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Tuesday, October 09, 2001

The local angle in the baseball postseason, which begins today, is with the Oakland Athletics, where Art Howe of Shaler is the manager, Ken Macha of Monroeville is the bench coach and Rick Peterson of Mt. Lebanon is the pitching coach.

The Athletics, the American League wild-card team, open postseason play tomorrow night against the world champion New York Yankees in a divisional playoff.

Howe, Macha and Peterson all grew up in the area, graduated from their local high school, played WPIAL baseball and had time with the Pirates. Howe and Macha made it as players and Peterson as a coach.

There were a lot of people who felt Peterson hadn't earned the right to coach with the Pirates in the mid-1980s on Chuck Tanner's staff. He was the son of General Manager Pete Peterson, which seemed to make his appointment as bullpen coach a clear case of nepotism.

That's what I thought, too, until I interviewed Peterson one day when the Pirates were in San Diego. I don't recall precisely what he said but I remember how impressive he was. This was not your typical baseball coach. He talked like a football coach. He had fresh ideas in a profession that hadn't changed in decades. He talked about motivation and teaching and all kinds of things you didn't hear in baseball clubhouses back then.

This poor guy seemed to have no chance to succeed in a sport that worshipped the status quo.

He wasn't rehired when Tanner was fired and drifted off to the minors. The demotion became a promotion. He learned his trade in the back roads of baseball.

Talk to Peterson today and he's saying things like this:

"We discovered that talent does not equal performance, but preparation does."

"Hip rotation is directly correlated to fastball velocity. The power you generate from the top of your kneecap to the bottom of your rib cage generates 60 percent of your fastball velocity."

It's not exactly the stuff you'd hear from Pete Vuckovich.

Peterson worked in the minors for the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox and the Athletics. He also had 1 1/2 seasons in the majors with the White Sox as bullpen coach.

He never stopped learning. While in Birmingham with the White Sox, he met Michael Jordan, who was attempting to start a baseball career.

They would often be the only two working out in the early morning. "I'd ask him a million questions," Peterson said. Imagine the amazement of Peterson, who some thought to be nuts because he had his minor-leaguers practice pitching with their eyes closed, when he learned that the greatest basketball player in history practiced free throws with his eyes closed.

Also while in Birmingham, Peterson had the opportunity to work with and learn from the staff of Dr. James Andrews, the Jordan of orthopedic surgery. Along the way, he pestered the unapproachable Steve Carlton and got an hour of his time. He grabbed every second he could with more accommodating Jim Palmer.

When he was named pitching coach of the A's in 1998, he was ready.

He inherited a staff that had an earned run average of 5.48 in 1997. That became 4.81 in 1998, 4.69 in 1999, 4.58 in 2000 and 3.59 -- second best in baseball -- this year.

Pitching coaches do not make good pitching staffs; pitchers do. But good pitching coaches can help.

The A's have a brilliant young rotation. Mark Mulder, 24, was 21-8. Tim Hudson, 26, was 18-9. Barry Zito, 23, was 17-8. The probable Game 4 starter, Cory Lidle, who was 13-6, is the old man of the rotation at 29. Mulder and Zito were rookies last year. Hudson's first year was 1999 and Lidle's was 1997.

It says so much about the quality of the rotation that Zito won't pitch until the third game although his second half was vintage Pedro Martinez. His ERA for August, September and October was 1.42. After the All-Star Game, opposing hitters batted .196 against him.

How have so many who are so young accomplished so much?

Maybe it's the approach Peterson has for his pitchers.

"My role is to take their personal strength and maximize it as we develop a game plan to attack hitters," Peterson said. Imagine that! A game plan in baseball.

The Athletics make an intensive study of opposing teams' tendencies. They know what other teams do in every situation. Peterson could tell you what every team does on 2-2 pitches. Or how often a particular batters swings at the first pitch and why.

Before each game, the pitchers are given a color-coded card for each batter on the opposing team. Each pitcher gets a different set of cards that best suits his talents.

Peterson won't divulge much about the cards but said a pitcher can learn each card in 30 seconds. The catchers also have the cards, and much of the brain work, according to Peterson, rests with them.

The Athletics' top four starters have 122 career wins. Roger Clemens, who will pitch the first game for the Yankees, has 280 career wins. Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina, who will pitch Games 2 and 3, have a combined 279 wins.

It's a series matching established veterans awash in World Series play and loaded with championship rings against a bunch of kids whose deepest postseason experience is one divisional playoff.

It sounds like a mismatch, but don't bet against Peterson's kids.

Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.