Angel Notebook : Against Padres, Moore Retires the Side--Twice

Gene Mauch smiles when he says it and this spring, he has said it often.

“The ’85 bullpen is throwing good,” has become one of Mauch’s catch-phrases during the early days of the Angels’ 1988 training camp--at once a reference to better days and a progress report on the pitchers who made that bullpen famous, Donnie Moore and Stewart Cliburn.

Moore, the man who established an Angel club record by saving 31 games in 1985, has been vexed ever since, as if he sold his soul--or at least his health--for that one triumphant season. A bad back, a bad rib-cage, a bad shoulder, a bad pitch to Dave Henderson. They’ve all conspired to virtually purge the memory of vintage Moore from the mind’s eye.

When was the last time Moore faced six batters and retired them, harmlessly, in order?

When was the last time Moore struck out the side?

When, as a matter of fact, was the last time Moore even pitched two innings without experiencing some sort of pain?

Well, it all happened Sunday afternoon during the Angels’ 3-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. Making his first appearance since undergoing back surgery last October for the removal of a bone spur, Moore pitched to six Padres and turned them into outs, the last three--Thomas Howard, John Kruk and Roberto Alomar--via strikeouts.

“That’s how good he can be when he’s at his best,” Mauch said. “He threw all his pitches today, and he threw them all for strikes.”

For Moore, it’s just as important to look good as it is to feel good. To have it right on both counts, even if it’s only early March, was a sensation worth savoring.

“I feel good,” Moore said. “I was happy with today. I don’t know what they (the Angel coaching staff) thought about it; they saw it with their eyes. But I haven’t heard too many complaints--which is unusual.”

Moore smiled. His sense of humor, on vacation for much of 1987, made a brief comeback.

“I’d like to get my 90-to-92-mile-an-hour fastball back,” Moore said. “Today, I was probably at 75--which means I’ll be in a softball beer league this year.”

Actually, Moore’s fastball was clocked in the mid-to-high 80s, which, mixed properly with off-speed pitches, proved too much for Howard, Kruk and Alomar to handle in the eighth inning.

“It wasn’t an eye-popping fastball,” Mauch said. “But when he has a slider and a forkball to go with a pretty good sinking fastball, he has a good chance of surviving out there.”

Mauch said he detected some anxiety on Moore’s part during his first inning of work, a claim Moore wouldn’t dispute.

“The first inning, I was rushing it a little bit,” Moore said. “The first inning, I was all over the place. Boonie (catcher Bob Boone) would set up inside and I’d throw it outside.

“Lach (pitching coach Marcel Lachemann) told me to slow down. The second inning, I did that and I got the ball down. I just had to get the proper mechanics back.”

After watching injuries erode his save totals from 31 in 1985 to 21 in 1986 to just 5 last season, Moore is wary of his main assignment this spring: Stay healthy.

“This is not a thing of me trying to make the team. This is me getting my butt in shape,” he said. “Today was not a big step. But, it was a step. The main thing now is to stay healthy and keep ironing out my mechanics.”

And so, for the second consecutive afternoon, the Angels received an encouraging word about a post-op pitcher. Saturday, it was Kirk McCaskill, who completed what Mauch called a “fine” three innings.

What more could a manager want, or expect, from a three-day weekend in Yuma?

Said Mauch: “It’s nice to see some pitchers with smiles on their faces around here.”

Angel Notes

Preceding Donnie Moore on the mound for the Angels were Willie Fraser and Jack Lazorko. Fraser pitched 3 innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 earned run. Lazorko also worked 3 innings, yielding another run on three hits. But were it not for a play here or there, Angel Manager Gene Mauch said, both could have emerged with 0.00 ERAs. Mauch alluded to the third inning, when the Padres scored two runs against Fraser without a basehit, and the fifth inning, when Lazorko surrendered a two-out RBI single to John Kruk after falling behind in the count, 3-1. “There were so many subtleties to that game, it should’ve ended up 0-0,” he said. “We should still be out there playing.” . . . San Diego scored twice in the third inning after Stanley Jefferson and Marvell Wynne opened with walks. Jefferson stole second despite a pitchout--beating a soft throw by Angel catcher Butch Wynegar--before moving to third on a sacrifice and scoring on Jack Howell’s throwing error during an attempted rundown of Wynne at second base. Wynne scored on an infield ground-out, after being balked to third by Fraser.

The Angels managed eight hits against San Diego pitchers Andy Hawkins, Greg Harris and Mark Grant--all singles. The Angels loaded the bases in the seventh inning, but wasted the opportunity when Mark McLemore grounded to first for the third out. . . . They Love Yuma: Chili Davis (4 for 8 here, .500), Gus Polidor (3 for 5, .600) and Wally Joyner (3 for 7, .429). They Don’t: Devon White (1 for 11, .090), Jack Howell (1 for 11, .090) and Bob Boone (0 for 6, .000). . . . Scrap The DH: Angel pitchers batted .333 (2 for 6) in Yuma, with Fraser singling through the right side of the infield Sunday. Terry Clark also struck a blow for the pitching staff with his run-scoring double during Saturday’s six-run ninth inning. . . . With two hits in Sunday’s 9-1 Angel loss in the B game, Jim Eppard has delivered hits in each of his last six at-bats. Eppard went 3 for 3 in Saturday’s B game and had a pinch-single in Saturday’s A game. . . . Today’s pitchers against the Oakland A’s in Phoenix: Chuck Finley, followed by Joe Johnson and Stewart Cliburn.