Angel Notebook : Candelaria Passes a Key Test Painlessly

The Angels, homeward bound at last, broke camp Monday and 35 pitches by John Candelaria ensured that the drive from the desert to Anaheim would be a pleasant one for Manager Gene Mauch.

Thirty-five pitches were all Candelaria required to complete three scoreless--and painless--innings during the Angels’ 5-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. Candelaria yielded a leadoff double to second baseman Bip Roberts and then retired the next nine batters he faced.

But better than that, at least to Mauch’s way of thinking, was Candelaria’s postgame health report.

“It felt OK,” Candelaria said of the bone-spurred left elbow that had limited his spring to six innings before Monday. “There was a little stiffness toward the end, but it’s better than it has been.

“It better be. It’s getting time.”

Exactly one week remains before the Angels open their regular season at Seattle. Mauch has pencilled in Candelaria to pitch the second game of the series.

He was relieved to see that no eraser was needed after Candelaria’s workout.

“I feel super,” Mauch said, who had called Candelaria’s start against the Padres the Angels’ “most critical” moment of the spring. “Was I nervous? Shoot, yeah. If ballplayers knew how you live through their pitches and their at bats, they’d be amazed. Every motion, you go right with ‘em.

“I was a little edgy, but Candy showed me what I wanted to see.”

Candelaria said he could have pitched beyond the third inning, but Mauch wasn’t about to risk the chance of ruining a good day.

“Candy threw 90 pitches in the bullpen before the game,” Mauch said. “Then he went out and pitched and sat down, he pitched and sat down, he pitched and sat down. My concern was, I didn’t want anything to stiffen up.

“I didn’t want to wait until I had to say ‘Uh oh,’ and have to shut him down.”

The only development that displeased Candelaria was a loss of velocity in his pitches.

“I came down 5 miles an hour,” said Candelaria, who had been clocked at 88 m.p.h. his first outing. “My arm strength isn’t there yet.

“But I was satisfied with my control. Speed doesn’t matter as much now, as long as I can pitch to spots without pain.”

Candelaria will test the arm one more time before the regular season--in Friday’s Freeway Series opener against the Dodgers. Then, the challenge of pitching through an entire summer with a bone spur in his elbow begins.

Candelaria said he will take it from start to start--hoping that will take him all the way to 30 starts.

“I don’t see the need to do something now,” Candelaria said, alluding to the possibility of corrective surgery. “There’s definitely a bone spur there, but it’s a small one. It’ll depend on where the spur is and how it feels during the season.

“Right now, I’m looking at it as probably nothing a pitcher who has pitched a lot of innings doesn’t have.”

Gary Lucas changed uniforms over the winter, but not the way he will start this baseball season. For the second straight year, Lucas will spend opening day on the disabled list.

Monday, the Angels placed Lucas on the 15-day disabled list for continuing back problems that sidelined him for the first two months of 1985 with the Montreal Expos.

“It makes a lot of sense,” Lucas said. “My back hasn’t given them much of a choice. I wish like crazy it could be different, but I’m just glad the Angels are committed to find out what’s wrong, once and for all.”

Cortisone injections that enabled Lucas to pitch in 49 games last summer have proved useless this spring, which has Lucas believing his condition has worsened.

He is planning to discontinue his present routine of throwing on the sidelines every other day and rest the back for a while.

“I was spinning my wheels,” Lucas said. “I’d go every other day and feel minimal discomfort, then continual discomfort. I could see it getting back to as bad as it was 10 days ago.

“I’m going to take 2, 4, 6 days off, whatever. I have some further tests to take to see why the back has deteriorated.”

Angel Notes

The Angels also placed pitcher Urbano Lugo on the 21-day disabled list. Lugo is rehabilitating an elbow that was operated on during the winter. . . . Ron Romanick pitched five innings in support of Candelaria, allowing four hits and one earned run while striking out three. Doug Corbett worked a scoreless ninth inning to earn his second save. . . . Darrell Miller led a 10-hit attack with a pair of doubles. Brian Downing hit his fourth home run of the spring. . . . Tonight, the Angels and the Padres begin what both teams hope will become a spring tradition--a home-and-home series at Anaheim Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium. Game 1 will be played in Anaheim, with Kirk McCaskill opposing Andy Hawkins. Wednesday’s game in San Diego will pit Mike Witt against Mark Thurmond. Both games will start at 7:35 p.m. . . . Writers have been trying to coin a title for the Angels-Padres series. Among the suggestions: Sea World Series, Freeway Series South, I-5 Series. It hasn’t been a good spring for the writers.