Angels Save Face but Lose 3rd Straight Game to Mariners

By recent standards, the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners Saturday night at the Kingdome was not an embarrassment. When you’re blitzed, 15-4 and 14-0, on consecutive evenings, 5-3 looks like a confidence builder.

Except to Angel Manager Gene Mauch.

“When I’m embarrassed, it’s hard for me to help you write a story,” Mauch told reporters in the aftermath of his team’s third straight defeat. “And I’m embarrassed.”

Still a bit shocked from the Seattle shellings of Thursday and Friday nights, Mauch had sent his ace, Mike Witt, to the mound with the hope that all would soon be well. Witt is big in Seattle, owning a 4-2 record here and a 9-4 career mark against the Mariners. He had won his previous four decisions against Seattle.

But that streak ended here . . . and an Angel losing streak continued. The loss, coupled with the Minnesota Twins’ 9-2 victory over the Oakland A’s, dropped the Angels 3 1/2 games off the pace in the American League West--losing back the ground they had made up by taking two of three from the Twins last week at Anaheim.

Witt, by his own account, pitched “decently,” but decent doesn’t fly too well in the happy hitting ground known as the Kingdome.

Here, baseballs do most of the flying.

Witt (13-8) lasted 6 innings, gave up 11 hits and walked 5. He seemed to be pitching out of the stretch as soon as the national anthem was over. He allowed at least two baserunners in every inning but the fourth, when he held Seattle to a double by Harold Reynolds.

The first three Mariners who reached base scored. Scott Bradley doubled in the first inning and scored ahead of Alvin Davis’ 16th home run of the season. Ken Phelps led off the second with a walk and eventually came home on a single by John Moses.

Phelps and Jim Presley added run-scoring singles in the third and seventh innings, with Presley’s hit finally knocking Witt out of the game.

Bob Boone, Witt’s catcher, defended the pitcher, saying: “I thought he threw pretty well. (The Mariners) hit some good pitches.”

Witt wouldn’t go that far.

“I made more bad pitches that they hit,” Witt said. “Sure, their hitters are hot right now, but that’s just an excuse. We just haven’t pitched well since we’ve been here. There’s no other way around that fact.”

Witt included himself in that description. He didn’t mind the home run pitch to Davis, but his five walks and the four leadoff hitters he let reach base bothered him.

“You can tell something’s wrong with me when I don’t strike out a lot of guys and I walk a lot of guys,” Witt said. “If I walk more than three or four guys a game, that usually should tell you something.”

Offensively, the Angels did a lot of teasing against Seattle pitchers Mike Morgan (10-11) and Bill Wilkinson. They had 10 hits, one a two-run homer by Wally Joyner, but also had one runner (Devon White) thrown out at second base and another (Ruppert Jones) thrown out at home, and left the bases loaded twice.

Trailing, 4-0, the Angels finally broke a 12-inning scoreless streak with a run in the fourth. It was an unearned run, but the Angels, outscored, 29-4, in the first two games of this series, weren’t concerned with style.

With the bases loaded, Gus Polidor hit a chopper to third base that Presley gloved and then booted. White scored from third on the error, and the bases remained loaded.

They stayed that way, too, when .225-hitting Mark McLemore grounded back to Morgan for the third out.

Joyner brought the Angels within 4-3 in the fifth inning with his 24th home run of the year. With Jones on base, Joyner, sore ribs and all, drove the ball to the opposite field, clearing the fence in left-center field.

Joyner also figured in two Angel near-misses.

In the second inning, with Jones on first base, Joyner went to the opposite field with a line-drive double. The ball reached the left-field corner, and Jones was running with two outs. But Jones seemed to hesitate around third, giving the Mariners enough time to set up a relay team.

Left fielder Phil Bradley fired to shortstop Rey Quinones, who fired to catcher Scott Bradley, who made the tag on Jones.

Then, in the sixth inning, the Angels loaded the bases with two outs on singles by Boone and Polidor and a walk to pinch-hitter Brian Downing. Joyner faced Wilkinson with a chance to at least tie the game, but on a 2-and-2 pitch, he lofted an inning-ending fly ball to right field.

Other chances were botched by the Angels throughout the first seven innings.

White was called out to end the first on a stolen base attempt--beating the throw with a head-first slide, only to pull his hand from the base and allow Quinones to make the tag.

Doug DeCinces stranded four runners with two strikeouts in the fourth and seventh innings. Also in the seventh, Boone left two runners on base by hitting into a force play for the third out.

Afterward, Joyner searched for something positive to say.

“Tonight, I think was a better game than the last two,” he said, which drew a few laughs from reporters. “I think everybody’s jumping the gun saying we may be in for another skid.

“We’ve lost three ballgames. Two of the three have been one-sided. It’ll even out. I’ll still take our chances.”

And a final word from Mauch?

Uh-uh.

“There’s nothing I can tell you that’s going to do us any good,” Mauch said. “And at this time, that’s all I give a damn about.”

Angel Notes

Pitcher Kirk McCaskill and Manager Gene Mauch had differing views of McCaskill’s Friday night stint (5-plus innings, 9 runs, 5 earned runs) during the Angels’ 14-0 loss to Seattle. “I had good stuff,” McCaskill said Saturday. “It still amazes me they got nine runs. This is a big step forward. With a (strike) call here and there, it would have been a completely different ballgame. I didn’t get a couple calls low in the strike zone, which made me have to throw 30 extra pitches in five innings. Suddenly, you’re at 100 pitches after five innings. That takes a toll.” Said Mauch: “If I didn’t pitch any better than that, I wouldn’t say a thing and wait till my next start. He had pretty good stuff, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you throw it where you want. The umpires were tough on him, but so what? Get the next guy out. We’re not talking about a marginal pitcher here.”

With Monday’s off-day, Mauch said he is reshuffling his pitching rotation to allow Mike Witt to start against Minnesota. Mauch’s pitching schedule for the Twin series: John Candelaria Tuesday night, McCaskill Wednesday night and Witt Thursday. Willie Fraser, whose next turn would have been Wednesday, will spend a week in the bullpen. “This gives us a little more latitude,” said Mauch, who plans to use Fraser in middle relief. “I’m tired of using the early bullpen and not having them get us to the late bullpen. (DeWayne) Buice and (Greg) Minton can take care of the late part of the game, but we have to get to them first.” Fraser, who lasted just 2 innings in his last start, said he didn’t mind the switch. “I’m not real worried about it,” he said. “We’re moving into the pennant race, and I have the least amount of time in of everybody (in the rotation). The ‘pen has been used a lot lately, so maybe I can help down there for a while. They told me it’s only until Saturday (when Fraser is scheduled to start against Oakland). But if they want me to stay in the ‘pen, that’d be fine, too.”

Brian Downing has a career batting average of .333 against Seattle’s Mike Morgan but was held out of the lineup because Bill Buckner (.346) was the designated hitter and Downing’s sore right shoulder wouldn’t allow him to play in the outfield. Downing strained the arm while throwing out Ken Phelps at home Thursday night. “He threw it just like a catcher,” Mauch said. “It wasn’t very fluid.”