GIANTS FACING ROUGH ROAD, REPEAT OF 1993.

Byline: Matt McHale

The Baltimore Orioles opened the second half with a seven-game lead in the American League East and even with Hideki Irabu, the New York Yankees concede they are playing the rest of the season for a wild-card berth.

The San Francisco Giants were six games up in the NL West when play resumed Thursday, but they know they could be in for the fight of their lives. One reason: Memories of 1993.

The Giants had a 10-game lead on July 22 and went on to win 103 games. But the Atlanta Braves acquired Fred McGriff on July 18 of that year and went 51-17 the rest of the way.

That was the final year of the baseball's four-division setup and it was said at the time that with the wild-card format no team would ever again win 100 games and not reach the playoffs.

That's still true, but if the Giants fall out of first place, they could be in trouble. They play 44 of their final 75 games on the road. And in the East, there are three teams behind Atlanta with records well over .500. The second-place Florida Marlins entered the weekend with a better record than San Francisco.

And you thought all the pressure was on the Dodgers.

Brian Sabean joined the Giants in 1993 as an assistant general manager. Now the GM, Sabean's most vivid memory of that year was dropping eight straight at Candlestick Park in September.

``Who'd have thunk we'd win 103 games despite having an eight-game losing streak at home?'' he said. ``It tells you you can hit a rough spot. You're wary of that happening.''

On paper, this team is not as strong as the 1993 club, which had Will Clark, Matt Williams and MVP Barry Bonds.

``It's tough to compare,'' said reliever Rod Beck, an All-Star both seasons. ``It was a totally different team (in 1993). We crushed people.''

The feeling during this weekend's series at Dodger Stadium is that nothing from the first half really matters. The Giants hope to prove that wrong.

They had baseball's toughest schedule in the last month but finished with just their second winning June in the last 10 years.

Bonds had eight homers in 18 games after hitting 12 in the first 69.

J.T. Snow, batting .180 in late April, had eight homers in 11 games before the break.

Snow, however, might be a symbol for what could go wrong. Two years ago, his Angels blew a 13-game lead to Seattle.

``Don't look to the finish line too soon,'' Snow warned. ``We have a long way to go. Just go day by day. This team does a good job of that.''

Many moves possible

The McGriff trade won the Braves a pennant in 1993 and plenty of moves could take place before the July 31 deadline.

Mark McGwire. Curt Schilling. Pudge Rodriguez. Eric Karros?

The Dodgers' Fred Claire said no call was made to the Cincinnati Reds concerning Karros for Deion Sanders. Reds officials say otherwise.

The absence of a left-handed bat in the middle of the Dodgers lineup has been glaring. Karros is hot now, but his first-half slumps the past two years put the team in difficult positions.

They were 18 games over .500 in the second half last season but crumbled in the season's final weekend and were wiped out in the playoffs.

The thought of Boston's Mo Vaughn coming to a Fox-owned Dodgers next year is exciting. His left-handed presence in any lineup can be frightening. His clubhouse presence is even more impressive. As strong as Karros and Mike Piazza are, it won't matter until they can carry the Dodgers on their backs.

Of course, if Yankees owner George Steinbrenner enters the bidding as expected, Vaughn could easily become a $10 million player.

But Fox owner Rupert Murdoch overpaid for the NFL rights and that seemed to work out OK.

The Dodgers haven't won a playoff game since 1988 and the focus is now. With the change in ownership, front-office jobs could be on the line without a strong finish.

Schilling, the Phillies right-hander, has received a lot of trade interest, including from the Giants.

The Indians, worried about injured Jack McDowell, have been talking to Philadelphia since spring training. When Schilling was introduced at last Tuesday's All-Star Game in Cleveland, fans aware of a possible trade cheered as if he was one of their own.

``How about that ovation for Schilling?'' Indians GM John Hart said. ``This guy got an ovation like that because of a rumor. What do you think that tells any player or any pitcher about the fans in Cleveland? As a general manager, I had plenty of help out there.''

Like McGwire, Rodriguez will be a free agent at the end of the year and if his team drops out of the race, there is a good chance the Rangers could move their All-Star catcher.

Although he is young (25), Rodriguez will have caught 750 games by season's end. That sends up warning signs during any multiyear talks.

``Those are things you have to look at,'' Rangers general manager Doug Melvin said. ``It's nothing personal against Pudge. I realize he's worked very hard. But it's my responsibility as general manager to look at all those things.

Short division

If you didn't like interleague play because you're a purist, consider something far worse: winning a division with a record under .500.

Entering the weekend, the best race in baseball was in the National League Central, where the top three teams were just one game apart.

They also all had losing records.

The biggest surprise is the Pittsburgh Pirates, expected to finish last after trimming their payroll to $9 million. The Pirates have a little history on their side. They have been in first place at the break seven times since division play began in 1969. Seven times they've won the division.

But in 1973 they also finished a game behind the New York Mets, who won the NL East with an 82-80 record. The Mets then beat the mighty Cincinnati Reds for the National League pennant and had a three-games-to-two lead in the World Series before losing to Oakland.

The Pirates closed the first half by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games on the road.

The starting staff of Francisco Cordova, Esteban Loaiza, Jon Leiber and Jason Schmidt has made the Pirates a team to watch.

``The thing I like about them is they seem to be resilient,'' Cardinals shortstop Royce Clayton said. ``There has been two or three times this year when they started to fade and it looked like the bubble was going to burst. But they kept coming back.''

EXTRA INNINGS

``I don't think `pennant race' accurately describes what's going on in our division. It's more of a pennant crawl.''

--- BARRY LARKIN, Cincinnati Reds shortstop, about the NL Central.

Fred McGriff, who hit at least 30 homers in seven consecutive seasons (1988-94), hasn't homered since June 22. Of his 88 hits, 66 have been singles. After collecting a career-high 37 doubles last season, he has just 11 this year.

Todd Van Poppel, the former top pitching prospect who was released by four teams during the past calendar year, is 0-3 with a 5.03 ERA for the Rangers' Class-A team.

Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez is having another great year offensively, but his 16 errors are one more than last season. . . . At the mathematical midpoint, Orioles pitchers were on pace to give up 554 earned runs this season. Baltimore allowed 839 earned runs last year.

The selection of Pittsburgh rookie second baseman Tony Womack to the All-Star team over the Giants' Jeff Kent and Montreal's Mike Lansing upset many. But talk about timely hits. Against NL manager Bobby Cox's Braves, Womack went 11 for 24 (.458) with three steals in six games.

Cleveland's Manny Ramirez says he doesn't like batting cleanup, but in the first 14 games after replacing Matt Williams, he hit .436 (24 for 55) with four homers and 16 RBI.

The Phillies are on a pace to lose 116 games. Only 13 teams have lost 110 or more since 1900:

Year Team Rec. BA ERA GB

1904 Washington Senators 38-113 .227 3.62 55.5

1909 Washington Senators 42-110 .223 3.04 56

1916 Philadelphia A's 36-117 .242 3.84 54.5

1932 Boston Red Sox 43-111 .251 5.02 64

1935 Boston Braves 38-115 .263 4.93 61.5

1939 St. Louis Browns43-111 .268 6.01 64.5

1941 Philadelphia Phillies 43-111 .244 4.50 57

1952 Pittsburgh Pirates 42-112 .2314.65 54.5

1962 New York Mets 40-120 .240 5.0460.5

1963 New York Mets 51-111 .219 4.12 48

1965 New York Mets 50-112 .221 4.06 47

1969 San Diego Padres 52-110 .225 4.24 41

1969 Montreal Expos 52-110 .240 4.33 48

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1) Boston's Mo Vaughn would be a welcomed presence in the Dodger's lineup and clubhouse.

(2) FRED McGRIFF

(3) Phillies coach John Vukovich (left) and Darren Daulton wonder if this season can get any worse.

Associated Press

BOX: EXTRA INNINGS (see text)