He’s Hitting It Right : But Angels Haven’t Found a Way to Make Most of Ray’s Production

Rick Down, the Angels’ batting instructor, has this theory when it comes to coaching Johnny Ray . . . he doesn’t.

“You can’t perfect the wheel,” Down says matter-of-factly.

Well, The Wheel keeps rolling along, but the Angels keep falling into every pothole. So, while Ray has 16 hits in his last 25 at bats and a nice little .400 batting average for the season, he’s not having all that much fun.

In the last week, Ray has 16 hits, including 5 doubles and 13 RBIs, but the Angels have just one victory in seven games to show for it. Ray almost single-handedly assured that victory, an 11-7 triumph over Seattle, with six RBIs.

“Sure, I’m going good and when you’re going this good, you’d like to find a way to bottle it,” a somber Ray said after the Angels’ 4-2 loss to Seattle Sunday. “But it’s hard to feel good without winning a few games to go along with it.”

The Mariners won three of the four games at Anaheim Stadium this week, but the Seattle pitchers are glad they don’t have to face the switch-hitting Ray again for more than three months. The Angel left fielder is 13 for 22 (.591) against the Mariners.

Ray, who has been bothered by a minor muscle pull in rib cage, said earlier in the week that it hampered him most when he was hitting right-handed. Sunday against Seattle left-hander Mark Langston, he seemed pretty comfortable on the right side of the batter’s box. He lined a single into right-center in the first inning, ripped a similar shot to left-center for a single in the fourth and eventually scored on George Hendrick’s home run. He lined out to center in the eighth and beat out a grounder that Mariner second baseman Harold Reynolds stabbed behind second in the eighth.

Three for four. Ho-hum.

“That’s the first time since I hurt my ribs (April 7) that I’ve gotten really physical from that side of the plate and it feels fine,” Ray said. “I’m just seeing the ball really well now. You’d like to get as many hits as you can when you’re going like this because there’ll be down times, too. But I’d settle for a couple of breaks and a couple of wins.”

Manager Cookie Rojas can relate to that feeling. He doesn’t get much satisfaction from watching one of his best hitters spraying line drives all over the field with little to show for it. Ray may be rising in the top batters’ department, but the Angels are slowly sinking in the American League West.

“It’s frustrating,” Rojas admitted. “When you’re losing, everything seems to go wrong.”

And the things that go right, go unappreciated . . . but not exactly unnoticed.

“Johnny Ray is not just a very good hitter, he’s a very smart hitter,” Rojas said. “He uses all of the field, he goes with the pitch and he stays within his limits. He’s not trying to hit the ball out of the park all the time.”

Ray has just one homer but is tied with Chili Davis for the team lead in RBIs with 14.

The much-ballyhooed transition from long-time second baseman to uncomfortable left fielder certainly hasn’t had an adverse effect on Ray’s offensive production.

There were those who thought he might have trouble with the switch, but he’s played fairly solid defense so far.

Ray committed his fifth error of the season in the fourth inning Sunday when he misplayed a carom off the wall on Henry Cotto’s double down the left-field line. The ball bounded away from Ray, and Cotto ended up on third. Cotto scored on Alvin Davis’ sacrifice fly. Ray bungled a similar play Friday night on Scott Bradley’s first-inning double.

“If they keep hitting ‘em in that corner, I’ll have 50 errors by the All-Star break,” Ray said, managing a smile. “I’m not playing tentatively out there, though. I think that (error) call today was a little questionable, but that’s going to happen because they know I’m not familiar with the position and they expect me to screw up.”

Johnny Ray probably won’t win a Gold Glove this year, but he is most familiar with a bat and the ways it can be used to screw up earned-run averages. Still, he’d just as soon return from the upcoming eight-game trip with a winning record than a Ted Williams-type batting average.