Baseball

With the studied look of a physics professor, Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Bill Russell eyed Juan Rojas, 9, as he hit baseball after baseball into the dew-coated turf. Quietly stepping forward from beside the backstop, Russell whispered to Juan, who examined his hands as if seeing them for the very first time. At the next pitch, Juan kept the bat up as the Dodger manager had instructed and launched the ball into the depths of left field.

With the studied look of a physics professor, Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Bill Russell eyed Juan Rojas, 9, as he hit baseball after baseball into the dew-coated turf. Quietly stepping forward from beside the backstop, Russell whispered to Juan, who then examined his hands as if seeing them for the very first time. At the next pitch, Juan kept the bat up as the Dodger manager had instructed and launched the ball into the depths of left field. Mighty Casey would have been proud. Juan sure was.

Now that a five-year labor agreement is in place, here's a suggestion for baseball's 30 club owners, their general managers, and all others with any authority to speak for the industry: Why don't you just shut up and play the games? Stop complaining. Stop predicting doom. Stop agonizing. Stop apologizing. Stop blaming someone for whatever troubles you have. Stop trying to explain what your troubles are.

Months of anticipation ended Wednesday when Mike Batesole was hired as Cal State Northridge's permanent baseball coach. Batesole served as interim coach last season, after the resignation of Bill Kernen in August of 1995, and led Northridge to a 52-18 record and a surprising runner-up finish in the NCAA West Regional. "It was not a difficult decision, because of the job Mike had done and the season we had," Athletic Director Paul Bubb said.

Denny Barrett has been hired as baseball coach at Glendale College. Barrett coached at Chaminade High the past two years and compiled a record of 36-17. He replaces Andy Nieto, who left Glendale after one season to become an assistant at USC. Barrett played at Notre Dame High and UC Santa Barbara. Glendale was 14-24 last season and finished fifth in the six-team Western State Conference South Division with a record of 9-17. Track Shana Driscoll of St.

Augie Garrido, who has coached Cal State Fullerton to three College World Series championships, is considered a leading candidate to replace Cliff Gustafson at Texas. Fullerton Athletic Director John Easterbrook confirmed Tuesday that Garrido was invited to Texas to discuss the job. Indications are that Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds hopes to name a new coach by the end of the week.

Quaint as it seems, they are amateurs. The Team USA that will try to keep Cuba from winning the gold medal in America's pastime on American soil does not include any professionals. Many of them soon will be, true enough- eight were first-round major league draft picks in June. But next to the Cubans, who walk onto the field with the easy confidence of grown men, the American baseball players look like talented, awkward boys.

It's beginning to look like another long season for the Harvard-Westlake baseball team, but at least the coaching staff needn't worry about going gray. First-year Coach Norm Greenbaum is 58. So is assistant Mel Swerdling. Hitting coach Kal Badran is 60. The Wolverines' "three wise old men," as Greenbaum calls the trio, have more than a half-century of coaching experience among them. And with considerable success.

No cookie-cutter victory this. It began with a couple of crumbs, tiny bunt singles by Adam Kennedy and Eric Gillespie that led to a scratch run in the first inning, and didn't end until Cal State Northridge had blasted a baker's dozen home runs, the most ever by one team in a Division I game.