Mauch, Ejected and Dejected in Fourth Inning, Is Elated Later

Like a true Angel fan, Gene Mauch left the game early Friday night.

He left in the fourth inning, at the urging of umpire Nick Bremigan, who didn’t like Mauch’s lip.

Thrown out of the game with his Angels losing to the Red Sox, 1-0, Mauch retired to the long tunnel leading from the Angel dugout to the team clubhouse.

“I smoked and walked, smoked and walked,” said Mauch, who was smiling after the Angels’ 5-3 victory.

Smoking and walking, smoking and walking, back and forth in the dim light of the tunnel, Mauch must have looked like a little silver-topped locomotive.

“I think we can, I think we can,” Mauch must have been saying to himself as he puffed along, even when his team was behind. Because Gene Mauch is an optimist.

“I always think everything’s going to be beautiful until it’s not,” Mauch said.

Not that he was leaving anything to chance. The biggest joke in baseball is a manager being thrown out of a game. The manager always continues to pull strings from behind the scenes, like a puppeteer, and always denies that he did.

Mauch said he left the ballclub in charge of two of his coaches.

“Moose (Stubing) ran the offense, and Lach (Marcel Lachemann) handled the pitching,” Mauch said. “I thought Moose did an outstanding job with Pettis and Schofield (who hit home runs).”

Was Mauch involved, even though he was officially exiled and forbidden to manage?

“Oh, I was involved,” Mauch said. “I’d be involved if I was at home.”

He said there are a lot of ways to continue to manage from behind the scenes. But did he?

“No,” Mauch said.

Wink, wink.

Stubing and Lachemann appeared to be running the show. But Mauch’s intensity level is so incredibly high he could have been sending telepathic instructions through Moose’s antlers.

After 24 years of managing without getting into a World Series, Gene Mauch isn’t about to trust his 25th ballclub to Moose and Marcel, no matter how trusted they be. Win or lose, Mauch will be calling the shots, even if the umpires gag him with a resin bag and lock him in a broom closet.

When Angel starter John Candelaria finished off the Red Sox in the seventh, Mauch said: “Before I knew the number of pitches he had thrown, I was going to send him out to get (Marty) Barrett and (Bill) Buckner (the first two Sox batters in the eighth). When I found out how many pitches he’d thrown (102), I told Lach, ‘That’s enough.’ ”

Exactly how did Mauch convey this message? Maybe he sent smoke signals.

The only thing Mauch didn’t do Friday night was see the game. He has a TV set in his office, but he didn’t watch it much. The clubhouse runway was better for smoking and pacing. He smoked a full pack, all but two that he saved for his postgame cooldown.

During his five-inning smoke break, Mauch missed some interesting action. He missed Ruppert Jones’ acrobatics in right field. In the fifth inning, his back to the plate, Jones tried to make a leaping catch of a long drive, but the ball almost hit him in the wallet.

This must have been what Satchel Paige meant when he said, “Don’t look back; something might be gaining on you.”

Jones might want to consider wearing flak underwear next game--and carrying radar--because in the eighth inning, he misjudged another fly ball that just sort of avoided his glove.

It’s just as well Mauch missed that stuff. He would have eaten his pack of cigarettes.

On the other hand, the Little General missed some good things, too. In fact, it was a big night for little guys.

First the 5-foot 10-inch Mauch got booted for heroically defending his team after the umpires took back a run they gave the Angels. Exactly why was he kicked out?

“I made reference to a balk he (Bremigan) didn’t call last week in Texas,” Mauch said, “and I told him I didn’t think he was qualified to enter the argument. I told him to get away from here.”

Umpire Rich Garcia’s version: “(Mauch was ejected) because of the language and attitude toward Nick Bremigan. He (Mauch) cursed him about four different times.”

Other little guys picked up for Mauch. Dick Schofield (5-10) and Gary Pettis (160 pounds) socked home runs. Reggie Jackson was an honorary little guy, playing Little Ball in the sixth inning with a ground-ball RBI single that tied the score.

Reggie then played Smart Ball in the eighth, milking a walk off Calvin Schiraldi, moving to third with a wild slide that sent the fans sitting behind third base fleeing in terror then hustling home on a sacrifice fly by little guy Ruppert Jones (5-10).

Mauch would’ve loved it.

The only little guy highlight action he got to see in person was before the game, when Sammy Davis Jr., a close personal friend of everyone in the ballpark, man, did the national anthem gig, man.

It was too much, man, too much. Way too much. Sammy took so long with the Anthem, Mauch was probably considering sending out Moose Stubing to give Sam the stop sign.

Tonight’s pregame festivities will include Gene’s mom, Mamie Mauch, who is 84 years old and will throw out the first ball.

And if Mamie’s son watches his temper and his language, and is nice to Mr. Bremigan, he might get to stay around long enough to actually see Mom’s pitch.