BIGGEST HITS AT TIMES COME FROM FRONT OFFICE.

Byline: MATT McHALE

Thursday was the best day of the 1997 season unless you're a Chicago White Sox fan.

The final hours of baseball's trading deadline was a frenzied swap meet filled with big names that could have a huge impact on the last two months of the season.

It was the Hot Stove League in the heat of summer. It was sports-talk radio with the sound turned up.

And it's not over.

There is another deadline, Aug. 31, which many think is more important. It is all about getting pitchers for the final month and postseason. The ratio of pitchers to position players in these deals is more than 4 to 1.

In 1987, Detroit made a stretch-run trade with Atlanta for right-hander Doyle Alexander. The Tigers went on to win the East, but gave up an unknown named John Smoltz.

That same year, the Dodgers traded Rick Honeycutt for a player to be named later. He turned out to be Tim Belcher, who went 12-6 in 1988 when the Dodgers won the World Series.

The complicated part about the Aug. 31 deadline is a term called waivers. In order to make a deal, teams put all their players in a waiver pool. It doesn't mean Seattle is going to trade Ken Griffey Jr. But if they wanted to after Aug. 1, the only way to do it is to put him in the pool for three days. If a team claims him before that, the Mariners could pull him back. After he clears, he can be traded.

When the White Sox handed three front-line pitchers to the Giants on Thursday, it brought back memories of 1993 when San Francisco tried to acquire Dennis Martinez from Montreal in August. It also helps explain the difference between the two deadlines.

Martinez hadn't cleared waivers and Atlanta blocked the deal, meaning the Expos could only negotiate with the Braves.

Martinez stayed put and the Giants lost the National League West by one game.

This season, the Dodgers were quiet before the July 31 deadline. They were busy making up eight games on the Giants and were happy with their team. Unlike last year, when players complained that the club wasn't trying to improve for the stretch, no one argued. For once, the chemistry was good.

But that could change.

If Tripp Cromer comes back to earth or the club thinks Wilton Guerrero is too flaky, Montreal second baseman Mike Lansing is available. His $2.7 million salary could easily double in salary arbitration and he is eligible for free agency after the 1998 season. Montreal can't afford that. The Expos are out of the running and always looking for prospects.

Lansing already has set the Expos record for home runs by a second baseman (14) and has 50 extra-base hits, three more than Colorado's Andres Galarraga. The Expos wanted two pitchers before the first deadline, one established one prospect.

With time running out, his price tag is going down.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Hideki Irabu was sent back to the minors this past week after allowing 16 earned runs in his last 13-2/3 innings, including 20 hits and six homers.

The New York Yankees are giving plenty of reasons why he failed in his much-hyped first month in the big leagues.

Some make sense. Some don't add up.

The dead-arm stage: This was the most-used theory for his problems, since he hadn't thrown in more than six months and was simulating spring training. The only problem? Irabu was clocked at 100 mph when he first arrived, not exactly the radar reading for the first day of spring. He hasn't been close since.

``We definitely got him at 100 mph in his first inning of his first start at (Single-A) Tampa,'' one Yankee executive said. ``That was on camera, on radar. Since then, the fastball has been going backward.''

The Japanese baseball: The Japanese leagues use a slightly smaller ball, with higher seams. The difference is subtle, but enough for David Cone to say, ``I could strike out 20 a game with a ball like that.''

The American hitters:When Irabu was quoted as saying, ``There are hitters here with incredible ability,'' you could hear his confidence waning. The more Irabu overthrew, the less movement he had on his fastball. And by the end, his fastball was down to 88-90.

Bad pitch selection: Scouts noticed that as his fastball lost velocity, he relied more on his splitter, which has a sharp break but rarely is thrown for a strike. Hitters adjusted and laid off the splitter. Irabu tried to keep the splitter in the strike zone by taking something off it. The result was a three-run homer by Jose Cruz Jr. - then with Seattle, now with Toronto - that signaled the beginning of Irabu's meltdown.

Culture shock:In Japan, Irabu was loud, arrogant, often rude. He was instructed by the club to curb that behavior to suit American baseball fans. The Yankees now think that bottling up his emotions during a pressurized month cost Irabu some of his swagger.

HOTTER THAN JULY

Best months for the Dodgers and Angels, who each moved into first place this past week:

DODGERS ANGELS

MONTH YEAR RECORD MONTH YEAR RECORD

May 1962 21- 7 July 1995 20- 7

July 1963 21-10 June 1967 20-11

June 1973 21- 8 July 1997 19- 7

July 1962 20- 6 July 1988 19- 8

Sept. 1965 20- 7 Aug. 1986 19-10

July 1985 20- 7 June 1963 19-12

July 1997 20- 7 June 1964 19-12

Sept. 1991 20- 8 July 1989 18-10

EXTRA INNINGS

The A's played Friday night without Mark McGwire for the first time since 1987 and ended a six-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over Baltimore. They also snapped a club record 30-inning scoreless streak with an unearned run in the sixth. T.J. Mathews, acquired with two others for McGwire, pitched 1-2/3 innings to get the save. ``I have enough pressure on myself in the eighth or ninth inning,'' Mathews said. ``Once you start thinking about being traded for Mark McGwire, it beats you up inside. Mark McGwire is a future Hall of Famer. I'm honored to be traded for him.''

Jeff Bagwell hit his 29th home run Saturday in Houston's 6-0 victory over the New York Mets, but he hasn't been hitting much during the Astros' recent hot streak. On the homestand he is just 2 for 25 and batting .254 in the last nine games. The same cannot be said about right-hander Darryl Kile, who has been hot for three months. Since May 4, Kile is 14-1 with a 1.84 ERA, five complete games and three shutouts.

Mets pitcher Bobby Jones, has dropped five straight decisions since starting the season 12-2. In his first 13 starts, Jones pitched no fewer than five innings, averaging more than seven innings a start. Pitching with a stiff lower back, Jones hasn't won since June 20. He has lasted fewer than five innings three times, averaging fewer than six innings an outing. He has given up 67 hits in his last 54-1/3 innings, after allowing 73 hits in his first 97-1/3 innings.

After managerial stops in Kansas City and San Diego, don't expect new Reds manager Jack McKeon to get too worried trying to keep Deion Sanders to stay with the team or owner Marge Schott out of his hair. ``I'm not getting an ulcer, I'll tell you that,'' he said. ``If I didn't get an ulcer managing for Charlie Finley for two years, I'll never get an ulcer.'' McKeon remembered Finley, the eccentric A's owner, ``suggesting'' lineup changes. ``If you didn't change it,'' he said, ``your butt was fired.''

Seattle's Edgar Martinez may have won two batting titles, but he is not nearly as well known as teammates Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson or Alex Rodriguez. Last Monday in Boston, a family of four, decked out in Mariners caps and T-shirts, stood behind him at a bank cash machine and did not recognize him. Later, a young woman did spot him. ``She came up and smiled and said, `Where's Alex?' '' Martinez said.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Chart, Box

Photo: When Greg Cadaret (picture, right) finished off the White Sox on Friday and the Angels moved into first place, it capped one of the team's best months in history.

Associated Press

Chart: HOTTER THAN JULY (see text)

Box: EXTRA INNINGS (see text)