Fregosi Knows How Mauch Feels as Angels Join White Sox in Last

A little desert air ought to clear Gene Mauch’s vision of the future.

“I know Gene feels awful that his team has played so badly,” Chicago White Sox Manager Jim Fregosi said after the Angels’ 1-0 loss Tuesday night. “But I’m sure once he gets back to Palm Springs and has a chance to take in some of that cool, clear air, he’ll be back thriving.”

Mauch wasn’t thriving after the game. Not only was his best pitcher beaten, but his team fell into a last-place tie with the White Sox in the American League West. Mike Witt, who hadn’t lost to the White Sox since 1985, was defeated by Floyd Bannister (15-11) and Bobby Thigpen.

“You knew what kind of game it was going to be from the beginning,” Mauch said. “We wanted to squeeze out a run any way we could. Bannister’s pitching the best ball of his life.”

Almost. Bannister is 11-3 since the All-Star game with a 2.67 earned-run average. In the second half of the 1983 division-championship season, he was 13-1 and 2.33. Thigpen survived a double by pinch-hitter Bill Buckner and a walk to another pinch-hitter, Jack Howell, in the eighth inning before wrapping up his 10th save to go with a 4-1 record in his last 17 appearances.

The only run off Witt (16-13) was driven in by Steve Lyons, who doubled home Kenny Williams in the fifth inning. Williams walked with two out, moved up on a wild pitch and scored without a play on Lyons’ drive into the right-field corner.

Bannister didn’t allow a runner to second base. He left after seven innings with a four-hitter with a stiff back. “I might have slept wrong on the long flight home from the West Coast Sunday night,” he said.

Fregosi, who managed the Angels to a 1979 division title but was fired less than a year after finishing 65-95 in ‘80, and Mauch are birds of a feather. Mauch hasn’t indicated whether he will return as manager, and Fregosi hasn’t been told. Not knowing his future, Fregosi said before the game he’ll return to his Sarasota, Fla., home Monday to begin “life as normal.”

There may be new life. General Manager Larry Himes, a 14-year Angels’ organization man until the White Sox brought him in late last year, said he’ll be in touch with Fregosi “real soon.”

With the Bears on strike and the Cubs in last place, the White Sox suddenly are the talk of the town. The win was their fifth straight and 13th in the last 16 games. By moving into a fifth-place tie with the Angels, the White Sox are not alone in last for the first time since June 9.

Also, they have gained 12 games on the Angels since Aug. 13.

Angel Notes Manager Gene Mauch protested the game because of an unusual eighth-inning infield ruling. With runners on second and first and one out, shortstop Dick Schofield deliberately dropped Carlton Fisk’s popup in order to force the speedy Gary Redus at third. The infield fly rule was in effect for an automatic out, but Redus was allowed third base when he tagged up because third baseman Jack Howell stepped on the base instead of tagging Redus. Mauch argued that Schofield’s intentional drop superseded the infield fly. It had no bearing on the game. “I’m not going to protest it,” Mauch said.

General Manager Mike Port saw the game after giving six hours of testimony Monday In New York at the collusion hearing of 1986 free agents. “I explained that we haven’t pursued free agents since 1983,” Port said. “As everyone knows, we were very active (in free agency) before then, but never won a World Series. We having been going from within since. Baltimore had success that way, and then Kansas City. The last free agent we signed was Frank LaCorte in ‘83, and that was a disaster.”