DeCinces Can’t Deliver; Fregosi Wins in Return

Timmy DeCinces sat slumped in a director’s chair in front of his dad’s locker, staring at the floor while a group of reporters huddled around to question his father in hushed tones.

Doug DeCinces came to the plate with the bases loaded three times Monday night. Three times he failed to bring home a run. And the Angels lost to the Chicago White Sox, 4-3, in the Anaheim Stadium debut of Jim Fregosi as White Sox manager.

There couldn’t have been many in the crowd of 22,289 at Anaheim Stadium who hadn’t noticed, especially considering Chance No. 3 came with two out in the ninth inning when DeCinces struck out on a foul and two feeble check swings.

Timmy had noticed.

But while the elder DeCinces failed to drive in any runs, he did manage to drive home a point. He faced the press and presented his 12-year-old son with a lesson in good sportsmanship in the process.

“I’ve been hitting the ball well, but tonight it just wasn’t there,” DeCinces said softly. “Believe me, I wanted to do it more than you know. Anytime you have the bases loaded that many times and you lose by one run, it doesn’t settle real well with me.”

DeCinces, in the final year of a lucrative contract, is well aware that this could be his last season in an Angels’ uniform. He’s admitted that the pressure of trying to convince the front office he’s worth re-signing has been weighing heavily on his mind . . . and his bat.

“Lately, it seems no matter what I do, it’s not enough,” he said two weeks ago.

Monday’s performance did nothing to change that feeling.

“I’ll take the blame,” he said. “I lost it.”

DeCinces was already second on the Angels’ I-Lost-It List, however. A few minutes earlier, starter Kirk McCaskill, who went eight innings and allowed just five hits, had assumed full responsibility for letting this one get away.

McCaskill (8-5), who pitched well enough to win his fifth straight, ended up with a loss instead of his ninth win. And his transgressions in the fifth inning indeed may have outweighed DeCinces inability to hit in the clutch.

McCaskill had allowed just one hit and struck out five before giving up a one-out single to Carlton Fisk in the fifth. Then the 25-year-old right-hander walked Bobby Bonilla and Wayne Tolleson to load the bases. Julio Cruz forced Tolleson for the first run, before John Cangelosi walked to reload the bases. Ozzie Guillen then slapped a line-drive triple to right-center and that was the sum total of the Chicago offense.

“McCaskill had one bad inning,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said. “He pitched well . . . other than walking Gehrig and Ruth and Foxx in the fifth.”

It wasn’t a case of McCaskill being too careful with the White Sox. He just couldn’t find the plate.

“I felt a little tired and reacted to it all wrong,” he said. “Instead of relaxing, I tried to overthrow and ended up giving the game away. It’s frustrating because I didn’t get beat. I just gave it away.”

Guillen, who made three spectacular defensive plays, was glad to grab hold of what McCaskill was giving. The Angels had Gary Pettis playing about 100 feet behind the shortstop and Guillen found the huge gap in right-center.

“I’d been throwing him all curveballs and I’m sure he was looking for one,” McCaskill said. “Not to take anything away from Ozzie, but it was a bad pitch. Just a big rolling curve.”

In the early going it looked as if the Angels, who remained in first place because Texas lost Minnesota, might be going to spoil former Angel Manager Fregosi’s return to the Big A. The new White Sox manager saw his team fall behind after his starter, Joel Davis, had made just one pitch. Ruppert Jones deposited it in the right-field seats for his eighth homer of the season.

Then a single by Wally Joyner and walks to Reggie Jackson and Brian Downing set up Chance No. 1 for DeCinces, who grounded into an inning-ending double play.

California went up, 2-0, in the third on Joyner’s bloop double and Downing’s single to left. DeCinces ended this inning, too, popping foul to first.

The Angels looked like they might get McCaskill off the hook in the seventh against White Sox reliever Gene Nelson. Jones beat out a bunt, Gary Pettis singled to center and Jackson drew a walk to load the bases. Nelson walked Downing to force in one run, before Fregosi brought in Bill Dawley, who helped DeCinces waste Chance No. 2 by striking him out on four pitches.

Jones led off the ninth with a single to left and Pettis, trying to sacrifice, was safe when Dawley tried to tag him but dropped the ball. Fregosi went to his bullpen again and left-hander Joel McKeon came on to strike out Joyner and get Jackson to bounce back to the pitcher. With runners on second and third, Fregosi had Downing walked intentionally to load the bases.

“I know Downing has been hitting around .300,” Fregosi said. “DeCinces has been struggling, we knew that. And walking Downing set up a force at any base.”

Fregosi then summoned right- hander Dave Schmidt.

Before DeCinces stepped up to the plate, Mauch told him: “If you get a hit, there’s a good chance Pettis will score.”

DeCinces “kinda smiled,” Mauch said later.

He wasn’t smiling a few minutes later.

“You play this game and that’s going to happen,” DeCinces said. “I used to be able to do go home and forget something like this. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that tonight.

“We’ll wait and see.”

Angel Notes

Rookie right-hander Mike Cook, called up from Double-A Midland to start tonight against the White Sox, was in uniform Monday and performed his first function in the majors--handing out Cabbage Patch Kids during a pregame promotion. Manager Gene Mauch doesn’t think he should be under too much more pressure tonight. He says Cook, 22, is not the type to be intimidated. “I like his stuff and I like the way he handled himself in his first exposure to big-league hitters this spring,” Mauch said. “I don’t think he’s your typical young pitcher. He’s thrown hundreds of innings in college (at the University of South Carolina). He has just as good control of the fastball as the breaking ball, which gives (catcher Bob) Boone a lot of latitude as far as pitch selection goes.” Mauch, was talking about Cook but couldn’t shake his feelings surrounding the release of Jim Slaton. “I’ll tell you this,” he said, “I’m much more sorrowful about the Jim Slaton situation than I am apprehensive about the Mike Cook situation.”

Donnie Moore’s son had a negative reaction to an insulin injection and the Angels’ relief specialist did not arrive at Anaheim Stadium until right before game time Monday. Moore has been on the disabled list since May 28 rehabilitating a sore right shoulder, but he returned to action, pitching a hitless ninth inning Monday.