Polonia Tips His Cap to the Other Leadoff Man : Baseball: Angel outfielder says Rickey Henderson is the most dangerous man in baseball--after Henderson shows why.

Luis Polonia stood in the Angel clubhouse Sunday, donning his golden cluster of chains and medallions. He fixed the clasp of a bracelet, and fingered his several rings--one of them a 1988 Oakland Athletic World Series ring.

In the visitors’ clubhouse, Rickey Henderson lounged in an easy chair. He had all but single-handedly produced the only two runs Oakland needed in a 4-1 victory at Anaheim Stadium over the Angels and their ace, Chuck Finley.

“I tell you what, my thinking about Rickey is that he’s the best player in the whole world,� Polonia said. “He can take over a whole team by himself. When he’s on base, forget it--he’s going to score.�

By a subjective and imprecise mathematical assumption, Polonia is one-third the player Henderson is.

When the New York Yankees traded Henderson to Oakland in June of 1989, they received Polonia, Eric Plunk and Greg Caderet.

They didn’t get enough.

Henderson is unrivaled as the best leadoff hitter in baseball. He led off the game Sunday with a home run, the 21st homer of his season and the 44th leadoff homer of his career, an ongoing major league record.

In the eighth inning, with Finley and Oakland’s Dave Stewart locked in a 1-1 tie, Henderson led off with a walk. He stole his 49th base of the season while Jose Canseco was in the process of striking out, and came home on Dave Henderson’s single up the middle.

That was all Stewart needed for his 15th victory.

“I get scared when I see Rickey up there,� said Polonia, often the Angels’ leadoff man. “I know something is going to happen. I’d rather see (Jose) Canseco hitting up there than him.

“They’re different ballplayers. Jose is really scary--you know the guy can hit the ball out of the ball park any minute. But compare between them, Rickey does more damage. He gets on base more, he’s going to run. If I (pick one), I go for Rickey.�

It was not so long ago that Polonia was batting leadoff for the A’s. He hit first in 54 of the 84 games he played for the A’s in 1988.

When Polonia became a Yankee, Henderson turned the A’s leadoff spot into the perfection of the form.

Polonia, who came to the Angels in an April trade with the Yankees, admires him from afar.

So do the Angels, who have matched their largest deficit of the season by losing three of four games to Oakland to fall to 16 games back in the American League West.

The Angels wasted Bill Schroeder’s leadoff double in the third inning, stranding him on a grounder to third, a strikeout and a pop to short. Donnie Hill was left at second after a leadoff single in the fourth. Devon White was stuck at third in the sixth after knocking in the Angels’ only run with a triple after an error.

They could do nothing with Brian Downing’s one-out walk in the seventh. And when Schofield got to second base on a single and a groundout in the eighth, Hill flied out and White struck out, leaving him there.

“You see us and them in this series,� Polonia said. “They’re getting guys over, doing the little things. We don’t do that. We’re not successful at the little things, and if you can’t do the little things, there’s no way you can win.�