Angels : Doubleheader Prospect Disturbs Mauch

The Angels go back to work tonight.

And then some.

They might have to play nine games in seven days during a trip that begins, as scheduled, at Minneapolis tonight.

The Angels play four games with the Twins, then head for Seattle, where they tentatively are scheduled for five games in three days. They would play doubleheaders next Tuesday and Wednesday to make up the Tuesday and Wednesday games with Seattle that were canceled in Anaheim because of the strike.

Both General Manager Mike Port and Manager Gene Mauch expressed dissatisfaction with the rescheduling plan, which was still hazy when the Angels boarded a team bus for Ontario Airport at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Port, who will appeal to Dr. Bobby Brown, the American League President, said his concern did not stem from the loss of home-field advantage. The Angels have shown they can beat Seattle regardless of the site. They have won seven of eight from the Mariners en route to a five-game lead over Kansas City and Oakland in the American League West.

He was more disturbed about the possibility that the Royals, A’s and Chicago White Sox might make up only one of the missed games--playing the other only if it has an impact on the standings at the end of the season.

Kansas City, for example, missed two games with Detroit at home and is planning to make up only one. The Royals and Tigers are scheduled for a doubleheader at Kansas City tonight. They do not meet again during the regular season.

Neither do the White Sox and Boston Red Sox, who are scheduled for a doubleheader tonight, making up only one of their two missed games. Oakland, which lost two against Minnesota, might make them up on a visit to the Metrodome next week, though they have yet to be scheduled.

“Right now we’re looking to make up the games in Seattle,” Port said, “but for the protection of our own players I don’t want to play back-to-back doubleheaders or even two in three days if the clubs behind us aren’t going to have to cope with similar inequities.

“I really don’t know what the situation is at this time and won’t until tomorrow.”

Said Mauch:

“I’m not complaining. Anything is better than not playing. Three doubleheaders in a row is better than a strike.

“It’s just that I’d like to be afforded the same treatment as Kansas City and Chicago. If they’re only going to play one doubleheader, let us play only one, too.

“If the 162nd game is meaningful, we can play it at the end of the season in Anaheim, where it was originally scheduled. Seattle may draw 2,000 more. We’d draw 52,000 more and have the home-field advantage.

“I mean, our pitching was just the way we wanted it. Now we may have to scramble. You can tear up a pitching staff playing back-to-back doubleheaders, though I wouldn’t let that happen.

“I just don’t want to see something phony affect the hard work we’ve put in. I think if Dr. Brown looks at it real close, he’ll see it the way we do.”

Mauch said he would need two extra starters if the doubleheaders are played. He would probably call on Jim Slaton and either Luis Sanchez or Stewart Cliburn. In the meantime, he will start Ron Romanick (13-4), Geoff Zahn (2-0), Kirk McCaskill (7-7) and John Candelaria (0-0) against the Twins, who reportedly are on the verge of signing Steve Howe, the ex-Dodger relief pitcher.

Minnesota has lost five straight overall and seven in a row to the Angels, who resume play with a four-game winning streak.

Mauch, concerned earlier that a long layoff would destroy an older team’s groove, said of the two missed games: “There’ll be so much relief and excitement over the termination of the strike that the games we missed won’t have any affect at all. I knew that when they (the negotiators) kept at it last night there was still the chance it could be settled in a hurry.”

The players might not have shared Mauch’s faith. Juan Beniquez, for example, was at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport en route with his family to their home in Puerto Rico when he heard of the Wednesday settlement. His luggage went on to Puerto Rico, but Beniquez returned to Anaheim in time to take the team bus to Ontario.

Traveling secretary Frank Sims also had to scramble after canceling the team charter, originally scheduled to leave after Wednesday’s afternoon game. The flight ultimately left at 8 p.m. with a substitute crew flown in from St. Louis.

The few players who opted to take the team bus from Anaheim Stadium seemed to have only limited knowledge of the settlement terms. Most reiterated that it should not have had to come to a strike.

Said Bobby Grich, who had been expecting at least a week’s layoff: “I’m pleasantly surprised to be back. It seems both sides gave in some, and that’s fair. I’m impressed with (Commissioner Peter) Ueberroth’s intervention. I may head his campaign for President.”

Bob Boone, who was the National League player representative during the 1981 strike, said the quick settlement “was another example of how the process works. Hopefully, the day will come when we will have learned that a strike shouldn’t be necessary. Hopefully, the day will come when we’ll have sane people sitting there, aware that we can do this in April.”

Boone praised Ueberroth for keeping the two sides at the table and said: “I’m excited that we can now forget about this for a few years and put on a show down the stretch. I don’t like sitting home and giving up the ridiculous amount of money they want to pay me.”