In The

By Lee Griggs

As the crow -- or in this case the seagull -- flies, it is a mere eleven miles across San Francisco Bay from Candlestick Park, home of the National League pennant-winning Giants, to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, where the American League champion Athletics play. That distance is only a tad farther than the mileage between Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and the Brooklyn housing project where Ebbets Field used to be, sites of the last public- transit World Series back in 1956. This week the A's and Giants, having finished off their respective challengers from Toronto and Chicago, are launched on the first ever Bay Bridge Series. BAYSBALL!, as the local newspaper headlines and posters put it.

The confrontation has revived San Francisco's mostly unjustified arrogance toward its East Bay neighbor. The old cliches have been aired yet again about Giants fans partying on Chardonnay and quiche in Candlestick parking lots while A's adherents settle for beer and bratwurst at the Coliseum. San Franciscans sneer at the drug problem in "Cokeland," and last week Mayor Art Agnos took arrogance to new heights, initially declining to make the traditional World Series bet with his Oakland counterpart, Lionel Wilson, because "there's nothing in Oakland I want."

Except maybe to emulate the success of the Athletics. The World Series is a novelty to the Giants, who haven't been in one for 27 years or won one in 35. The A's, on the other hand, are in their fifth since 1972 and have won three of their last four.

After a spate of early-season injuries, the A's went into this week's games healthy and in the hitting groove. Their musclemen, designated hitter Dave Parker and the Bash Brothers -- first baseman Mark McGwire and rightfielder Jose Canseco -- each homered at least once in the playoff series against Toronto. Canseco's was a tape-measure job estimated by an IBM computer at 480 ft. Nobody seemed more impressed than Jose himself telling callers on his personal hot line, (900) 234-JOSE, "I mean, this was one mammoth home run, - and you really enjoy hitting those types. I mean, if you gotta hit it, you might as well hit it far, right?"

But the one A's player most likely to give the Giants fits is left fielder Rickey Henderson, 30. All he did against Toronto was reach base on 14 of 23 times at bat, score eight runs, drive in five more, hit two homers and steal eight bases in as many tries. On the base paths he drove Blue Jay pitchers nuts. Like Canseco, Henderson is hardly humble. "I'd say I'm the decade's best lead-off man," he declares. "If people feel I'm one of the best who ever played the game, that's nice to hear." Opposing players call Henderson a hot dog, and frustrated fans in Toronto bombarded him with frankfurters in left field to show their displeasure.

If anyone meant more to his team in the playoffs than "Hot Dog" Henderson to the A's, it was Will ("the Thrill") Clark of the Giants. The 25-year-old first baseman had a grand-slam homer and six runs batted in in the first game, and a bases-loaded single that drove home the winning run in the finale. For the five-game series, he reached base 15 times out of 22, batted .650, scored eight runs and drove in eight, with two homers. "It's no coincidence that at the most important time of the year, Will's at the very top of his game," says teammate Brett Butler. "That's what great players do, like Stan Musial and Ted Williams. Now you have to put Will in that class."

But Clark cannot do it all, and despite impressive home-run help from his partner in the so-called Pacific Sock Exchange, Kevin Mitchell, as well as from slugger Matt Williams, the Giants seem outgunned overall by the Bash Brothers & Associates. More important, the A's boast the best pitching staff in baseball: Dave Stewart (21-9), Mike Moore (19-11), Storm Davis (19-7) and Bob Welch (17-8). For a closer in relief they call on Dennis Eckersley, who saved 33 games in the regular season and three more against the Blue Jays in the playoffs.

Against that array, the Giants have converted reliever Scott Garrelts (14-5), 40-year-old Rick Reuschel (17-8) and the erratic Mike LaCoss (10-10). Fourth starter Don Robinson (12-11) pitches with a bad knee, and closer Steve Bedrosian barely avoided blowing a save in the pennant-clinching win.

A's manager Tony LaRussa properly pooh-poohed the A's 8-1 record against the Giants during spring training and professed concern about the Sock Exchange. Giants manager Roger Craig, ever the optimist, pointed out that "we've got ; men who respond to challenge. We've battled back all year long." But as the series opened last Saturday, hard-eyed bookmakers in Reno made the A's odds-on favorites to win the Battle of the Bay.