Angels’ Moore Slams the Door, Preserves Win Over Brewers

It happened in early March after an intrasquad game at the Angels training complex in Mesa, Ariz.

Donnie Moore credits a conversation with Manager Gene Mauch for allowing him to shake the pressure he had brought with him from the National League and regain the form with which he converted 16 of 19 save opportunities for Atlanta in 1984.

Moore showed that form again Saturday, saving a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and enhancing his believability among the Angels, who have always thought that relief was something you purchase at a pharmacy.

An Anaheim Stadium crowd of 24,139 watched the Angels register their eighth win in the last 10 games. Moore, unscored on in the 14 innings of his last 10 appearances, worked the final inning to register his fifth save.

Bob Boone, who passed on the opportunity to see his son’s Little League game and was in the batting cage at 9 Saturday morning, employed a new stance and stride in delivering two key hits and two RBIs.

Ron Romanick saw third baseman Doug DeCinces make a diving catch of a Dion James line drive to prevent a run and possible big inning in the third, then went on to gain his third win in four decisions, scattering six hits in a stint of seven innings.

The Angels are 16-9 and have baseball’s best record. They are also 8-1 in games decided by one run, a measurement of their improved bullpen. The Angels have not been better than .500 in one-run games since 1978.

Mauch said he couldn’t define the significance of 8-1, but “I do know what it means when you don’t hold a lead. It hurts. It hurts deep, and not just the manager. It hurts everybody.”

Moore has provided an antidote.

“What have we played . . . 25 games?” Mauch said. “It’s pretty hard to beat the job he’s done. I haven’t seen anybody, anywhere do a better job.

“I’ll like him even if there are days when he doesn’t do the job.”

Moore seems to know that. Mauch told him as much after that intrasquad game in Arizona. The Angels had selected Moore from more than 2,000 players as compensation for the loss of Fred Lynn, a type-A free agent.

Even then, six weeks before the season started, Moore was trying to be perfect, trying to show the Angels they hadn’t made a mistake.

“I was definitely feeling pressure,” he said Saturday. “I wanted to show these people I could pitch. I wanted to show them I could pitch good.

“Gene took me aside and said, ‘Hey, we know you can do the job, just relax, stay within yourself.’ Those few words were the difference in night and day for me. I might still be struggling if Gene hadn’t taken that time.

“Now I couldn’t be happier that he did. I feel relaxed. I feel confident. There’ll be days when I can’t buy an out, but I won’t leave the park and die.

“I know I can do the job if I’m healthy. I also have the added confidence of knowing others now have confidence in me. I’ve felt it ever since I pitched those three innings in Minnesota (April 17, when he pitched three innings of shutout ball for his first save). It makes me feel good. It means a lot to have a Doug DeCinces come over and say, ‘Hey, just keep it in play, just let ‘em hit it to me.’ ”

The Angels led, 4-2, Saturday when Doug Loman opened the ninth with a single off Pat Clements, who had come on to pitch the eighth, getting Ben Oglivie to ground into a double play with two on and no outs.

Moore was summoned after the Loman single and yielded a ground single by Charlie Moore, putting Loman on third, from where he scored on Jim Gantner’s fly to left.

Moore then struck out Mark Brouhard and got Paul Molitor on a game-ending tap to the mound.

Said catcher Boone: “The tougher the situation, the tougher Donnie seems to get.”

Said Reggie Jackson: “The thing about it now is that even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, the confidence he gets from the team, the fans, the management, it all works to make him better.

“It’s May, it’s early, but if Donnie makes the difference in only 10 more wins.”

That would mean 91 for a team that won 81 in finishing at .500, only three games behind Kansas City last year.

Romanick, who yielded solo runs in the fourth and sixth innings and who had given up 15 hits and nine runs in the 7 innings of his last two starts, said he worked Saturday with Clements and Moore in mind.

“It’s a nice feeling knowing you have a rested bullpen people who can shut them down,” he said. “I’ve made too many unnecessary pitches in these last three starts and been my own worst enemy.

“I’ll be working to correct that, but my own technique and success is secondary to the team’s win. I felt I contributed to that my keeping us in the game.”

It was two different games for Angel hitters. They collected seven hits off Pete Vuckovich in 2 innings and none off Bob Gibson, who emulated the Hall of Famer of the same name over the last 5 innings.

Boone, batting .185 in the wake of his .202 of last year, chased Vuckovich with his two-run single in the third after delivering a single in the second that moved Juan Beniquez, who had also singled, to third, from where he scored on a Ruppert Jones sacrifice fly.

Boone, of course, hopes the latest changes, designed with batting coach Moose Stubing early Saturday morning, help lift him out of a two-year slump. Boone assumes that son Aaron will accept the two hits as compensation for his absence from his Little League game.

Angel Notes

Manager Gene Mauch on Bob Boone: “I accept what he does for this team and I’m confident, too, that he’ll hit better than last year. A hitter has to have something he can believe in, and I think Boone believes that he found something this morning. As long as he keeps searching I’m happy with him. If he were content, I’d be concerned.” . . . Making It Happen: Leadoff man Gary Pettis opened the Angels’ first with a double, took third on a ground out, then scored when a Pete Vuckovich pitch bounced a few feet away from catcher Charlie Moore and Moore threw wildly to Vuckovich covering the plate. . . . Rod Carew, nursing a bruised and swollen left foot suffered in Thursday night’s game, missed his second in a row. He will have today and an off day Monday to prepare for his probable return Tuesday night at Boston. . . . Mike Witt (1-3) faces the Brewers’ Danny Darwin (3-1) today.