DeCinces One-Man Show, 5-3 : His 2 Home Runs and 5 RBIs Beat the Blue Jays

Doug DeCinces made team history Thursday night when he made his 440th appearance as a third baseman in an Angel uniform, the most ever by the same man at that position in the franchise’s 25-year existence.

Friday night, DeCinces did more than that. Almost singlehandedly, he made a difference in the American League West race.

And for good measure, he reminded 35,870 fans at Anaheim Stadium that the Angel attack does not live on Ruppert and Reggie alone.

By driving in five runs on a pair of home runs, DeCinces accounted for the Angels’ entire run production against the Toronto Blue Jays, pacing a 5-3 victory that improved the Angels’ first-place lead over Oakland in the AL West to six games.

With Kirk McCaskill and Donnie Moore combining to limit the Blue Jays to nine hits, DeCinces was a one-man offense, delivering a two-run home run in the second inning and a three-run shot in the sixth.

That left DeCinces with 10 home runs for the season, making him the third Angel to reach double figures in that department. Ruppert Jones, with 16 homers, and Reggie Jackson, with 15, are the others.

The Jones-Jackson home run duel-- I’ll hit one and you try to match it --has fueled the Angels of late, but on this night, the pair went hitless in seven at-bats. So it became DeCinces’ mission to provide the power necessary to defuse Toronto’s Jimmy Key (7-4), a pitcher headed for next week’s All-Star game.

“Some of us were getting tired of just having the Ruppert and Reggie Show here,” DeCinces said. “We decided it was time for a change.”

DeCinces personally did something about it. He crashed the party by crashing a pair of Key’s breaking pitches into the outfield seats--one over the right-field fence, the other to left.

DeCinces is a streak hitter. He has had two home runs in a single game 15 times during his career, and in 1982, he helped carry the Angels to a division title when he had a pair of three-homer games during one memorable week in August.

But this streak took some time in coming. Slowed by back ailments and an inconsistent bat, DeCinces entered Friday night’s game with a .246 batting average.

Angel Manager Gene Mauch said he remained patient, figuring DeCinces’ time would come sooner or later.

“You can control Doug DeCinces for a while--you can control anyone for a while--but you cannot control Doug DeCinces forever,” Mauch said.

“When you’ve got a club like this, where everybody in the lineup can do things like that, it just maintains the thought that something good might happen any minute.”

DeCinces homered to right with Mike Brown on base in the second, then went to left with Brown and Brian Downing aboard in the sixth to present the Angels with a 5-0 lead.

That, in turn, enabled McCaskill, who began the season 0-4, to finally even his record at 5-5, and it enabled Moore, the Angels’ lone All-Star, to record his 17th save of the season.

The Blue Jays didn’t go quietly. In fact, this matchup of division leaders became heated right off the bat--on the game’s first at-bat.

Toronto’s Damaso Garcia, recently selected as a reserve American League All-Star second baseman, became an idle second baseman in a hurry. He was thrown out of the game after grounding out to open the game.

Just before that, Garcia had engaged plate umpire Derryl Cousins in a dispute over a pitch that Cousins ruled to be McCaskill’s first strike of the night.

Garcia, questioning the call, stepped out of the batter’s box to argue with Cousins. After a few moments of this, Cousins said he had heard enough, motioned Garcia back into the box and motioned McCaskill to pitch. Garcia wouldn’t oblige, so McCaskill’s next pitch was delivered without a batter.

Cousins called it a strike, evening the count at 2 and 2.

This really riled Garcia, who continued to protest. He was quickly joined by Blue Jay Manager Bobby Cox, who double-teamed Cousins in the debate.

When order was eventually restored and the game allowed to resume, Garcia grounded to second. But Garcia, still steamed, made his return to the dugout while slamming his batting helmet to the ground.

That earned Garcia his early exit--and prompted the Blue Jays to announce they were playing the game under protest, claiming that Garcia should have been fined, rather than ejected, for slam-dunking his helmet.

McCaskill was working on a four-hit shutout before walking Ernie Whitt with one out in the seventh inning. That set up Jesse Barfield for a two-run home run, his 14th homer of the season, which he deposited in the left-field seats.

Tony Fernandez immediately followed with a single, which ended McCaskill’s night. On came Moore, who surrendered an RBI single to Lloyd Moseby but finally managed to wrap things up.

McCaskill gave a mixed review of his own performance.

“I’m kind of upset I couldn’t stay in the game, but we won, and that’s the bottom line,” he said. “That was a goal of mine--to even my record before the All-Star break.

McCaskill got there, with a little help from his friends.

Turning mathematician for a moment, McCaskill apportioned credit for the victory this way: “You have to give Doug a quarter, Donnie a quarter, Bob (Boone) a quarter, and I’ll take a quarter.”

That’s one way to look at it, although DeCinces’ piece of the pie certainly deserved the most notice.

Angel Notes

The Angels are leaders of the American League West and have the third-best record in baseball, but their representation in Tuesday’s All-Star game will be limited to relief pitcher Donnie Moore. And what is Manager Gene Mauch’s opinion of that? “We have a lot more than one guy with All-Star credentials,” Mauch said, “but I can’t concern myself with things I can’t control. . . . If I had to strike out one right-handed hitter, I’d rather have Mike Witt than two or three of the guys they have on the (American League) staff. If I needed a great defensive play at third, I’d want Doug DeCinces. If I needed to turn a tough double play, I’d want Bobby Grich. Who better to get you a base hit than Rod Carew? And Reggie Jackson can hit a home run quicker than a lot of people out there. But that’s not the way the All-Star teams are picked.’ . . . Pedro Guerrero spent time in a first-place clubhouse Friday. The Dodgers’ home-run leader, sent home for treatment for a back injury, attended the Angel-Blue Jay game and stopped by Reggie Jackson’s locker beforehand to swap small talk. . . . Witt (6-6) opposes Dave Stieb (9-5) in tonight’s 7 p.m. game.