Angels Strike Oil With Homers in 5-3 Victory : Schofield, Pettis Tag Boyd in 7th; Mauch Is Ejected

He arrived late, just 54 minutes before the first pitch, and left early, just one out before the end of the seventh inning. But while his presence Friday night was short, it was most certifiably felt.

Game 3 of the American League playoffs, a 5-3 Angel victory over the Boston Red Sox before a crowd of 64,206 at Anaheim Stadium, bore the undeniable brand of Oil Can.

Pick an adjective for Boston pitcher Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd. Controversial? Rageful? Volatile? Unpredictable?

This game, as they say, had it all.

Controversial : A safe call at home plate that was reversed, depriving the Angels of a fourth-inning run and preserving a 1-0 Red Sox lead that lasted until the sixth.

Rageful : The fallout from that decision, first sending Boyd into one of his blowups and then drawing enough expletives to get Angel Manager Gene Mauch deleted from the game.

Volatile : The Angels fell behind in the second inning, skirted catastrophe in the sixth, rallied in the seventh and hung on for dear life in the eighth and ninth.

Unpredictable : The Angels received the decisive blows from the littlest guns in their Little Ball attack--Dick Schofield, Bob Boone and Gary Pettis. Schofield, the .249-hitting shortstop, gave the Angels a 2-1 lead with a seventh-inning home run. Boone, the .222-hitting catcher, then singled before Pettis, the center fielder with 12 career home runs, deposited another Oil Can pitch over the outfield wall.

That three-run outburst spelled the end for Boyd and returned the championship series advantage to the Angels. Entering tonight’s matchup between the man of 20 strikeouts, Roger Clemens, and the man of 310 victories, Don Sutton, the Angels hold a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven playoffs.

“One of the best games I never saw,” said Mauch, who was ejected in the fourth inning by first base umpire Nick Bremigan after Mauch refused to relent in his protest over the run that was taken away from the Angels.

The setting was this:

With Boston leading, 1-0, Wally Joyner was on second base, Brian Downing was on first and Doug DeCinces was at the plate with two outs. DeCinces squirted a roller down the first-base line that threatened to swerve foul but never did.

The ball eventually hit the front corner of the bag and kicked away from first baseman Bill Buckner. Boyd, who had left the mound to give chase, took an awkward swipe at the ball--sweeping it back to Buckner.

In the meantime, Joyner was rounding third base with an eye for the tying run. He sprinted for home. Buckner threw home. Joyner went in standing up, just as catcher Rich Gedman received the ball and reached for the tag.

Joyner’s foot hit the plate at almost the same time Gedman’s glove hit Joyner’s body. Home plate umpire Terry Cooney signaled Joyner safe--which was the signal for Boyd to make like Joaquin Andujar.

Screaming and gesturing wildly, Boyd approached Cooney before he was restrained by teammates. Boston Manager John McNamara left the dugout for a more civil dispute, and soon, Cooney was asking third base umpire Rich Garcia for a second opinion.

“The reason (Cooney) called him safe was because he felt a tag was not made,” Garcia said. “He asked me if there was a tag. I said yes. I don’t know if (Joyner) was on or off the plate when the tag was made, but there was definitely a tag.”

Cooney changed his call. Joyner was out, the inning was over and the Red Sox retired to their dugout.

And Mauch left his.

“Terry Cooney said Wally Joyner was safe and then decided to ask Rich Garcia if he saw a tag,” Mauch said. “He said he saw a tag, but didn’t know where (Joyner) was. Then, after not knowing where he was, Rich Garcia knew all about it.”

Mauch argued with Cooney, with Garcia, with everyone in blue in sight. He was finally ejected by Bremigan, who had nothing to do with the call.

“He threw me out, I guess, because I brought up a balk he didn’t call in Texas, and I didn’t think he was qualified to get into this argument,” Mauch said.

In not exactly those words.

Mauch was thrown out and turned the managerial controls over to third base coach Moose Stubing and pitching coach Marcel Lachemann. “It was a committee thing,” Mauch said. “Moose took care of the offense and Lach handled the pitching.”

And Mauch?

“I wore out two pairs of shoes walking up and down the runway,” he said.

Stubing, Game 2’s goat-by-acclamation after failing to stop Bobby Grich at third base, achieved at least partial vindication by his assist in the victory.

“I thought Moose did an outstanding job of (waving home) Schofield,” Mauch quipped, referring to Schofield’s homer.

There was controversy before a single pitch was thrown. Around the batting cage, people were buzzing. Where was Oil Can? Was he really involved in a car accident? Why didn’t Wally take batting practice? He was bit by a bug? Was it a bee or a spider?

McNamara met the press and denied any reports of dents in Oil Can’s car. “He was not involved in any accident,” McNamara stated. “Whoever started that rumor. . . .” He didn’t finish but jerked his head around, surveying the assemblage.

He also didn’t find his starting pitcher.

Officially, Boyd didn’t arrive at the Boston clubhouse until 4:34 p.m. In less than an hour, he was to oppose John Candelaria in Boyd’s first-ever postseason appearance.

For five innings, he did not seem to suffer from lack of preparation. Boyd took a 1-0 lead into the sixth, when the Angels tied it on a walk to Joyner, a fielder’s choice and a single by Reggie Jackson.

But Boyd finally caved in during the seventh. Schofield cleared the left-field fence. Boone single. Pettis cleared the right-center field fence. Unexpected power, unexpected 4-1 Angel lead.

The Angels added a run in the eighth on a walk to Jackson, an error by Boston third baseman Wade Boggs and a sacrifice fly by Grich. The Angels breathed easier after that one, for the previous half-inning had been a wrenching one, courtesy of Donnie Moore.

After Candelaria completed his scheduled seven innings--pitching out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth--Moore succeeded him, with little immediate success.

Moore yielded a single to Marty Barrett, a double to Jim Rice and then balked home Barrett. He also walked Dwight Evans and surrendered a run-scoring single to Gedman.

Only a line drive to Pettis, who ran his way to an American League championship series record of nine putouts, ended the inning.

Moore allowed another hit to Barrett in the ninth but finally earned his first postseason save when Buckner flied to left field.

There were some interesting postscripts to the game.

Pettis, who has hit seven home runs since 1984, has produced six of them against three pitchers: Two off Detroit’s Dan Petry, two off Texas’ Mike Mason, two off Boyd.

A quirk? Whatever works, Mauch said.

“Pettis wrapped (Boyd) around the right-field pole in Boston earlier this year,” said Mauch, explaining why he moved Pettis from ninth to first in the Angels’ batting order. “I wanted him up there as often as I could.

“Gary Pettis is justifiably getting cocky in his hitting. Now he feels he’s a good hitter . . . and I just love it.”

Mauch then looked at Joyner, standing nearby.

“This guy here was born that way,” Mauch said.

Joyner then stepped up to address the important issue: The insect bite.

At first, he said he thought he had been spiked in Game 2. “The trainers treated it like a bruise,” Joyner said. “But I was sick all night, I ran a temperature of 101 or 102, I felt like I had the flu.

“I told the trainers today what my reaction was, and the trainers decided it was an insect bite. I guess I’m allergic to spiders.”

Not so with Boyd. Joyner and the Angels searched seven innings for a cure, but after much wailing and many gyrations, they finally settled upon one.

In a way, it was Oil Can’s game. But in the end, it was the Angels’ win.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

ANGELS vs. RED SOX

RESULTS

Game 1 Angels 8, Red Sox 1 Game 2 Red Sox 9, Angels 2 Game 3 Angels 5, Red Sox 3

SCHEDULE

DATE SITE TIME Game 4 Tonight Anaheim 5:25 p.m. Game 5 Sunday Anaheim Noon Game 6* Tuesday Boston 5:25 p.m. Game 7* Wednesday Boston 5:25 p.m.

* If necessary.