Athletics Have a Ball at Angel Pitchers’ Expense

The Angels became the first American League team this season to pass the two-million mark in attendance Saturday night. In honor of this occasion, the Angel pitchers proceeded to stage an impromptu promotion. They turned an important game against the Athletics into Ball Night at the Big A.

There were no free baseballs handed to the spectators, only free trips to first base for Oakland batters. There were eight passes awarded in all, and six of the recipients made it all the way home as the A’s dropped the Angels to within one game of the .500 mark in a 13-3 rout.

Those pitches that weren’t deemed out of the strike zone were often smacked into the outfield. And a couple--most notably Jose Canseco’s three-run home run in the fourth inning--were hit where only spectators could field them.

Angel starter John Candelaria, who had walked two hitters or fewer in 13 of his 14 starts, walked three in the first four innings. One was a two-out walk to Dwayne Murphy, the A’s No. 9 hitter, in the fourth. Leadoff man Alfredo Griffin followed with a two-run single and the A’s were on their way to a six-run inning.

Reliever Jack Lazorko had less luck finding the strike zone than Candelaria. He walked five, helping the A’s score five runs against him in all of 1 innings.

It was the lower portion of the A’s batting order that benefited most from all these bases on balls. No. 7 batter Tony Bernazard walked twice, as did No. 8 Mickey Tettleton. This delighted Murphy, who had two singles that accounted for four RBIs.

It was enough to turn Angel Manager Gene Mauch’s hair a lighter shade of gray. Consider the final linescores: For the Angels--3 runs on 11 hits; for the A’s--13 runs on 11 hits.

When it was mercifully over, Mauch could only wonder if those guys in Angel uniforms were a bunch of impostors.

“Candelaria doesn’t struggle with his control,” Mauch said. “I’ve never seen him struggle with his control.”

But Canseco, who singled off Candelaria in the third before hitting a towering homer off him in the fourth, said there was no mistaking the left-hander on the mound for the Angels.

“(Candelaria) looked fine,” he said. “He looked like he’s always looked. I just got lucky enough to hit two balls off him.”

For Candelaria, there seems to be no middle ground this season. He’s either very good or very bad. He came into Saturday night’s game with a 6-4 record. His earned-run average was 1.96 in the six victories. In the four losses, it was 8.50. His latest outing left Mauch perplexed.

“He had the same velocity tonight that he had the day he pitched so well here against Minnesota.”

That would be Aug. 5, when Candelaria pitched six scoreless innings and didn’t walk a batter in the Angels’ 6-1 victory over the Twins.

Mauch had hoped that that Candelaria would make an appearence against the A’s, but had no such luck.

“That wasn’t Candelaria and that wasn’t us out there tonight,” Mauch said.