Closer Role Fits Beck in All Respects : Baseball: Former Grant High right-hander with bulldog demeanor is on a record save pace for San Francisco Giants.

Rod Beck wore an expression that said he was both pleased and amused.

It was August, 1992, and then-Giants manager Roger Craig, from an office near where Beck was standing in the visitors’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, had just finished forecasting a 30-save season for his relief specialist in ’93.

“He said that, huh?” Beck said. “Well, I hope he’s right.”

Craig no longer is manager of the Giants, but his prediction for Beck--which at the time seemed something of a stretch--now appears, if anything, somewhat modest.

At the season’s halfway mark, Beck has 23 saves in 25 opportunities. Lee Smith of St. Louis, who has 29, and Randy Myers of Chicago, who has 24, are the only stoppers in the major leagues with more saves.

Back at Dodger Stadium last week, Beck recalled Craig’s prophetic words and said, “If I don’t get at least 30 saves now, I’m not doing my job very well.”

A collapse does not seem likely. Beck, who is seven saves shy of equaling the Giants’ club record set by Greg Minton in 1982, has converted 16 consecutive save opportunities and has allowed only one run in his last 15 innings.

Those are all-star credentials. But Beck is not setting himself up to be disappointed. He knows circumstances might force performance to become a secondary consideration when Atlanta manager Bobby Cox selects the National League pitching staff, which will be announced Thursday.

The All-Star game will be played July 13 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and Smith, along with Florida’s Brian Harvey, seems certain to be selected. Harvey has one fewer save than Beck, but each team in the league sends a representative to the game and Harvey is the Marlins’ best candidate.

“I have good numbers, but there are a lot of people out there with good numbers and a lot more experience, people with a couple more years under their belts,” Beck said. “Sometimes that makes a difference. But really, just for people to say I might be playing in the All-Star game is flattering to me.

“If I go, I go. I would be more than honored.”

Beck’s mature attitude and easy-going nature off the field belie the gruff competitor who is summoned to the mound in the late innings when the Western Division-leading Giants are precariously clinging to a lead.

A burly right-hander with a distinctive Fu Manchu mustache, Beck, 24, resembles a young Goose Gossage both facially and in his approach to pitching. He challenges hitters with 90-mile-per-hour fastballs and hard sliders.

Beck has been particularly effective against the team he used to root for as a youngster. Against the Dodgers, he has pitched 13 scoreless innings and has a lifetime record of 2-0 with five saves.

The saves all have come in games at Dodger Stadium, all since last August.

“I’ve always pitched well here,” Beck said. “I’m not real sure why.”

Beck’s success at Dodger Stadium started in 1986, when he pitched Grant High to a win over Granada Hills in the City Section 4-A Division championship game.

Not too many years before that appearance, Beck sat in his family’s season seats, three rows back of the foul pole near the Dodger bullpen, and dreamed of pitching on the field he now dominates.

The Dodgers’ left fielder then was Dusty Baker, who later became a Giant coach and replaced Craig as manager prior to this season.

Among Beck’s fondest memories of the Dodgers is the 1977 season when Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Reggie Smith and Baker became the first foursome from one team to each hit 30 home runs in a season.

“I used to come all the time,” Beck said. “I’ve never seen an Angel game, never even been to Anaheim Stadium. I didn’t care to. I liked National League baseball. I always have.”

Being in the center of attention himself, Beck said, “seems very strange.”

“I saw Vin Scully today and (Ross Porter) had me on the Dodger pregame show. It’s exciting, and when I come here it seems like I know half the people in the stands. It’s kind of fun.”

Many of his former acquaintances call out to Beck when they see him on the field before games. “It seems like they’re coming in from everywhere,” Beck said, “and I appreciate that they remember. A lot of those people don’t come to Dodger games all the time. They just come down to see me. That’s flattering. I wish I had time for all of them, but I don’t.”

With the Giants in the middle of a pennant race, Beck figures to be an increasingly busy man. Which is yet another reason why an All-Star appearance is a secondary consideration.

“It would be nice,” Beck said. “But right now it’s not the main objective. We have a long stretch on the road before the all-star game that’s important to us. We have some ballgames to win.”