He Played It Over and Over and Over

MINNEAPOLIS —  One old Minnesota Gopher. Three new Minnesota gophers. Cause-and-effect was played out underneath the Metrodome roof Saturday night, with Dave Winfield doing the hitting and the left-field bleacherites doing the collecting.

Born in St. Paul, educated at the University of Minnesota, Winfield is one who believes in giving back to the community--and for 4 1/2 innings, he was doing everything he could.

First inning: First souvenir. Mark Guthrie serves, Winfield returns, and the forehand carries long, 443 feet long. Angels lead, 2-0.

Third inning: Guthrie again. A two-run home run again. A little shorter this time, officially coming in at 383 feet.

Fifth inning: Guthrie’s gone, gone for his own good, but Larry Casian can do nothing to stem the tide of history. Winfield is three for three with three home runs, but appears to be tiring. Only 374 feet on this one.

Winfield was so good so fast Saturday, the rest of the evening was a disappointment. A total of 295 men have hit as many as three home runs in one major league game. How many had three by the middle of the fifth inning--with three more at-bats awaiting?

“When you put it that way,” Winfield said, laughing at the half-empty glass, “I choked. I blew it, man.”

Winfield had three more at-bats, and all he could do with them was double once, single once, tie a personal best with a sixth RBI and set an Angel record with 15 total bases in one nine-inning game.

The Angels also won, no mere afterthought. They won by six runs because they scored 15--and because the Angel pitchers got bored once they equaled the major league record for wild pitches in one game, deciding that six was enough.

Winfield might have had a real shot at No. 4, or 5, if given a shot at the Angel bullpen.

As it was, the Angels rallied around Winfield’s bid for a fourth home run, aware of the enormous potential at hand. Unlike a pitcher stalking a no-hitter, dugout discussion is not taboo when a teammate is within a swing of the single-game home-run record.

“It’s different for offensive players,” Winfield explained. “Guys were saying, ‘Get another one, get another one.’ They were going, ‘Bust him, get him, take him deep. We’re pulling for you.’ ”

Dave Parker pulled.

“He’d had a great night already,” Parker said. “Why not go for it? He had a legitimate shot for a fourth, and he took some great hacks at it.”

Lance Parrish pulled, too.

“I was kinda hoping he’d hit four or five. I like to see people do good. Especially when they’re on my team.”

Parrish was surprised when Winfield told him in the dugout that he’d never hit more than two home runs in game. “It seemed like when he was with the Yankees, he hit 100 home runs against us,” Parrish mused.

Winfield took his first hack at No. 4 in the sixth inning. He chopped at Terry Leach’s second pitch and plowed a one-hopper into the artificial turf. The ball rocketed over the head of third baseman Mike Pagliarulo and down the left-field line for a double, prolonging a four-run inning, along with the suspense.

Hack II came in the eighth inning against Steve Bedrosian. Winfield opened the encounter by squaring to bunt , which seemed to be taking the take-one-for-the-team concept to an illogical extreme.

Winfield said the bunt attempt was his own brainstorm, which took third base coach Bobby Knoop off the hook.

“I just wanted to see how he was going to pitch me,” Winfield said with a shrug.

Winfield went back to full swings with the next pitch, squaring to a 2-2 count before breaking his bat on a bouncer over the mound that forced Wally Joyner at second base.

The home-run bat was dead. So, for the rest of this night, was the home-run swing. The genies in the Minnesota bullpen granted Winfield one more wish, with two outs in the top of the ninth, but the only thing Gary Wayne gave Winfield to drive belonged in the slow lane.

“He didn’t throw hard enough to hit it out,” Winfield groused. “I went for it, but the ball didn’t reach the plate . . . It was a hard pitch to hit out of the park. Whatever it was.”

Winfield settled for out of the infield. He squibbed the ball over second base and scored Joyner from second, giving Winfield his sixth RBI and 15th total base--some sort of consolation prize.

Still, look at it this way:

Winfield had just hit one home run for every 13 years he has spent on the planet.

He hit one home run for every six years he has spent in the big leagues.

And he did it all in 4 1/2 innings.

For that, even the Metrodome fans had to stand and applaud, which they did, 32,782 strong, after home run No. 3.

So, yes, Gary Gaetti, you can go home, arrive in a gray uniform and win the crowd over again. All that’s required is a small donation: Three baseballs, slightly damaged, air-mailed over the outfield fence.