Tuesday, April 28, 1998 | 9:34 a.m.
STEVE CARP is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter.
BY HIS OWN admission, Rick Down is hitless. And in baseball, if you go 0-fer over a length of time, you don't stick around very long.
The one-time UNLV coach, one of the game's top hitting instructors, has bigger aspirations. He dreams of one day managing in the majors, and he has talked to a half-dozen teams about becoming their manager.
But dreams have not turned into reality for the 48-year-old resident of northwest Las Vegas who has been in baseball for 30 years.
For now, Down has to remain content with working with the likes of Cal Ripken Jr., Joe Carter, Brady Anderson, Roberto Alomar, Harold Baines and the rest of the Baltimore Orioles in his third year as the team's hitting instructor.
However, the itch to manage remains. After all, Down's not getting any younger.
"I'm not going to satisfy my aspirations by being a batting coach," Down said. "It's a challenge anyone would want."
Down thought he was close with the Boston Red Sox and the California Angels. But he didn't make the final cut. Like most baseball fans, he's keeping score. His math has him 0-for-6.
"I wouldn't mind being 1-for-7," he said.
Down believes it's going to take a World Sries appearance by the Orioles to get him off the managerial ziggy. Baltimore doesn't neecessarily have to win it, although that wouldn't hurt.
"Winning is a mind set as much as anything else," he said. "The goal is to win the World Series. It would give the appearance I'm a little smarter."
Down points to Larry Rothschild as a prime example.
Rothschild parlayed a championship ring with the Florida Marlins last October into a seat in the manager's office with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. If Florida doesn't make it to the Fall Classic, Rothschild likely doesn't make it to Tropicana Field.
"At this level, it's all about winning," Down said.
Right now, the World Series is a long way away for Down and the Orioles. Baltimore got off to a fast start but has lost eight of its last nine and sits in third place in the American League East. No one is panicking, of course. As Down says, this is a marathon, not a sprint. But there will come a point where the Orioles will have to make their move, and they better hope it's enough to propel them into the postseason.
"It's hard to win the (Kentucky) Derby with a bunch of mules," Down said. "(But) we have talent. We have racehorses."
For Down's sake, those racehorses had better to the finish line first, so he can call the manager's office home. But if not, he knows he'll always have a job.
In a sport that has been accused of not knowing what it's doing, there's always room for someone who does.
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