Rain Falls on Joyner Hit Parade : Homer Wiped Out, So Is Angel Game

Sleet and snow have yet to be tackled, but Wally Joyner encountered rain for the first time in his major league career Sunday. In between one rain delay of nearly two hours and a second that led to the eventual postponement of the Angels’ game with the Detroit Tigers, baseball was allowed to resume for five minutes. It was time enough for Joyner to launch into Home Run Trot No. 16.

After Gary Pettis had opened the third inning with his second single of the day, Joyner squinted into a rapidly increasing downpour, swung at Jack Morris’ 0-1 pitch and cleared the right-field fence again.

No, this was not the final scene from The Natural. So what if he did send the baseball screaming through heavy rain? So what if a clap of thunder did precede the home run by several minutes?

Let us not get carried away. There was, for instance, absolutely no parting of the heavens. No crackle of lightning flashed outside Tiger Stadium.

And another thing: This home run did not dramatically win a ballgame.

This home run didn’t even count.

Three more pitches were thrown after Joyner returned to the dugout before the rain became too much. Play was interrupted again, tarps were pulled again over the infield and, 34 minutes later, umpire crew chief Dave Phillips officially called the game.

The home run, which would have been Joyner’s seventh in seven games, was wiped out. So was a 2-0 Angel lead and Don Sutton’s latest bid for career victory No. 298. The game was re-scheduled for Aug. 19 as part of a twi-night doubleheader in Detroit.

Reggie Jackson, whose 40th birthday will go down in the books as a rainout, said he could empathize with Joyner.

“I lost about seven or eight home runs in the rain,” Jackson said. “I had a three-run homer in Baltimore (in 1978) taken away and it cost me 100 RBIs for the year. I wound up with 97.

“In ‘80, I lost the home run title when I had a home run rained out. (Jackson hit 41 that season and shared the title with Ben Oglivie.) In ‘69, I had two home runs rained out. (Harmon) Killebrew hit 49 that year, (Frank) Howard hit 48 and I hit 47. One of the umps told me, ‘I owe you one.’ ”

Jackson watched as Joyner fielded more questions about his non-home run. “If he’s around long enough to get another five or six rained out, he’ll be doin’ all right,” Jackson said.

Angel Notes Gene Mauch took the rainout harder than Joyner. “We had (Jack) Morris on a bad day, no Kirk Gibson, a lead,” Mauch grumbled. “I don’t like that at all. And Sutton? Donnie was good, dammit.” Sutton had worked two hitless innings, striking out Lance Parrish and Darnell Coles in the second. “I watched him warm-up after the first delay and he was still good,” Mauch said. “I don’t know how long he could have held it. He could have handled the first delay. I don’t know about a second.” Sutton said he couldn’t remember the last time he had a potential victory rained out. “With all those years in L.A. and Houston, there weren’t many chances,” Sutton said. “I wonder where this rain was against Seattle (April 15) when I gave up eight runs (in two-thirds of an inning). That would have been a beauty to have rained out.” Sutton said he could have returned after the second delay, much to the dismay of certain Angel pitchers hoping to swoop in for an easy victory. “(Jim) Slaton was in civvies, charting the pitches. After the first delay, he was suited up again,” Sutton said, laughing. “Guys were lined up, checking to see if I was coming out. I think even Lach (pitching coach Marcel Lachemann) would’ve volunteered.”

Terry Forster passed the time during the delays by working up a practical joke for T.R. Bryden. Bryden had been pestered by phone calls to the clubhouse and Forster told the rookie he had received one more. “Not another one,” Bryden complained. “I hope it isn’t another agent.” Forster told Bryden it was urgent and handed him a slip of paper. On the paper, in Forster’s handwriting, was a phone number and the name “G. Raff.” Bryden grabbed it and walked away. Forster grinned and nodded to a couple of writers. “It’s the number to the zoo,” Forster said.