Angel Duo Is Too Tough for Brewers, 4-3 : Lazorko, Finley Both Make a Strong Pitch to Stay Here

The game within Sunday’s game was a pitch-off between Jack Lazorko and Chuck Finley, believed to be the Angels’ leading candidates for Canadian residence once Kirk McCaskill returns from the disabled list.

McCaskill also pitched Sunday, in Phoenix for the Edmonton Trappers, making what should be his last tuneup before rejoining the Angel starting rotation. That places Lazorko and Finley on the bubble, with Angel Manager Gene Mauch holding a pin that could be wielded before next weekend.

“I hope it’s as tough as hell,” Mauch said of his impending decision.

And it could be. In the Angels’ 4-3, 12-inning victory over the Milwaukee Brewers before 27,525 at Anaheim Stadium Sunday, Lazorko and Finley didn’t just give Mauch some food for thought.

They gorged him.

Lazorko pitched seven strong innings, allowing only two runs on a pair of solo home runs by Glenn Braggs and Mike Felder. He yielded four hits and personally took away five with the kind of defensive exhibition that hasn’t been seen in these parts since Rogie Vachon made his last kick save.

Lazorko, a former high school goalie, turned the pitcher’s mound into his own private goal crease. He belly-flopped to snare a grounder by Dale Sveum. He dove to deny Felder and Cecil Cooper. He did the split to rob Greg Brock. He got down and dirty to take another hit away from Ernest Riles.

“He wasn’t gonna let that red light over the net go on today,” Mauch said, grinning.

And then came Finley. He turned the lights out on the Brewers.

Finley replaced Greg Minton in the top of the ninth and gave up one hit--a double by Brock that brought home Robin Yount with the game-tying run. But after that, Finley was perfect, retiring the next 11 Milwaukee batters.

Then, in the bottom of the 12th, Finley became a winning pitcher for the second time this season when Gary Pettis singled, took second when left fielder Felder bobbled the ball and scored on a single to center field by Brian Downing.

The pitch-off wound up a stand-off. What next? A coin toss on the pitcher’s rubber? Rocks-and-scissors? Maybe a spelling bee?

Lazorko and Finley know what’s at stake, although, for the sake of nerves and mental health, they say they’re trying not to think about it.

“I can only worry about what happens between the white lines,” said Lazorko, who began the year at Edmonton and is not eager to return. “I can’t worry about trades or guys going up and down. I’m scheduled to pitch again Friday. That’s all I can think about.”

Said Finley: “You hear things, but you have to let them go in one ear and out the other. If you don’t concentrate completely on what you’re doing, you’re lost out there.

“I’ve always felt I can pitch up here. I haven’t been told nothing. And I’m not going to think about it until Gene tells me I can’t do the job and wants to go with someone else.”

Looking at the mid-season numbers, there is not much to choose between the two. Lazorko is 2-4 with a 4.43 earned-run average, but has pitched the Angels into the seventh inning or beyond in seven of his nine starts. Finley is 2-3 with a 3.95 ERA in 18 appearances out of the bullpen. He has no saves.

Other variables:

--Lazorko has been McCaskill’s replacement in the starting rotation, temporary help as it were, but has also pitched in long relief. His defensive skills are obvious. Lazorko calls himself “the best fielding pitcher in baseball.” Mauch calls him “the most spectacular . . . and the dirtiest.”

--Finley is a left-handed reliever, one of two in Mauch’s bullpen. Mauch loves left-handed relievers. Can’t get enough of them. And of Finley, he says: “It’s just a matter of time before he becomes an outstanding pitcher--if he’s not already here.”

Lazorko and Finley waged their private competition Sunday amid the constraints of a baseball game that featured long stretches of strong pitching interrupted by short bursts of offense.

Through the first eight innings, Milwaukee scored two runs on home runs by Braggs and Felder. The Angels countered with a two-run home run by Wally Joyner in the first inning and a bases-empty home run by Dick Schofield in the fifth off Milwaukee rookie Mark Knudson.

That gave the Angels a 3-2 advantage, which Minton tried to protect in the ninth inning. But he surrendered a leadoff double to Yount and had to give way to Finley.

Finley got one out before serving up a booming double to Brock, the ball carrying over Pettis’ head in center field. Yount scored easily and the game was tied, 3-3.

Finley then settled down and the Angels began to beat down the Brewer bullpen. They managed two singles off Chuck Crim in both the 10th and 11th innings, but couldn’t score. In the 12th, they managed two more against Mark Clear--and thanks to Felder’s error, which enabled Pettis to move into scoring position for Downing, those two finally ended the game.

That made Finley a winner for the second time this series. Finley also won Thursday’s game, pitching the final four innings in a 13-inning, 9-7 triumph over Milwaukee.

“It feels better, coming into a game when it’s on the line,” said Finley, relegated to mop-up patrol for most of the season. “That gives you confidence. And if you don’t have confidence, it doesn’t matter how good an arm you have or if you can throw 100 miles an hour or if you have the nastiest curveball. Without confidence, you’re basically pitching scared.”

Finley says he “believes in myself. I’ve always felt I belong here. That’s never changed.”

Now he has to hope that Mauch’s mind hasn’t changed, either.

Angel Notes

Another variable was thrown into the Angels’ roster scramble late Saturday night when outfielder Ruppert Jones was involved in a multi-car collision in Oceanside. Manager Gene Mauch called it “a fender-bender” and said Jones, who complained of stiffness in his back and neck, could not have played Sunday. Moving Jones to the disabled list, when Kirk McCaskill returns, is a possibility--”I don’t know how bad Ruppert’s back and shoulders are,” Mauch said--but Angel trainer Rick Smith said the injuries were not serious. “He never went to the hospital and we didn’t treat him for it today,” Smith said. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.” . . . McCaskill limited Phoenix to two runs over six innings on Sunday as Edmonton beat Phoenix 8-3 in a Pacific Coast League game. McCaskill gave up two first-inning runs on a sacrifice fly by Mickey Sasser and an RBI single by Jessie Reid. . . . Gary Pettis, now beginning to draw boos after strikeouts, refused to talk to the press after scoring the winning run Sunday. “I have nothing to say,” was how Pettis greeted each writer who approached him. Someone asked him why. “That’s just how I feel right now,” he said. Before his 12th-inning single, Pettis had gone 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, dropping his batting average to .218 and raising his strikeout total to 85--which projects to a season’s pace of 168. Said Mauch: “Probably nobody in baseball needed that hit more than Gary Pettis.”

Jack Lazorko’s fielding was a hot topic of postgame conversation. Having read Mauch’s quotes about how he positioned first baseman Greg Brock in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 2-1 Brewer victory, Milwaukee Manager Tom Trebelhorn quipped, “Yeah, I’d have to say Gene positioned Lazorko in the right spot.” In the Angel clubhouse, DeWayne Buice broke up an interview with Lazorko by leaning into a huddle of writers and telling Lazorko, “Hey Jack, a scout from the L.A. Kings is here to see you.” . . . Milwaukee outfielder Rick Manning and coach Andy Etchebarren were both ejected--by different umpires--for protesting a ball-strike call on Devon White in the 10th inning. When White checked his swing on a 2-2 pitch, the Brewers appealed to third base umpire John Hirschbeck, who ruled no swing. That enraged Manning, whose outburst from the dugout drew Hirschbeck across the infield for ejection No. 1. After White finally struck out to end the inning, Etchebarren continued to protest--and was also thrown out of the game by home-plate umpire Rich Garcia.