Hold the Phone, Angels Win at Last : They End 9-Game Losing Streak by Beating Yankees, 9-2

The telephone on Gene Mauch’s desk rang, and as soon as he lifted the receiver to his ear, Mauch smiled his biggest smile in nearly two weeks. On the other end was Angel owner Gene Autry. It was congratulations from the Cowboy.

Yes, the streak was over. After nine straight defeats, the second-longest losing streak in franchise history, the Angels arrived in New York and finally took a walk on the winning side. Behind the five-hit pitching of Mike Witt, the Angels defeated the New York Yankees, 9-2, Monday night, righting themselves against the same team that first sent them reeling 11 days earlier.

It was a plunge that dragged the Angels from second place in the American League West to within a half-game of the cellar; that pushed them to within two losses of a club record; that included sweeps against New York, Baltimore and Toronto; that transcended the surreal through three bizarre extra-inning losses; that left the Angels with more defeats (28) than every team in the major leagues except San Diego and Cleveland.

It got so bad for the Angels that when rookie right fielder Devon White returned home to New York and went out Sunday night with old friends, one of them told him: “You guys stink.”

“That’s nice, huh?” said White, who nonetheless dished out, by his estimate, 40 tickets to such acquaintances.

Monday, they were able to witness a little slice of history. The Angels won for the first time since May 20, won by more than one run for the first time since May 11 and received a victory from a starting pitcher for the first time in 18 games.

Witt (6-4) had the last one, a 5-1 victory over Detroit on May 11, way back when the Angels were still tied for first place.

Since then, Witt’s troubles had mirrored the team’s. In his previous two starts, he lasted just three innings against the Yankees in Anaheim and walked five batters during one inning in Baltimore.

“He had the ugliest inning imaginable,” Mauch said of Witt’s wild ride in Baltimore five days earlier.

Thanks to White, Witt got in trouble again Monday in the first inning. White lost track of Willie Randolph’s leadoff fly ball to right and misplayed it into a triple. Randolph scored on Don Mattingly’s ground ball to short and Witt and the Angels were down, 1-0.

The best team in the American League, with a 16-5 record at home, had just been handed a run. All the ingredients seemed present for Angel defeat No. 10.

But after Randolph’s triple, Witt retired nine straight Yankees. He yielded an unearned run in the fifth before returning to form. Witt struck out 11 and waited for the Angel offense to put something together against Charles Hudson (6-2).

With the game tied, 1-1, in the fifth, Doug DeCinces got something started with his third home run in as many days. Then, Randolph dropped a pop fly by Bob Boone--an Angelic play during the losing streak--and Boone eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Wally Joyner.

The score was 3-2 in the seventh before the Angels broke loose for four runs--”eliminating the doubt,” DeCinces said, “so we wouldn’t have to take a 3-2 lead into the last inning and risk something going wrong again.”

Mark McLemore bunted over third baseman Mike Pagliarulo’s head and scored on a double by White. Joyner brought in another run on a sacrifice fly. Yankee right fielder Dave Winfield staggered under a fly ball by Jack Howell, letting it glance off his glove for a two-run double.

With two more runs in the ninth--White tripled and Joyner homered--the Angels not only buried the Yankees but the losing streak as well.

Yet, there was no great rejoicing afterward in the Angel locker room. There were some smiles and the clubhouse stereo was allowed to play for the first time in a week. But the prevailing attitude was summed up by Downing and DeCinces.

“We’ve won one out of 10. Thrills,” Downing said sarcastically. “It’s tough to feel proud of ourselves. We’ve got no reason to come out smug tomorrow. This is a start, that’s all.”

Added DeCinces: “This streak put us behind the eight-ball. It ruined our good start, just threw it out the door.

“The way I look at it, we’re 1-9. And it’s not over yet. We have to take this win and carry the thought over into tomorrow.”

The mood of the Angel clubhouse was more hopeful than anything--hope that this sort of skid would not happen again, hope that the long faces and slumped shoulders would no longer be seen in the Angel dugout.

“The attitude was pretty bad yesterday,” Mauch admitted, referring to Sunday’s 7-2 loss to Toronto. “Between the sixth and ninth innings, that was as low as we’ve gotten.”

Said DeCinces: “Everybody was quiet, waiting for something to go wrong. The idea of having so much youth (on the Angels) is enthusiasm. But there was more fright than enthusiasm.”

Downing liked the sound of music again in the locker room. He liked the fact a national television audience could watch the Angels without cringing.

“I’m tired of walking around with my head down and being embarrassed about it,” he said. “Considering the great way we’ve played in recent years, to see it deteriorate . . .

“I don’t look at it as nine losses in a row. The last three or four weeks has been a horrible period for us. Maybe the fact we were playing on Monday Night Baseball helped us. We knew we were gonna get ridiculed, so maybe that was the kick in the butt we needed.

Angel Notes

Last scraps From the losing streak: Only three runs separated the Angels from a 17-game losing streak. Over a span of 17 games, the Angels’ only victories were a 5-4, 10-inning decision over Baltimore on May 15; a 2-1 victory over Toronto on May 19; and a 5-4, 10-inning win over Toronto on May 20. . . . In an attempt to shake the team’s luck, Gene Mauch sent first-base coach Bobby Knoop out to home plate with the lineup card before Monday’s game, a duty traditionally handled by Moose Stubing. “And he’ll definitely take the lineup out tomorrow,” Mauch said. Is Mauch superstitious? “Yes,” he said. “I have one very bad superstition--it’s bad luck to lose.” . . . Rev. Jesse Jackson was a visitor to the Yankee Stadium press box Monday, a fact one reporter mentioned to Mauch. “Attaboy, Reverend,” Mauch said with a grin. . . . During the streak, the Angels didn’t do many things right, including their trademark Little Ball. When Devon White scored Bob Boone with a deep fly out in the fifth inning it was the Angels’ first sacrifice fly since May 6. That sacrifice fly, delivered by Darrell Miller against the Milwaukee Brewers, was the club’s only one during the month of May.

Add streaks: Beginning to shake out of a slump that brought his batting average down to .229, Doug DeCinces has homered in each of his last three games. The last time DeCinces hit home runs in three consecutive games was Sept. 21-23, 1985. He hit the first two against Cleveland and the third against Chicago. . . . DeCinces was called out in the sixth inning after checking his swing on a 1-and-2 pitch that bounced past Yankee catcher Rick Cerone to the backstop--only to have Cerone run back and tag him out after first base umpire Nick Bremigan ruled DeCinces had come around, striking out. “That’s an awkward rule,” Mauch said. “I told (home plate umpire Vic Voltaggio), ‘You guys ought to get together and allow a hitter to ask quickly, “Did I or didn’t I?’ No way a hitter is gonna call himself out by taking off for first. Voltaggio said, ‘That makes a lot of sense, why don’t you put it in writing?’ ” Mauch frowned. “Vic,” Mauch told the umpire, “you can remember what I said.”