Bay Area’s earthquake relief fund and created a game atmosphere for the A’s.

La Russa, packing to leave the Valley of the Sun, said he is satisfied. He insisted again that the World Series has not lost its meaning, that the winner may be the most deserving team ever, considering the length of the season and the physical and mental toll of the last two weeks.

But for the first time Thursday, La Russa also acknowledged that his emotions have been twisted, that he isn’t sure how he is supposed to feel in the ongoing wake of the Bay Area tragedy and isn’t sure what he will tell his team, knowing he can only really ask for a 100% effort.

“In my own mind, I’m still trying to figure out what’s right and wrong,” he said. “I have good feelings, then I think, ‘Hey, I’m not supposed to have good feelings at a time like this.’ I mean, I feel guilty about feeling good. It’s very confusing.”

Dave Stewart, his pitcher today, knows the feeling.