Angels’ Trip Becomes a Learning Experience

Just three games into the Angels’ 1988 season, already we know . . .

That they’re 1-2, twice losers to a Chicago White Sox team that is expected by many to occupy the AL West cellar by season’s end.

That if this were hockey, Wally Joyner would have served time in the penalty box, what with his hooking foul of White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game. Joyner’s attempt, while aggressive, caught the attention of second base umpire Jim McKean, who quickly and correctly ruled interference and with it, a game-ending double play. All this with Angel runners on first and second, the score, 2-1.

That rookie Manager Cookie Rojas can sprint and scream with the best of them. Rojas may have set a Comiskey Park record with his ninth-inning dash from the dugout to McKean’s face.

That the Angel starting pitching might not be so awful, after all. Each of the Angel starters in the three-game series--Mike Witt, Dan Petry and Chuck Finley--pitched into the seventh inning. They allowed just 13 hits in 18 innings and struck out 14 White Sox. Earned-run average for the three: an admirable 2.89.

That No. 5 and No. 6 hitters Brian Downing and Devon White are a collective 2 for 19, with only 2 runs scored and 3 runs batted in between them.

That Joyner is 5 for 10, a cool .500, and looking comfortable as the full-time cleanup hitter.

That just when Chili Davis thinks he’s free of blustery Candlestick Park, he spends his first three games in the American League equivalent, Comiskey Park, where winds reached a wind-tunnel-like 24 m.p.h. at times.

That the Angel bullpen remains a puzzle. For instance, after a superb spring, Stewart Cliburn enters Monday’s game and promptly gives up two hits and three runs, two unearned. DeWayne Buice enters Wednesday’s game and strikes out three of the first six batters he faces. But in the ninth inning, he allows a leadoff walk and then a double. The White Sox tie the score. An inning later, the Angels regain the lead and Donnie Moore records the win. Count only the last two games, and Angel relievers have left four of the five inherited runners on base.

That apprentice left fielder Johnny Ray appears more sure of himself with each game. His missed attempt of Carlton Fisk’s bloop double Monday attracted attention, mostly because it ended Witt’s chances for a no-hitter. But Wednesday night, again in swirling winds, Ray performed well enough.

That little things conspired to make this road trip a losing one.

A roll call:

* Joyner’s ill-advised arm hook.

* Davis’ decision to try for home after a Joyner double in the fourth inning of Thursday’s game. Davis was thrown out--the first out of the inning--depriving the Angels of runners on second and third and no outs. They would lose the game by a single run.

* Shortstop Dick Schofield’s fifth-inning error Thursday. Rather than strand a runner, Schofield’s error gave the White Sox an extra out and scoring chance. The White Sox took advantage of it with a Gary Redus single that sent Guillen across home plate.

That Rojas has revealed some early managing traits. Most obvious is his occasional disregard for conventional methods. He brought the right-handed Buice into the game Wednesday night, even though left-handed power hitter Dan Pasqua was the batter. Conventional wisdom says bring in a left-hander to face Pasqua, but Rojas stuck with Buice and was rewarded with a strikeout. By the way, lefties batted only .219 against Buice in 1987.

That Rojas isn’t afraid to pull his starting pitchers. Witt was replaced after he allowed four hits through 6 innings. Petry was gone after he allowed four hits and no runs through 6-plus innings. Finley was removed after he allowed five hits and one earned run through 6 innings. And guess what? No one argued with the decisions.

That Rojas is assertive, aggressive and appears committed to his set lineup.

That rookie reliever Ray Krawczyk apparently can handle late-inning tightrope work. He entered Thursday’s game with one out and a runner on second. He walked the first batter he faced but then eased out of the jam by coaxing a ground ball out of Lance Johnson and a fly ball out of Redus. In the eighth inning, he walked leadoff batter Harold Baines and then retired the next three batters, including Ivan Calderon (28 home runs in 1987), Greg Walker (27 homers) and Fisk (23 homers).

That the Angels are going to be happy that they kept Tony Armas. With Ray now sidelined with a rib-cage injury, Armas becomes a nice insurance policy.

That we still don’t know a thing about the Angels’ only left-handed reliever, Frank DiMichele.

That the Angel offense scored just 10 runs off the likes of Dave LaPoint, Jack McDowell and Rick Horton.

That the Angels have 159 games to work the kinks out.