AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES : California vs. Boston : In Zany Game, Hurst Is Still All Business

There was a time in his early years with the Boston Red Sox that the management thought he lacked the intensity and fortitude to become a major league winner.

There was that moment in 1980, in fact, when then manager Don Zimmer suggested to Bruce Hurst that he take his Bible and go home, that he return to Utah and grow up.

A good Mormon and a rookie then, Hurst took Zimmer literally.

He stormed from the mound at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, packed his bag and contemplated a new life.

The anger and frustration wore off as Hurst walked the streets during a long night, ultimately deciding to stay.

Now, when Hurst looks back, he smiles and says: “People thought I was too shy, too timid, too left-handed, too Mormon. If I had listened to what some people said, I wouldn’t be here now.”

Neither would the Boston Red Sox, who pulled even with the Angels in the American League playoffs Wednesday as Hurst pitched what he called a “nifty 11-hitter,” allowing only two runs, which were seven fewer than the Red Sox eventually scored.

Fortitude? Composure? Maturity?

Hurst displayed it all on a day when:

--The Red Sox seemingly had to win in the wake of ace Roger Clemens defeat in Tuesday night’s playoff opener.

--Hurst could have easily collapsed, giving in to the bizarre events taking place around him.

“This was the type game that might have really affected Bruce a year ago,” shortstop Spike Owen said, “but he’s matured enough now and developed enough confidence to keep his composure.”

Said Manager John McNamara: “He’s grown up a lot, and it showed today. He kept his concentration while a lot of others were losing theirs.”

He also proved again that Fenway Park doesn’t have to be a graveyard for left-handed pitchers.

“I’ve always felt that’s a myth,” Hurst said.

“Look at the records of John Tudor and Bill Lee and Bob Ojeda. Lefties can win here, though the configuration (with the proximity of the left-field wall) doesn’t figure to help them.

“My attitude is that if you make good pitches, you win. If you don’t, you lose.”

Now 28 and in his seventh major league season, Hurst was 13-8 with a 2.99 earned-run average, missing six weeks in midseason with a pulled groin muscle.

He was 8-5 after the injury, including 5-0 for September. In his last seven starts at Fenway, he was 6-0. All four of his 1986 shutouts came in the shadow of the Wall.

So effective was this left-hander here that the Red Sox juggled their rotation during the final weeks of the regular season to allow Hurst, rather than Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd, to pitch Game 2, which started at 3:07, a deadly hour for hitters attempting to find a southpaw’s pitches emerging from the shirt-sleeved backdrop of sun-bathed bleacherites.

Said Doug DeCinces, the Angel third baseman, of Hurst: “He was virtually impossible to hit for the first four innings. I mean, he’s in the shade, we’re in the shade, and they (the fans) are in bright sun.

“He could have been throwing all changeups, and we couldn’t have hit them.”

Said Hurst: “I know hitters say it’s tough to pick up a left-handed pitcher in day games here. If that’s an advantage, I’m going to try and pull as many pitches as I can out of the crowd, but it’s not something I think about, not something I can consciously try to do.”

Neither, he said, was he consciously thinking of the pressure stemming from Clemens’ defeat.

“Needless to say,” he said, “I didn’t want us to go to California 0-2, but I try not to think of the consequences of a win or loss. There’s enough pressure as it is. All I wanted to do was make good pitches in good spots and stay away from the big inning.

“I felt confident we would eventually score if I kept it close.”

The slapstick play failed to unnerve Hurst as he yielded an unearned run in the fourth and a solo homer to Wally Joyner in the fifth. A turning point came in the sixth when Hurst allowed three straight singles but saw Bobby Grich tagged out at third on the last of those singles, the play on which Grich publicly blew up at third base coach Moose Stubing.

Hurst then struck out Gary Pettis to end a threat that came with Boston leading by only 3-2. He allowed just two hits in the final three innings and said later of the out on Grich: “It was big. I didn’t see what happened because I was running to back up the plate, but it was the difference of having the bases loaded with one out or runners at first and second with two out. I didn’t have to worry about a wild pitch or ground ball tying the game. It was an easier situation to work out of.

“That inning kind of woke me up, too. I was getting too predictable. I was throwing too many forkballs. I said to Geddy (catcher Rich Gedman) that we’ve got to start mixing them up again. I was in a pretty good groove after that.”

Hurst is actually in the best groove of his career.

“I’m comfortable and confident right now and feel I can keep it up,” he said.

There may have been a time, however, when Hurst, as well as Zimmer, didn’t think he would get this far. It wasn’t that he questioned his ability as much as the environment. Hurst doesn’t swear, smoke, drink or pursue the neons, and he reached a point when he was in the Red Sox farm system that he didn’t want to be around people who did. He returned to his home in St. George, Utah, where he was talked out of a premature retirement by Red Sox farm director Ed Kenney, who told him to forget what other people said or did and just work toward making the most of his own ability.

That was another time and place, though Hurst offers no apologies for his beliefs or life style.

He is a strong Mormon who reflected Wednesday on the imminent flight to California and said he was going to sit back, relax and celebrate with a Slice or a 7-Up.