Sutton Has Now Defeated Them All

The way Don Sutton looks at it, when you pitch 17 years in one league, four in the other and wear five different uniforms, certain things are bound to happen.

You get to visit a lot of exciting places, meet a lot of interesting people and throw baseballs past them often enough to maintain the privilege of throwing baseballs.

And when you finally get to the career victory total of 306, as Sutton did with Sunday’s 7-2 victory over the Oakland A’s at Anaheim Stadium, you look around and suddenly realize there’s no one left you haven’t beaten.

For Sutton, the A’s were the last of the unconquered. Before Sunday, Sutton had defeated each of the other 25 major league teams at least once, but he was 0 for Oakland.

That streak ended when Sutton produced his 11th victory of 1986, limiting the A’s to two runs and six hits in six innings. Both leagues had now been conquered, enabling Sutton to join Atlanta’s Doyle Alexander as the only active pitchers to have defeated every team in the major leagues.

An impressive feat, yes--unless the one you’re trying to impress is Sutton.

“It’s no big deal,” Sutton said. “It’s not something I’m going to file away as one of my more memorable accomplishments. It means I’ve been traded more than once.

“Longevity and consistency mean a lot to me, but if I had won 330 games without ever beating the A’s, that would’ve meant more.”

More significant, in Sutton’s mind, was the fact he beat the A’s on the third Sunday of August--completing a three-game sweep of Oakland, concluding an 8-2 homestand and sending the Angels into 18 straight games against AL East contenders with a 4 1/2-game lead over the Texas Rangers.

“The important thing is to try and put a little gap between us and Texas right now,” Sutton said. “I don’t care who you are, when you’re going up against Detroit, Baltimore and New York, you better be ready to bust your butts.

“We have a cushion now. We don’t have to win 7 of 9 to maintain our present position. We want to win 9 of 9, obviously, but there’s not any sense of urgency.”

The Angels did what they had to do on this homestand--clean up on the lower class of the AL West. They swept four games from Seattle and three from Oakland, bookending one other victory against Minnesota.

Coupled with Texas’ 8-7 loss to Toronto in 11 innings Sunday, the Angels were able to boost their lead over the Rangers to 4 1/2 games--their largest of the season.

“It’s important for us to take advantage of the situation,” said Gary Lucas, who pitched the final three innings to earn his first save as an Angel. “I think we have the right to be confident going into these games against the East. We went out and earned this lead. Texas has to pay attention to what we’re doing.”

And from Doug DeCinces, who had two more hits and two more RBIs during a month that he wishes contained more than 31 days: “Those Eastern teams, they’ve got to play us, too. They’ve got to be concerned about playing us. We’re no pushovers.”

The Angels had to overcome two teams Sunday--the A’s and themselves. The Angels ran themselves out of two potentially big innings with a trio of basepath gaffes.

Brian Downing was on first base in the first inning when Reggie Jackson doubled to right field. Oakland right fielder Mike Davis is noted for his arm strength, so third base coach Moose Stubing thrust both arms in the air, universally known in baseball as a signal to stop.

Downing, head down, ran through Stubing’s sign and into an out at the plate, where A’s catcher Mickey Tettleton was waiting for him with the ball.

At the same time, Jackson was frozen between second and third bases, peering in on the action at home. Tettleton quickly noted that Jackson was vulnerable and ran toward the runner, finally flipping to shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who slapped the tag on Jackson’s back.

A rather odd double play. And there was more to come.

In the third inning, Gary Pettis doubled, and Wally Joyner singled him home. The outfield relay was cut off by first baseman Bruce Bochte as Joyner rounded the base. Another rundown ensued, and Joyner was tagged out, ending another inning.

Those plays loomed large for a while, as Carney Lansford and Davis hit solo home runs off Sutton, tying the game at 2-2 through five innings. But in the sixth, the Angels kept their bearing long enough to score two more runs and begin to pull away.

DeCinces and Grich had RBI singles in that inning, and DeCinces came back with another in the seventh. The two RBIs gave him 22 in his last 18 games and 71 for the season.

Two errors by Bochte paved the way for two more Angel runs in the eighth, removing all the remaining drama from Sutton’s historic victory.

At least, Gene Mauch, the Angel manager, considered it historic.

“I think that’s a special feat,” Mauch said. “I know that (Phil) Niekro was all excited when he beat Baltimore the other day. He’d never done that before.

“When you’re that good, it’s just a matter of time before good things like that start to happen.”

Sutton downplayed it partly because he still has emotional ties to Oakland. He won 13 games for the A’s last season and remains close to many of his ex-teammates.

“I was not looking forward to facing Oakland,” he said. “I was glad I missed them during the first half (of the season).

“At 1:05 today, it became a business day, but for the previous two days, it was not pleasant to think about going against people you regard as close friends.”

Sunday, the A’s just became another line in Sutton’s portfolio for Cooperstown. When it comes to padding out one’s Hall of Fame credentials, what’s a little five-run difference between friends?

Angel Notes

Hot August Nights and Days: Doug DeCinces is batting .382 in August, raising his season average to .263, and is narrowing the gap on Wally Joyner in home runs and RBIs. Joyner has 22 home runs and 83 RBIs; DeCinces has 18 and 71. “I seem to be a second-half hitter; I don’t know why,” DeCinces said. “But to me, that’s better than the other way around. The last three months are more important than the first three.” Particularly in the case of DeCinces, who, in the last year of his contract, wants to make an impression on Angel management. “For me, personally, yes, this is important,” DeCinces said. “There are still six weeks left in the season, and I still have a major job in front of me, but to finish strongly would put me in the driver’s seat, where I don’t have to worry about anyone else’s opinion. I control my own destiny. That’s why I was upset when I wasn’t playing earlier. When I wasn’t playing, someone else was controlling my destiny. I didn’t care for that.”

Gary Lucas earned his first save as an Angel exactly one year after his only save of last season. He collected it on Aug. 17, 1985, against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lucas was then a member of the Montreal Expos. . . . Gary Pettis went 3 for 3 with 3 runs, 1 RBI and his 32nd stolen base of the season. But his defense was what caught the eye of Oakland third base coach Bob Didier. “If he plays any more shallow,” Didier said, “they’ll have to get him a shortstop’s glove.” . . . It was a rough series for Jose Canseco. The major league RBI leader went 0 for 12 in the three games against the Angels, striking out six times and hitting the ball out of the infield once. Don Sutton struck out Canseco twice Sunday, leaving the rookie with 140 strikeouts in 118 games. Canseco made no errors over the weekend, an accomplishment of sorts, but let a catchable fly ball by Pettis fall in front of him for a single in the fifth inning Sunday.

Add Rough Days: Laboring in the heat with five different pitchers eventually got the best of Oakland catcher Mickey Tettleton. With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Tettleton was removed from the game because of heat exhaustion and replaced by Jerry Willard.