Mauch Hits a Milestone; Angels Win

The game was over and the Angels had taken a 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox into the clubhouse, but Gene Mauch was still managing, discussing some of the finer points of first-base defense with Rod Carew.

Afterward, Mauch was holding court with the media, explaining why he switched designated hitters in the third inning, replacing Rufino Linares with Reggie Jackson . . . after Linares had delivered a two-run home run in his first at-bat and the Angels working on a 4-0 lead.

“We like to build it up here,” Mauch said. “I thought it was a pretty good idea to send Reggie up there with the bases loaded.”

Sure enough, the move paid off in another run. Jackson drew a walk from right-handed relief pitcher Mike Trujillo, bringing home Brian Downing from third base.

Not much of what transpires on a baseball field escapes Mauch. The intricacies of the game, the quirks and the perks, fascinate him.

But for once, in a round of Stump the Manager, Mauch was at a loss Saturday.

“Well, that’s No. 1,700,” someone mentioned to Mauch as he sat behind the desk in the visiting manager’s office.

A short pause. A blank stare.

“Seventeen-hundred what?” Mauch wanted to know. “Double plays?”

No, Gene. Victories. The Angels’ second straight win over the Red Sox Saturday, coming before a Fenway Park crowd of 33,147, was the 1,700th victory of Mauch’s managerial career.

Mauch didn’t know that.

“Really?” he said. Yep, it said so, right there, in the pregame media notes. Ranks him ninth on the all-time list.

“I haven’t touched the notes yet,” Mauch said as he ran a hand through his gray hair and contemplated the milestone. He didn’t think about it too long. “It doesn’t seem too significant,” he said.

Maybe not, but if anything, victory No. 1,700 was typical. It was the type of game Mauch says he enjoys most--with the outcome hinging on a decision or two in the final inning.

Saturday, the big decision was whether or not to replace a tiring Mike Witt after Witt had limited Boston to an unearned run and three hits through eight innings.

But in the ninth, Witt began to waver--retiring Jim Rice before surrendering a single to Bill Buckner and a triple to Mike Easler.

Mauch admitted the situation left him in a quandary.

“To relieve or not to relieve,” mused Mauch, borrowing from Bill Shakespeare, an old-timer who was known to go by the book. “I knew he (Witt) was dog-tired, but I’ve got no business going out there, because he’s so good. Donnie (Moore) didn’t need another inning’s work. He could’ve used the day off.”

But Mauch went to Moore . . . after first going to Pat Clements. Clements faced one batter, Rich Gedman, and yielded a run-scoring single to cut the Angels’ lead to 5-3.

On came Moore for his second save opportunity in as many days. After a lengthy struggle with pinch-hitter Rick Miller, who fouled off six pitches, Moore got a fly ball to left field for the second out.

He then got Steve Lyons to do the same. Left fielder Downing grabbed the ball for the final out, and Moore had his 19th save of the season, tying him for the league lead.

Witt, who timed his eighth victory of the season with the passing of his 25th birthday, allowed that Mauch had made the right move.

“I was tired in the eighth,” Witt said. “But I got through it and then got the first guy in the ninth. I was just hoping they’d hit the ball at somebody. But I was ready (to leave the game).”

Witt was glad enough to leave the game with a lead. His offensive support through much of this season’s first half has been as dry as the Sahara, so Witt viewed the five runs as a luxury.

“It would feel good to get a few more four- and five-run games,” Witt said. “It seems every time I pitch, the score is 2-1 or 3-2.

“That was a nice feeling, taking that lead into the ninth, because you never know in Boston. A couple years ago, I had a 7-1 lead here and wound up losing.”

The Angels presented Witt with the lead by a concentrated effort in the second and third innings.

In the second, Bobby Grich walked, and Linares, making his first major league start since Aug. 21, 1984, when he was an Atlanta Brave, drilled a Bobby Ojeda offering into the seats beyond the center-field wall.

In the third, the Angels loaded the bases on singles by Carew and Juan Beniquez and a walk to Downing. Mike Brown’s single to left brought in one run, Bobby Grich’s ground-out to second scored another, and two batters later, Jackson’s bases-loaded walk forced in a third.

Linares is on temporary leave from Edmonton, where he figures to return once Daryl Sconiers leaves the disabled list. Mauch played a role in bringing the right-handed-hitting 34-year-old Linares along on this road swing.

“Ten days ago,” Mauch said, “I told (General Manager) Mike Port that we would be facing a minimum of four left-handers on this trip before we reached Oakland. I knew Linares was swinging the bat real good in Edmonton. I said, ‘Let’s get him up here.’ ”

Mauch gets his man and then puts him in the starting lineup for the first time in 11 months. And on his first at-bat, Linares clears the fences at Fenway--equaling his entire home run production of 1984.

That’s the way it has been going lately for Mauch and the Angels, winners in 13 of their last 16 games. But even on a streak, even after 1,700 victories and 1,844 losses, Mauch said the task of managing hasn’t become any less taxing.

“I heard Earl Weaver say that when you play every day, you can’t play the game with clenched teeth,” Mauch said. “But Earl had 60% of the best of it for a lot of years. For a long time, I was 60% the other way.

“I had my teeth clenched a long time ago . . . and I haven’t loosened up yet.”

Angel Notes Through eight innings, the Red Sox had managed just three hits against Mike Witt, but one was a double by Wade Boggs. The hit, which set up Boston’s first run in the sixth inning, enabled Boggs to extend his hitting streak to 23 games. . . . In the aftermath of his one-at bat, one-home run appearance, Rufino Linares declined to meet the press, saying: “My English is not too good.” Interesting. Linares spent his first month in Edmonton as a coach--which would seem difficult when you can’t speak the language--and was considered a good interview when he played at Atlanta. It seems Linares was a bit miffed about the lack of publicity he received during spring training with the Angels. . . . Rod Carew singled in the third inning, bringing his career-hit total to 2,986--one behind Edgar Rice, who ranks 16th on the all-time list. . . . The Angels’ Urbano Lugo (3-1) will face Al Nipper (5-6) in today’s series finale.