Rojas Can’t Figure Out Angels, So He Chews Them Out After an 8-2 Loss

The transition is complete. Mike Witt has gone from stopper to flopper.

The Angels used to count on Witt to end losing streaks, but he has spent the better part of this season extending them.

The Angels fell to 18 1/2 games behind the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics after an 8-2 loss to the Brewers at County Stadium Friday night as Witt gave up 13 hits--including 4 doubles and 2 home runs--and 8 runs in 5 innings. Witt (2-7) has won just 3 of his last 21 starts.

And, the Angels have lost five straight.

“I’ve got no excuses for the way I’m pitching,” Witt said. “I felt good all night. I was putting the pitches pretty much where I wanted them. I don’t know if it was the (lack of) stuff on the ball or what. I can’t figure out what’s going on.”

Witt hoped that he had figured it out last Saturday night when he shut out the Baltimore Orioles, 5-0, at Anaheim Stadium. But that outing now seems more like an aberration than a new beginning.

“I’ve tried being relaxed and tried being intense,” Witt said. “I’ve tried looking (at videotapes) and not looking at it. The only one who can figure it out is me, I know that much.”

Manager Cookie Rojas has gone from trying to figure it out to letting it out. He kept the clubhouse closed for 23 minutes after Friday night’s debacle and spent most of that time telling his team--in no uncertain terms--exactly how he felt.

“I don’t think I could’ve slept tonight if I didn’t let this out,” Rojas said.

In a season filled with lows, this game might have been the lowest. The Angels scored two unearned runs in the first and got two hits in the second but didn’t threaten again until the seventh, when they finally chased Brewer starter Tom Filer.

Filer got the victory to boost his season record to 3-0 and American League record to 11-0. He was 7-0 with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985, then underwent elbow surgery in 1986.

The Brewers gave him plenty of cushion with which to work, a cushion that kept getting more and more comfortable as the game wore on.

Milwaukee scored once in the second, once in the third, twice in the fourth, once in the fifth and then three times in the sixth.

“We score a couple of runs early and we think we’ve got something going,” Rojas said. “Then, all of sudden, you’re tied. And all of sudden, you’re behind. And all of sudden, you’re way behind.

“This is no fun.”

The Brewers, of course, were almost giddy because they were having such a good time. Glenn Braggs had a home run (his ninth of the year) and a double. B.J. Surhoff had a homer and a single. Robin Yount had two doubles. Jim Gantner, Paul Molitor and rookie Jim Adduci had two hits each.

You get the picture.

This was, after all, just another Angel defeat. But the fact that Witt was so ineffective made it seem worse. Witt, whose $1.4-million-a-year salary makes him the highest-paid player in Angel history, has an earned-run average of 8.41 on the road this season. His overall ERA is 5.38.

“We hit the ball fairly hard tonight, but they made some great plays,” Brian Downing said. “I guess that’s better than strikeouts and pop-ups, but we’re looking for results.

“We got off to a good start. We got a couple of runs and, especially with our No. 1 pitcher out there, well, it gave him a little something to work with. But it didn’t last. You can’t blame one person, though. When you’ve got thirty-some losses (34) already, everyone’s to blame.”

Downing wouldn’t elaborate on Rojas’ tirade, saying that it was “for us to listen to, to shut up and absorb.”

Downing added: “The man’s tried every conceivable approach. We just can’t do anything right. We’ve had breakdowns in every aspect of the game. We’re still looking for the cure. It’s really quite mystifying.”

Rojas later slumped in front of his locker and lit a cigarette.

“I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head, “but something’s missing somewhere.”

That’s for sure. Just ask Mike Witt.

Angel Notes

Center fielder Devon White, who underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove torn cartilage from his right knee May 7, was expected to be out of action six-to-eight weeks, but is “ahead of schedule,” according to the Angels’ public relations department. Manager Cookie Rojas, however, says he still is figuring on the original time estimate until he hears differently from White. “He’s coming along real well,” Rojas said. “He’s hitting and running very well, but he has to tell me when he’s ready. He’s the only individual in the world who knows.” White isn’t making any predictions, though. “I just don’t know” is White’s answer these days.

Brewer rookie Don August, who was called up from triple-A Denver Thursday and picked up a win in his major league debut, will move into Milwaukee’s starting rotation. August, who attended Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo and Chapman College in Orange, is scheduled to pitch Monday night in Seattle. Milwaukee has four pitchers on the roster who started the season in Denver, and August thought he would be the first one summoned. “When I started the season in Denver, they told me I’d be No. 1 and I pitched well enough to win in all 10 starts I had down there,” he said. August was 4-1 with a 3.52 ERA. “I didn’t even have my good stuff a few times,” he said. “It was almost too easy down there.”