Angels Hope Reuss Will Bolster Staff

Jerry Reuss had figured to spend a quiet evening away from the ballpark on the occasion of his 38th birthday Friday. Six days earlier, the Cincinnati Reds had informed him that his services were no longer required. The ex-Dodger, ex-Pirate, ex-Astro and ex-Cardinal had become an ex-Red.

Now, Reuss hopes that new surroundings will produce new results. So do the Angels, who swallowed a little pride Friday by announcing they had signed Reuss and planned on using him as a starter Sunday against Kansas City.

Friday was a busy day for Angel management. Left-hander John Candelaria was placed on the 15-day disabled list for what the club termed “personal reasons.” That was the same phrase used for a similar move in May, after Candelaria was arrested twice in four weeks for allegedly driving while intoxicated.

Reliever Donnie Moore, still being treated for a nerve irritation in his rib cage, was moved to the 21-day disabled list. He had been placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 29.

Thursday afternoon, Reuss tried out with the same team that, back in early April, yawned at the prospect of adding him to its pitching staff. But things were different then.

“When Jerry Reuss was available to us earlier in the season,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said, “we were fat cats.”

In the months since then, the Angels have wasted away to their current state: pitching thin. The injuries to Kirk McCaskill and Moore. The inability of Urbano Lugo. The inexperience of Willie Fraser. The ineffectiveness of Don Sutton. All have left the Angels in need and in trouble.

In Reuss, they are getting a veteran left-hander whose recent experience has been mostly bad.

After being released by the Dodgers in April, he was signed by the Reds, who sent him to their minor league affiliate in Evansville before adding him to their starting rotation. In seven starts for Cincinnati, Reuss compiled an 0-5 record and 7.79 earned run average. He allowed 52 hits in 34 innings.

Mauch and Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann liked enough of what they saw in Reuss’ workout to offer him another chance, hoping that a move to the American League will do him good.

“I feel as strongly now about getting him as I did when we were kicking ourselves for not getting him (earlier),” Mauch said. “He’s in even better shape now than when he was available to us before. Being in better shape and in a new league will be beneficial to him and to us.”

Reuss said his struggles with Cincinnati were attributed to a combination of dumb luck and dumb pitches. But he believes there is still life in the left arm that has won 15 or more games in a season five times and, from 1980 to 1985, led the major leagues with a 2.87 ERA. His problem with the Reds, he said, wasn’t a fastball gone slow.

“At Cincinnati, they had me clocked at 91 (miles per hour),” he said. “My first question was, ‘Was that going in, or going out?’

“From what I’ve been told, I was consistently clocked at between 89 and 91. But it’s like real estate--the most important thing is location.”

Mauch and the Angels are hoping a new location and new league will bring about the return of the Reuss of old.