European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 b the stars and stripes thursday october 10, 1991american league playoffs jays Candiotti knuckle under Tom Candiotti finds the going Tough in the Pivotal second inning wednesday. By Jimmy Golen Minneapolis a Tom can Diotti a Knuck Leball did no to dance in the dome. Candiotti making the first postseason Start of his career was tagged for five runs in 2�i innings tuesday night and the Toronto Blue jays lost to the Minnesota twins 5-4 in game 1 of the Al playoffs. Candiotti was 3-5 with six no decisions in domed stadiums during the season. He has said that the Lack of wind and humidity indoors kills the action of his Knuck Ler but that Wasny to the problem this time. A i Felt pretty comfortable out there a he said. A i thought the Knuck Leball was moving really Well in the zone and basically 1 Felt really  a i think he got beat on curve balls not knuckle balls a Blue Jay manager Cito Gaston said. A i think the whole purpose was to get him to throw a few More knuckle balls. I think he got beat on his second Best pitch. And i m not too Happy about  with game 1 at the metronome and Toronto a retractable sky dome roof Likely to be closed this figures to be baseball a first sky less postseason series. Candiotti said his problem Wasny to with the stadium. A i done to think domes Are a problem a he said. A a in be had some of my Best games at domes. One thing Good about a domejays1 dressing room is that you have some consistency when you re warming up. You know the wind wont change and things like  candiotti1 certainly Wasny to seeing rays of Hope on tuesday. Minnesota mauled him for eight hits before he was pulled in the third. Even worse Minnesota a runners took advantage of the slow floating Knuckles for Early jumps. Tie twins stole four bases off can Diotti with Catcher Pat Borders not even making a throw twice. On another steal Borders hurried throw bounced into Center Field allowing Chuck Knoblauch to take third. A a it a hard when you be got a Knuck Leball Pitcher out there a Borders said. A the balls moving around so much its hard to get a grip on  Candiotti came to Toronto from Cleveland in a june 27 Trade for four players. He was 7-6 with a 2.24 Era with the indians but they gave him three or fewer runs in eight of 15 starts. Although the Trade took him away from last place Cleveland where he spent almost All of his six year career the Blue jays did no to give much More support scoring three or fewer runs eight times in 19 starts. His Era stayed under 3.00, but he went 6-7. Jays pay for Cut Down run Minneapolis a conventional baseball Wisdom says not to take chances when you re five runs Down. Toronto third base coach Rich Hacker applied his own Wisdom and the result was costly. With the Blue jays trailing the Minnesota twins 5-0 in the fourth inning of tuesdays Al playoff opener Hacker tried to score speedy Roberto Alomar from first base on Joe Carters double. Alomar was out at the plate Short circuiting a potentially big inning and the jays went on to lose 5-4. A we were losing 5-0 and Jack Morris was pitching Well. With Roberto running i was trying to make something happen a Hacker said. A i thought they had to make key play a pretty Good throw but As it turned out it was t really that  Center fielder Kirby Puckett played Carters double off the Wall and threw quickly to shortstop Greg Gagne. Gagne wheeled and fired Home and even though his throw was a Little up the third base line Catcher Brian Harper had time to make a diving tag into the Back of the sliding Alomar. Gagne said he Wasny to surprised that Alomar was going. He said he used first baseman Kent Hrbek who was lined up in front of Home plate As a target. A i thought he had a Good Chance of scoring a Gagne said. A i just turned and fired at Herbie and that was it. A it was one of those in by tween plays for the third base coach a a do i Send him or not a i figured head be  Hacker said he would do the same thing again. A there Are two ways to look at it. If he scores you re aggressive if he does no to you second guess it. But i done to have that luxury a he said. A if it was somebody that does no to run so Well i  have sent  because it took near perfect execution for the twins to Cut Down Alomar someone suggested hackers decision would have been right nine times out of 10. A but it Wasny to tonight a Hacker said. A and that a Why you re Here talking to  Speed provides Relief for winners by de Stych Minneapolis a Surprise Speed and untouchable Relief pitching did it for the Minnesota twins in game 1 of the Al league playoffs. Forget the homers and the hankies. Minnesota played the Blue jays game and sped around the bases to a 5-0 Lead before Toronto starter Tom Candiotti and Catcher Pat Borders looked up. A we Felt we could get a pretty Good jump on Candiotti a Shane Mack said. A Borders has a pretty Good Arm. But Candiotti throws a lot of knuckle balls and that helps you get a really Good  Toronto was second in the league with 148 steals. The twins who had just 107 for the year and no More than three in a game swiped four Early. Later the relievers did the Job when Jack Morris got hit. Carl Willis and Rick Aguilera shut out the Blue jays for the twins dressing room final 3vi innings. Yeah Toronto has one of baseball a deepest bullpen with Tom Henke Duane Ward Mike Timlin and David Wells. It did no to make any difference in game 1. A with the Way Carl was throwing the Ball tonight i think we re pretty comparable a Aguilera said. A a you re not going to get a much better performance than  Willis came in with runners on first and second and one out in the sixth. He retired seven straight batters before Aguilera relieved with two outs in the eighth. It was Willis who got out of the biggest Jam of the night. Toronto scored three runs on five straight singles closing to 54. He got his first Batter Candy Maldonado on a Fly to left fielder Dan Gladden at the Wall. Ranee Mulliniks then grounded sharply to Scott Leius who stepped on third. A when Maldorado hit the Ball up to the Wall they probably had a lot of Confidence thinking they had gotten to the weak part of our pitching staff a Willis said. A hopefully now they wont be quite so sure of themselves when 1 come out  Aguilera third in the Al with 42 saves gave up a single before striking out Kelly Gruber to end the eighth. He got the Side out in order in the ninth. Quot except for two Brief stints with Detroit and Cincinnati the 30-Ycar-old Willis has spent most of his nine year professional career in the minors. 1 he 1 wins signed Willis As a free agent last december and brought him up from class aaa Portland on april 18. He went 8-3, got two saves and had a 2.63 Era. W a it was really exciting just to have this uniform on in a game like this Quot he said. Playoff notebook Larkin sits despite hits Minneapolis a Gene Larkin leads All Minnesota batters with a .389 average against the Toronto Blue jays a who held twins hitters to a .218 Mark during the season. Nevertheless Larkin Wasny to in the lineup tuesday when the twins won game 1. A a in a like to play him a twins manager Tom Kelly said a but we just done to have a place for  Larkin played right Field first base and do during the season. Shane Mack was in right Kent Hrbek was at first and Chili Davis was the do on tuesday a Mack went 2 for 3 with an rib double Hrbek was 1 for 4, and Davis went 1 for 2 with a two run single. Larkin Pinch hit in the eighth inning and grounded out to first. Hanky Panky Homer hankies Are Back but they Arentt the innocent pieces of White cloth they were in 1987. The Star Tribune a Minneapolis based newspaper is charging $1 for them a with 45 cents going to the Star Tribune 45 cents to the twins and 10 cents to the United Way. Sitting st1eb Dave Stieb out with shoulder and Back injuries since May 23, said watching his team play in the playoffs is Tough. �?o1 done to get a big kick out of watching baseball. I want to play it a said Stieb who rejoined the Blue jays As a uniformed observer for the playoffs