Notebook : Kelly: Berenguer Will Apologize to Anderson

After incensing Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson by hopping around the mound and pounding his glove following strikeouts in Game 2, Minnesota relief pitcher Juan Berenguer has been slapped on the wrists.

“He is going over to see Sparky and apologize,” Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly said of Berenguer Friday. “He is going over to tell him it was by no means an attempt to show up the Detroit Tigers, because they are an outstanding ballclub and any time you get them out, you are doing a good job.”

Berenguer got the Tigers out five times--four on strikeouts--while saving Thursday’s 6-3 victory for Bert Blyleven. A former Tiger, Berenguer delighted in every out, but Anderson considered the display of emotion to be in bad taste.

Anderson reiterated his position Friday.

“In professional sports, you don’t want to show people up,” he said. “You want to beat the other guy’s brains in and if you got him down, give him a good kick, too. But don’t embarrass him.

“When you see an old dog just sleeping there, why would you want to wake him up? When you wake up a dog, you just might make him angry.”

Preferring to let sleeping dogs lie, Kelly strongly suggested that Berenguer patch things up with Anderson.

“That’ll be the third time for Juan this year,” Anderson said with a laugh. “Juan gets carried away. He struck out (Bill) Madlock in Minnesota earlier this year and did the same thing. The next day, he came up to me with his head down.

“Juan’s a good kid. He just gets very excitable. I’ll tell him, ‘Bandito, I appreciate your apology, but I don’t think anybody needs you to let him know that you struck him out.’ ”

Nobody in Detroit ever said a word when Mark Fidrych did a flakier version of Berenguer’s act back in 1976. And last weekend, when Tiger pitcher Frank Tanana pumped fists and carried on en route to a 1-0 victory over Toronto, Anderson sat in his office and admired Tanana’s boyish enthusiasm.

As Tanana said on that day, “This is a kid’s game. It’s played best when you play it like a kid. I’m not out there to show anybody up, but if you can’t get excited in a game like this, you’re probably dead.”

Walt Terrell brought back memories of John Tudor and the 1985 World Series with his surly meet-the-press session Friday. As one of today’s starting pitchers, Terrell was required to attend the press conference--and he quickly let everyone know that was the only reason he was present.

“OK,” Terrell snapped as he stepped up to the microphone. “Two minutes.”

Question: How come you’ve pitched so well at home?

Answer: “I’m not going to discuss that whatsoever. It’s absolutely meaningless.”

Q: Are you looking forward to pitching in this situation?

A: “I always look forward to pitch, no matter what situation.”

Q: How do you describe your style?

A: “Lucky. I just throw it up there and hopefully they will hit it at somebody and we’ll catch it and throw them out or it will be a fly ball or a line drive and we’ll catch it. I don’t try to strike people out. If they strike out, that’s their fault.”

Q: Do you think this has been your finest two months of pitching?

A: “If we win it. But we haven’t done what we set out to do. It won’t be the best unless we win it all. If we don’t, we went wrong somewhere.”

Q: But what about you personally, the way you’ve pitched?

A: “I’m not in it for personal reasons.”

End of press conference. Terrell stepped away from the microphone and hurried down the steps of the stage.

“Have a nice day,” he said as he stalked out the door.

There was speculation that Anderson would skip Tanana’s turn in the playoffs and start Doyle Alexander on three days’ rest in Game 4 Sunday, but the Tiger manager decided against that Friday.

“It’ll be Tanana on Sunday, Alexander on Monday and (Jack) Morris on Wednesday,” Anderson announced. “I don’t go to the dance and forget who brought me there.”