Monday, March 31, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.
Tony's picks
Here is how Tony Gwynn sees this year's baseball season shaping up:
World Series: Oakland over St. Louis
"The A's have good pitching. They haven't been able to get over the hump yet, but every year they go to the playoffs ... if they're going to win it, this better be the year because (Miguel) Tejada is not going to be there after this year."
Darkhorse team: Houston Astros
Best hitter: Barry Bonds, Giants
"There's just no doubt. He's proven that year after year."
Best pitcher: Randy Johnson, D'backs
"He'll be 40 this year, but he is not slowing down. He's still dominant."
Best young hitter: Marlon Byrd, Phillies
"The kid has a chance to be really good."
Best young pitcher: Oliver Perez, Padres
"Did well last year, but he separated his shoulder sliding head-first into first . If healthy, the lefty has a fastball, slider and change, and he has a three-quarter delivery. He's got some stuff."
During a 20-year major league career that might make him a first ballot Hall of Famer in 2006, Tony Gwynn got tossed from two games.
In half a season as San Diego State's coach, he is halfway from matching his ejection total as a player.
One thing led to another during an eventual home loss to Santa Clara on Feb. 15, and Gwynn got booted from the stadium that bears his name.
"I'm a lot more high strung than I thought," Gwynn said. "As a player, I think one of the reasons I was successful was that I could block out everything and just focus on the job at hand. As a coach, I really get into it.
"It's easy to kind of forget some of the things you need to remember. You almost have to take a step back and realize what's going on."
Last season, Gwynn got an inkling of his dormant tendencies at his alma mater when he served as a volunteer assistant under longtime Aztecs coach Jim Dietz.
When Dietz missed seven games after having a kidney stone removed, Gwynn filled in as the SDSU interim boss and experienced what it would be like making out the lineup card, when to pluck a starter and how to keep practices lively.
That internship, however, did not provide him with a completely accurate gauge on how he would manage himself inning by inning, batter by batter, or pitch by pitch.
"When you're playing, it's easy to take out your frustration out here," said Gwynn, nodding to the Wilson Stadium field from the visitors' dugout. "But when you're coaching, you don't have anywhere to go.
"I didn't realize how intense I was until I actually got this job. You have to think things out before you let something come out of your mouth, instead of just reacting to things that happen out there. You have to have a grip on yourself. You have to bite your lip."
Gwynn's players followed his lead in shrugging off being no-hit by UNLV on Friday night to win Saturday. But the Aztecs (13-18, 6-3 Mountain West Conference) lost the rubber game of the series in 12 innings Sunday afternoon.
New Mexico (21-10, 7-2) and the Rebels (22-9, 7-2) have set the pace in the league.
Having played against perennial national such as Miami and Arizona State, and ranked teams South Alabama and Long Beach State, the Aztecs' schedule has been tabbed as the 11th-toughest in the country by one college baseball website.
The objective is to toughen a once-proud program -- which developed Mark Grace, Travis Lee and Bobby Meacham, among others -- that has not played in the College World Series since 1991.
"It's going to pay off," Gwynn said.
Gwynn, 42, said Dietz was pleased when he announced his retirement plans and Gwynn told him of his interest in taking over. "He made it a whole lot easier," Gwynn said. "He told me he wanted a guy like me to come in and run the program. He wanted somebody who had gone through the program and understood what it stood for. He was extremely helpful in teaching me the ropes."
So much so that, lately, veteran Aztecs have been telling Gwynn that he has been acting, even talking, like Dietz.
"I don't think that's a bad thing," Gwynn said. "I think that's a good thing."
Gwynn often watched Dietz manicure the program, from wrapping the foul poles with padding to climbing lighting standards to replace dead bulbs.
As Dietz did, Gwynn waters down artificial portions of his field to clean off impediments and to make them more appealing. As Dietz did, Gwynn regularly drags the infield.
"There are a lot of things at San Diego State that have his signature all over, the little, meticulous things," Gwynn said. "As a coach, you start to realize that that was his time to reflect on what was going on with his ball club."
During the '02 season, Dietz also gave his protege the scoop on the Mountain West. Some nights, Dietz told Gwynn, pitching will carry your team. Others, it will be hitting. Scoring in double figures will be critical, too.
"I was like, 'Yeah. OK. Sure, coach,' " Gwynn said. "Then we go to New Mexico and we're cruising along, about 14-2. Next thing you know, it's 14-9 and we're only in the fifth inning."
This season, the Aztecs scored five in the first, only to lose to Utah. In a game against Long Beach State, SDSU pitchers were pummeled for 11 runs in one inning of a 14-11 defeat.
"(Dietz) was absolutely right in a lot of things we talked about," Gwynn said. "I just tried to kind of carry over some of the things he started, try to bring back the tradition, try to bring some good old-fashioned winning baseball back to San Diego State."
He isn't the sole Gwynn with that goal, either. Anthony Gwynn, a junior, starts in center field and said his father didn't take control of the program to provide a quick fix or to have fun coaching his son for a couple of seasons.
"When he puts his mind to do something, he's there for a while, like playing baseball," the younger Gwynn told USA Today. "He ended up playing 20 years."
The elder Gwynn played for the Aztecs from 1979-81, but he arrived in San Diego as a basketball player. His 590 assists still top that program's career chart. Meacham convinced Dietz to look at Gwynn as a left fielder, and a legend was born.
That was 3,141 major league hits ago.
A year ago, when the Aztecs visited Las Vegas, Gwynn tapped Dick Williams, the famous Oakland A's manager who has done radio work for the Rebels, for some coaching advice.
"One thing about managing," Williams said, "you almost have to think about things two and three innings down the road."
Gwynn looked at the top of the Wilson Stadium dugout steps.
"I find myself standing up here, thinking like that," he said. "To be honest, though, I haven't done it long enough to know if it's a good thing or bad thing -- to be that far down the road."
Gwynn wants the program to receive publicity for successes it achieves and for the power it might become, not for a famous alum who has returned to try to make it respectable.
A lifetime .338 hitter in the majors, Gwynn did admit that he can get chills inside Tony Gwynn Stadium if he doesn't look too far down the road.
"It is a novelty," he said. "It kind of takes a little bit of getting used to. Sometimes, I look out and I see my name out on the center-field wall and I see my son standing right in front of it, and you almost have to pinch yourself.
"Sometimes, the whole thing is overwhelming."
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