Angels Give Andujar One Tough Time in His Debut With A’s, 9-3

Had Joaquin Andujar been one claustrophobic Dominican, he might have squirmed out of the chair in front of his locker, grabbed a bat and come up swinging--waylaying every tape recorder, camera and microphone in sight. The media were breathing down his neck, outnumbering him by 20 to 1 as they closed in for a reaction to his American League debut Saturday.

They knew he had lasted slightly more than four innings in a 9-3 loss to the Angels, allowing seven hits and seven runs. Maybe Andujar would launch into his first American League rage.

They knew the home-plate umpire had been Don Denkinger, Andujar’s foil during his fouled-up World Series of 1985. Maybe Andujar would have a scathing quote to stream across Page 1 Sunday.

Joaquin, a word or two about the reunion?

“I don’t know why you keep asking that question,” Andujar retorted. “Am I the only one to ever argue with an umpire? I’m tired of hearing about that. Sick and tired. It makes me throw up.”

Well, that ends that line of questioning.

Andujar’s meeting with the press Saturday, the day he came off suspension for pushing Denkinger last October, was about as disappointing as his introduction to American League baseball. No shouts, no shutout . . . “no nothing,” as Andujar put it.

A crowd of 35,454 showed up at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseumto see how the former 20-game winner with the St. Louis Cardinals looked in the green-and-gold of the Oakland A’s. He looked ragged.

Andujar made a game’s worth of pitches in four-plus innings--99. He let the first three batters he faced reach base. He was down, 2-0, before his teammates came to bat.

He left with no outs, one run in and one runner on base in the fifth. He had already yielded home runs to Bob Boone and Reggie Jackson, two singles to Brian Downing and three walks. He was trailing, 7-3.

“They kicked my cooler,” Andujar said. “No excuse. Everything today goes right for the California Angels. Nothing went good for me.”

Andujar was asked if the American League strike zone, historically believed to be higher than the National’s, bothered him.

“It was not too different,” he said. “When you’re behind (on the count) all the time, you just throw the ball down the middle.”

Andujar was asked about pitching in a new league after a decade in the NL.

“It feels the same,” he said. “The only difference was I had no windup, no fastball, no curveball, no slider.”

Andujar laughed.

“You cannot pitch good every day,” he said. “If I start 40 games this year, not all 40 are going to be good starts. I never start good, anyway. I’ll be all right.”

On this afternoon, Andujar, a winner of 41 games the last two seasons, was upstaged by a 25-year-old with one 12-12 season in his major league resume. Kirk McCaskill, after a wobbly initial two innings, beat Andujar by throwing a six-hitter through eight innings. He struck out five and retired 13 A’s in a row during one stretch before giving way to Donnie Moore in the ninth.

McCaskill allowed three runs in the first two innings but never fell behind because the Angels applied the pressure to Andujar early and kept in on.

Gary Pettis, the game’s leadoff batter, singled. So did Rob Wilfong. Wally Joyner drew a walk. Bases loaded, no outs.

Welcome to the American League, Joaquin.

Jackson drove in one run with a sacrifice fly to center. Ruppert Jones produced another with an RBI ground-out.

That started a trend. Andujar was on the mound for the beginning of five innings. The Angels scored in each of them.

Second inning: Rick Burleson singles, takes second on a passed ball, moves to third on an infield out and scores on a squeeze bunt by Pettis--knocking the ball loose from the grasp of Oakland catcher Mickey Tettleton at the last instant.

Third inning: Jackson walks, advances to third on a single by Downing and scores on a sacrifice fly by Jones.

Fourth inning: Boone hits his first home run of the season.

Fifth inning: Jackson hits his third home run in three games. Downing hits another single. Exit Andujar, enter reliever Bill Krueger. Eventually, Burleson delivers an RBI single. The run is charged to Andujar.

“Andujar looked to me like he was trying very, very hard to make a real good impression for the Oakland organization, and he went clear beyond himself,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said. “Which is not too good an idea. He didn’t want to be just Joaquin Andujar. He was going to do better than that.”

McCaskill listened to Mauch’s assessment and concurred.

“I could see that,” McCaskill said. “That’s when you run into trouble. You try to do too much.”

Andujar didn’t do much of anything in his first Oakland outing. He didn’t even argue with Denkinger, no doubt disappointing many thrill-seekers on hand.

Andujar and Denkinger exchanged words just once. “I asked him if the (home run) pitch to Reggie Jackson was inside or outside,” Andujar said.

No controversy. No nothing.

But as Andujar concluded, “There’s a long way to go.” So keep watching. More to follow.

Angel Notes

For two innings, Kirk McCaskill was matching Joaquin Andujar bad pitch for bad pitch. His first seven offerings were balls, prompting Gene Mauch to trot to the mound for a quick conference. “He was wild with one pitch, his fastball,” Mauch said. “Then, in the second inning, he was wild with more than one pitch. After the first two innings, I never thought about the possibility of him getting to the ninth. But I had to keep him out there until he proved to me he just couldn’t stay out there. You don’t put quick hooks on your starting pitchers early in the season.” After allowing three hits and three runs in the first two innings, McCaskill pitched shutout baseball into the ninth, yielding just two more hits along the way. “That’s the difference between this year and last year for me,” McCaskill said. “Last year, I might not have got past the first couple of innings. Now, I’m able to grit my teeth and pitch through it. It comes from confidence. If I get shelled now, I’m not going to get sent down. They’re not going to take me behind the barn and shoot me.” . . . The Angels announced that they had no announcement on the status on John Candelaria, other than saying that the team doctor, Lewis Yocum, is still examining the results of Friday’s tests. Said Mauch: “I imagine the doctors need more extensive readings. ‘A possible this’ and ‘a possible that’ doesn’t tell me anything. I care like hell about this situation, but I can’t worry about it because we don’t know everything about it yet.” Mauch said he plans to meet with General Manager Mike Port Monday to update the Candelaria situation in particular and the pitching situation in general. . . . Mauch was amused by the comments Doug DeCinces made Friday about Commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s decision to reduce Andujar’s suspension from 10 days to five. DeCinces criticized Ueberroth and said the decision was made to help the “financially struggling” A’s at the box office. “You want to know about nuclear warfare, you want to know how to make a watch--go talk to Doug DeCinces,” Mauch said jokingly. “The thing is, he may know something about all of ‘em. He’s a bright guy.” . . . Reggie Jackson has homered in each of the three games he has played so far. The last time Jackson had a comparable streak was April 15-18, 1983, when he hit home runs in four consecutive games. . . . Ruppert Jones is still hitting .000 (0 for 10), but he’s tied with Bobby Grich in runs batted in with two. Jones drove in two runs Saturday with a sacrifice fly and a ground-out. . . . The Angels’ Mike Witt (0-0) faces Chris Codiroli (0-1) in today’s series finale.