Angels Play Tricks, Then Tigers Play Hardball, 10-4

In the grand scheme of the Angels’ 10-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers Saturday, Bobby Grich’s one moment of trickery didn’t amount to much. Also to be considered were three Tiger home runs, no Wally Joyner home runs, Dave LaPoint’s best pitching performance of the season and Doug Corbett’s worst.

But on the smallest of gestures can the outcome of a baseball game sometimes hinge. And the notion lingered in the Angel clubhouse that if Grich’s hidden-ball trick had been allowed--if catcher Bob Boone hadn’t called time out just before Grich slapped the tag on unsuspecting Tiger baserunner Chet Lemon--the ensuing Detroit deluge might have been averted.

“It could’ve saved us a lot of trouble,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said.

“All hell broke loose from that point on,” Grich said. “As it turned out, it could’ve been the play of the game.”

The scene, as witnessed by 28,709 fans at Tiger Stadium:

The Angels were trailing by a run, 4-3, when Lemon singled to open the seventh inning and was sacrificed to second by Dave Collins. Grich, who had covered first and taken the throw on the play, walked the ball back to the mound.

Then, he faked a handoff to pitcher Terry Forster and walked back to second base, ball buried in his glove.

At the same time, Lemon wandered off second to take his lead. In a blur, Grich lunged at Lemon, made the tag, and second-base umpire Larry McCoy clenched his fist.

The hidden-ball play had worked to perfection, and the Angels had the second out of the inning.

Uh, not quite.

Third base umpire Tim Welke came running in, waving off McCoy’s call and signaling Lemon safe. Welke said that time was out, as requested moments earlier by Boone.

Mauch came out to protest but immediately saw he was fighting a losing battle. “I didn’t ask Boone, but the look on his face told me,” Mauch said. “He asked for time.”

Boone, who had covered third when Doug DeCinces came in to field Collins’ bunt, said he had no other option.

“Yes, I called time out,” he said. “That’s an automatic thing, once that play’s over. There’s nothing else to do.

“The only alternative is for me to stand at third. And if I stand at third, everybody knows what’s going on.”

Said Grich: “He couldn’t leave third. That’s why he calls time, so Lemon can’t steal third.”

So instead of Detroit having two out and no runners on base, Lemon got a little laugh out of the incident (“He called me a dog,” Grich said) and remained at second with one out.

Lou Whitaker then struck out. If Grich’s tag is permitted, the inning is over. “The third out,” Mauch said. “There ain’t no more strategy.”

Instead, the wheels kept turning.

With first base open, Forster pitched to Alan Trammell rather than pitch around him. Trammell singled up the middle, bringing home Lemon and sending Forster to the clubhouse. That brought on reliever Corbett and pinch-hitter Larry Herndon--a matchup between who’s hot and who’s not.

Corbett had saved the last four games in which he appeared, allowing one run in 12 innings. Herndon’s credentials: one hit in his last 38 at-bats, four in his last 60.

The odds caved in on both players as Herndon turned a full-count pitch by Corbett into his first home run of the season--and a 7-3 Detroit lead.

The Tigers added three runs in the eighth as Corbett’s struggles continued: a home run by Darrell Evans; a run-scoring single by Pat Sheridan; an RBI double off the wall in right-center by Whitaker.

A close game had slipped off into the black hole, and the Angels kept harking back to what-might-have-been with Grich and Lemon.

“If Chet is (caught) off, there’s two outs and nobody on,” Grich said. “It might have been a whole different ballgame.”

But the hidden-ball play didn’t go, and Corbett couldn’t hide the ball from Tiger hitters. In 1 innings Saturday, Corbett allowed more runs (four) than he had during the season’s first six weeks (three).

That, coupled with seven strong innings by LaPoint (1-2), made Angel starter Jim Slaton a loser for the second time in six decisions. LaPoint allowed six hits and three runs--all of them coming on a first-inning home run by DeCinces, the 200th homer of his career.

Perhaps the greatest feat of LaPoint and reliever Willie Hernandez was keeping Joyner from adding to his home run total. After six homers in five days, Joyner rested--managing one single in five at-bats.

Saturday, attention was directed elsewhere.

Toward second base.

Grich’s quest to avenge the Marty Barrett ruses of 1985 continues. Barrett, the Boston Red Sox second baseman, flimflammed the Angels twice in one month last year with the hidden-ball trick--victimizing Grich the first time.

Ever since, Grich has been looking to strike back.

“I’ve kept my eye open for it,” Grich said. “We’ll get somebody this year. Although I don’t think it’ll be Marty Barrett.

“Or Chet Lemon.”

Angel Notes

Gene Mauch shrugged off Doug Corbett’s rough outing. “They treated Corbett the same way we treated (Willie) Hernandez a couple of times last year,” Mauch said. “They’ll keep pitching Hernandez, and we’ll keep pitching Corbett.” Corbett said: “I just wasn’t good, and that’s the name of that tune. My approach was no different today than what it had been. I felt good. But I couldn’t get (strike) calls down in the strike zone. I adjusted and came up, but I came up too much. Instead of throwing three inches higher, I came up eight. Mama said there’d be days like this. If I can minimize them, it’ll be fine.” . . . Donnie Moore was available for the first time in a week, but with the game out of hand in the eighth inning, Mauch never called on him. . . . Mauch was upset at the way Terry Forster pitched to Alan Trammell in the seventh with first base open. Trammell eventually singled Chet Lemon home from second base. “Forster stunk up the place, challenging Trammell when he had a chance to let Trammell get himself out,” Mauch said. . . . Jim Slaton (4-2) completed six innings and pitched to Lemon to open the seventh. He allowed seven hits, including Lou Whitaker’s second home run, and five earned runs. Mauch said he was going to relieve Slaton after he pitched to Lemon, hit or out. Slaton was hoping to last a little longer. “I know once I get to the sixth or the seventh inning, (Mauch) feels that’s about as far as he’ll go with me,” Slaton said. “But I felt like I had a better fastball and was in a better groove in the sixth and seventh than I was in the first few innings. I don’t enjoy coming out of games. But I was struggling most of the day. No doubt, he could see I was struggling.”

Wally Joyner’s Detroit debut received World Series treatment in the Saturday morning newspapers. “Kid Does It Again,” trumpeted the Free Press on its front-page teaser. “Joltin’ Joyner Jars Tigers” was the sports-page headline. Accompanying the account of Joyner’s 14th and 15th home runs was a chart (“How Wally’s World Stacks Up”) listing other players who hit more home runs in a big league season than they ever had in the minor leagues. George Brett, for instance, hit 30 homers last season but never more than 10 in the minors. Others: George Foster (52 in the majors, 15 in the minors); Oscar Gamble (31 in the majors, 8 in the minors); Ben Oglivie (41 in the majors, 17 in the minors).