Quarterly Report on the Angels : From Pitching Rich to Mound of Woe

They have the cleanest ballpark in America. And the cleanest first baseman.

They have introduced an alcohol-free, expletive-free “Family Section” of seats behind the left-field fence, isolated far from the madding crowd, and they entertain with a combination of bland organ Muzak and cartoon sound-effects.

They are owned by The Singing Cowboy and the day-to-day baseball operation is overseen by a stiff-collared, tight-lipped general manager whose idea of a roaring good time is a hamburger at the golden arches.

These are the Angels. Orange County’s team. Conservative and proud of it.

Which makes the first quarter of their 1987 season one overwhelming contradiction in style. Right now, this take-no-chances, make-no-waves organization is 40 games into perhaps the greatest crapshoot in its history.

And right now, neither the dice nor the roster they’re playing with is loaded.

From the outset, the vision of General Manager Mike Port was a gamble: Strip the club of its big-name, big-salaried hitters, retool the lineup with young (i.e. cheap) talent, shove it out on the field and hope the pitching would be strong enough to carry it.

With pitching, Manager Gene Mauch insisted, anything could be accomplished. With pitching, Mauch could afford patience with the rookies and the near-rookies while the team won games by scores of 4-3 and 3-2. The West could be won again--at cut-rate prices.

This was back in late March, when the Angels thought they had too much pitching. Remember, this was a team that couldn’t decide what to do with Willie Fraser, the hardest thrower in the organization.

On opening day, the Angels strutted out their deep and adept starting rotation, headed by Mike Witt and Kirk McCaskill and filled out by veterans John Candelaria and Don Sutton and a forkballer of promise named Urbano Lugo. With these arms, the Angels pulled the lever of the slot machine.

Forty games later, the team is 21-19, 2 1/2 games out of first place, tied for second with, yes, the Seattle Mariners. The Angels are a half-game ahead of fifth-place Oakland and are trailing a Kansas City team that has no catching, no shortstop and no George Brett.

How did they get there?

Pitching.

Entering tonight’s series opener with the American League East-leading New York Yankees, Mauch’s starting five now consists of Witt, Sutton, Fraser, Mike Cook and Jack Lazorko. The latter three are two rookies and a 31-year-old who has bounced through eight organizations in search of a big-league job.

Lazorko could find one in Anaheim, which is serving as a sort of Ellis Island for long-shot pitching prospects. This is where DeWayne Buice, a 29-year-old rookie with 10 minor league seasons and two broken arms to his credit, found a home. This is where Bryan Harvey, discovered on a softball field in North Carolina, hangs out. This is where Miguel Garcia, a baby-faced 20-year-old who made Wally Joyner look like a codger, got a chance.

The pitching staff has been turned into a swap meet with the disablement of two starting pitchers and the ineffectiveness of a third.

McCaskill developed bone spurs in his elbow, requiring the same type of surgery that Candelaria underwent last year. McCaskill is expected to be lost at least until the All-Star Game.

As for Candelaria, a different year has brought on a different set of problems. First, a numb right leg, caused by an irritated nerve in his lower calf. Then, lower back discomfort that required a cortisone injection. And finally, two arrests in four weeks for suspicion of driving under the influence.

Those arrests prompted the Angels last week to place Candelaria on the 15-day disabled list for “personal reasons”--reportedly to give Candelaria the chance to seek professional therapy on an out-patient basis.

Lugo also fell, not because of health, but because of a 9.49 earned-run average. He struggled through a winless April, searching in vain for a breaking ball he could throw for strikes, but wasn’t removed from the rotation until consecutive starts yielded 12-3 and 15-2 defeats.

The consequence of such attrition has been striking.

In 13 of the Angels’ 19 losses, the pitching staff has allowed seven runs or more. During a span of 21 games (April 26-May 19), the Angels allowed 10 or more runs seven times. And in the last week, the Angels suffered losses by scores of 15-2, 10-7 and 12-0.

“It’s no fun for position players to go through this once or twice a week,” Mauch said.

With this, the position players have no argument.

Said Doug DeCinces: “When you’re getting pounded, it’s not as easy going out there as in normal situations.”

Said Brian Downing: “If we don’t get pitching, we’re not going to win. We’re not the offensive machine we were for a couple years. We can score runs, but not like those teams.”

Those teams, circa 1979-82, featured sluggers named Grich, Lynn, Baylor and Jackson. This team features a lineup built around two rookies (Devon White and Mark McLemore), two second-year players (Joyner and Jack Howell) and two players who are basically defensive specialists (Dick Schofield and Gary Pettis).

This team also was supposed to run crazy on the basepaths, a notion that fell victim to an old but accurate baseball adage: You can’t steal first base. No Angel has more than nine stolen bases, but that’s a direct result of Pettis’ .224 average and 45 strikeouts in 40 games and Schofield’s .218 mark. McLemore, who leads the club with nine steals, is batting .263.

Since May 3, the Angels are hitting .217. Contributing significantly to that skid are Schofield (3 for 48 in one stretch), Pettis (16 strikeouts in 37 at-bats), Downing (0 for 16), Howell (1 for 15), Joyner (6 for 35) and DeCinces (3 for 20).

So, in some ways, the Angels are fortunate to remain within 2 1/2 games of first place at this point. Mauch, forever searching for the silver lining, points to the Angels’ record at this juncture last season: 21-19.

“We were still under .500 in June last year,” Mauch said. “And our pitching wasn’t that impressive at the start. Our ERA was around five until the middle of June. We had some 14-11 games then, too.”

Those Angels, who went on to win the AL West championship, also had injuries. But they didn’t lose two starting pitchers, a part-time catcher (Butch Wynegar) or a part-time right fielder (George Hendrick) for extended periods of time.

And, they didn’t have to chase Kansas City in the standings. This, Mauch concedes, does concern him.

“I don’t like it quite as well,” he said. “Last year, it was Texas in first, but they were winning games, 9-8. When we played them, I knew we weren’t going to get scored on like that. If Texas gives us eight runs a game, we’re going to get them.”

Pitching-rich Kansas City is a different story.

“With Kansas City, the scores are 3-2 and 4-3,” Mauch said. “We have never hammered on Kansas City pitching. That’s why I don’t want to get too far behind them. If you do, you have to beat them when you play them.”

The Angels are three weeks away from their first meeting with the Royals. Beginning June 12, the Angels will play Kansas City seven times in 10 days.

Until then, the object is to stay within striking range. But with a patchwork pitching staff and a lineup lacking quick striking power, such an assignment is confronted with, well, long odds.

The crapshoot continues.