Angels Fail to Make Run at Red Sox and Mauch Can’t Take It

Two views on the importance of victory on the athletic field:

Vince Lombardi-- Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

Gene Mauch-- Lombardi was a softie.

Defeat is agony for Mauch, the ultimate indignation, the nadir of human existence. Twenty-four pennant-less summers haven’t taught him a thing. Someone once told Mauch that you can’t win ‘em all. Mauch has spent his adult life denying it--day after day after day.

The only thing worse than losing, according to the book of Mauch, is to lose without honor. To lose without expending a maximum effort.

On the final out of the Angels’ 3-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox Monday night, Mauch thought he saw the worst.

With Brian Downing on third base and Bobby Grich at bat with two out, Boston’s Bruce Hurst delivered his last pitch. It was a fastball, in on Grich’s hurting hands. Grich swung and tapped a slow roller to third baseman Wade Boggs.

Downing sprinted for home. Boggs fielded the ball and made a hurried throw. The ball got away from first baseman Bill Buckner, who had to scramble off the bag to retrieve it.

And where was Grich?

Still at home plate, looking down, almost oblivious to the on-rushing Downing, who had to pull up to avoid plowing over his second teammate in three days.

Buckner finally grabbed the ball and touched first base for the game-ending out. Grich was still at home, holding his right hand before slowly turning and walking to the dugout.

There to greet him was a livid Mauch.

“He asked me, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ ” Grich said. “I told him I jammed my hand, my thumb was killing me.’ He was real upset with me that I didn’t run (to first). I’m said I’m sorry.”

According to Mauch, winning is never having to say you’re sorry.

His postgame session with the press was his shortest since opening night in Seattle, when he threw writers out of his office before they could ask a question.

This time, there was one question: What happened with Grich?

“Grich broke his ankle,” Mauch said, with as much sarcasm as anger. “Or, he dislocated his knee. I’ll know for sure tomorrow.”

Mauch’s message was clear: If you don’t run out a ground ball, you had better have a good excuse. Like a broken leg.

Grich said he re-injured the jammed thumb that kept him out of the lineup for 10 games. “I jammed it again,” he said. “It felt like somebody shot me. I couldn’t do anything but react in pain.

“I didn’t know where the ball went. I thought I hit it back to the pitcher. By the time I got it together, Buck was picking up the ball and tagging the base.”

All Mauch saw, though, was what 16,886 spectators at Fenway Park saw. A potential error, bringing in one run and sending the tying run to the plate, became the final out when Grich failed to run to first.

“I guess it kinda looked screwy from the stands,” Grich said. “I guess that was a first. There were some boos from the stands, for me apparently not hustling.

“That’s not me. I’ve never failed to run one out in 15 years. Gene was upset, which I can understand, but he’s not in my shoes, either. I know it looked bad, but it was all I could do.”

Grich said he will have the hand examined by doctors when the team returns to Anaheim Wednesday. In the meantime, the Angels will have to devote themselves to some self-examination.

The Angels have lost four straight and Monday’s shutout was their first of the season. Hurst (2-2) limited them to seven singles and a double while striking out five.

The Angels still lead the American League West by one game, but that’s because second-place Oakland has synchronized its slump with California’s.

Monday, they wasted a trio of superb defensive plays by Gary Pettis and Brian Downing and a competent pitching performance by Mike Witt, who allowed one run on five hits through the first seven innings, only to see his record drop to 2-2.

A double by Glenn Hoffman and an run-scoring single by Wade Boggs did the necessary damage for Boston. The Red Sox added two runs against the tiring Witt in the eighth.

It would have been three, but with Rich Gedman on first base, Pettis took an extra-base hit away from Marty Barrett with a catch reminiscent of Willie Mays’ grab of Vic Wertz’s drive in the 1954 World Series.

Pettis also robbed Buckner of a hit in the first inning by sprinting to the warning track and leaping to catch another deep drive.

Downing slid into the fence along the left-field line in the seventh inning to deny Boggs of an extra-base hit. Boggs had reached base on each of his last nine at-bats.

“Plays like that are good to remember and good for highlights, but they’re not very important now,” Pettis said. “They don’t mean much in a losing cause.”

With Mauch, nothing means much in a losing cause.

Angel Notes The Rooster Is Back: That was the message printed on T-shirts worn by the children of Rick Burleson, who accompanied their father to Boston for Burleson’s first appearance in Fenway Park since 1981. Burleson was a three-time All-Star shortstop when he played for the Red Sox (1974-1980) and after making it back from two torn rotator cuffs and basically four years on inactivity, Burleson was accorded a celebrity’s welcome Monday. Burleson estimated he received 20 interview requests and patiently answered question after question from waves of reporters. “This has already been a long day,” he said during batting practice. Burleson called his return to Fenway an important chapter in his comeback effort. “Because people here got a chance to see me when I could play ,” he said. “People in Anaheim are different. They never really got to see me play, except for 1981. Here, the people can appreciate a guy who has worked hard and made it back.”

Amazing what one 20-strikeout night will do for you. Roger Clemens of the Red Sox, just another pitcher on an unheralded pitching staff before fateful April 29, has supplanted Larry Bird as New England’s biggest media personality. “The last week has been really draining for him,” Rex Sox publicist Dick Bresciani said. “Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, ESPN, all the networks and the East Coast papers have wanted him.” After his most recent start brought a playoff-sized press corps to Fenway Park Sunday, Clemens said enough. “I’m very mentally tired and I won’t let it happen again,” Clemens told Boston writers. “After (Sunday), for instance, I’m not talking about the strikeout record anymore. I mean, that was unbelievable what happened that night but I was looking forward to this start.” Bresciani, however, said he is trying to strike a compromise with Clemens--scheduling press conferences when demand warrants it. Already, one is tentatively set for Monday when the Red Sox play at Anaheim. “There figures to be a lot of interest in the L.A. area,” Bresciani said.

Wally Joyner, robbed of an extra-base hit by Milwaukee’s Robin Yount Sunday, saw another double vanish before his eyes Monday when Boston center fielder Steve Lyons made a diving catch in the fifth inning. Two in two days. Joyner was asked if that is what’s known as hitting in bad luck. “Yeah, that’s why you don’t win games,” he said. “I’ve always heard good pitching and defense wins in baseball. Tonight, we had good defense--but they caught everything we hit” . . . The Angels conclude their trip today at 10:05 a.m. when Jim Slaton (3-1) opposes Dennis Boyd (2-2).