For Once, Witt Makes Most of Early Lead : Davis, Armas Each Drive In 2 Runs in Angels’ 5-2 Win Over Rangers

The Angels boarded their charter flight and headed home Wednesday night with a sense of semi-well-being. It’s a sensation this team hasn’t experienced in quite a while.

They’re not exactly lodged in the middle of the American League West pennant race, but they have won three of their last four games and picked up three games on the first-place Oakland Athletics in the process. The Angels are 16 1/2 games out of the lead, so they’re not printing any playoff tickets in Anaheim yet, but minor accomplishments are all the Angels can cling to these days.

The last time they tasted this kind of success was when they swept the Baltimore Orioles in a doubleheader May 19 and then beat the Boston Red Sox the next day.

Wednesday night, they scored five times in the first three innings, and one-time ace Mike Witt made it stand up for a change as the Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2, before a crowd of 11,879 at Arlington Stadium.

Witt struck out eight, walked three and allowed six hits in eight innings to earn his third victory of the season. Bryan Harvey picked up his second save in as many nights, giving him five for the season.

“It’s good to see the club start to get everything together,” Manager Cookie Rojas said. “That’s something we’ve lacked for a long time. We’re starting to do the little things that it takes to win and probably could have won five in a row.

“And I can’t remember the last time we had an easy win.”

This one was no blowout, but it was the kind of victory the Angels haven’t seen often. They got good starting pitching, perfect relief pitching, clutch hitting and--this one may be hard to believe--solid defense.

The Angels scored three runs in the first, but it could have been an even bigger inning if Dick Schofield, who led off with a walk, hadn’t been picked off by Ranger starter Ray Hayward. Johnny Ray singled, Brian Downing walked and Chili Davis drove them both in with a double to left that skipped under the glove of a diving Pete Incaviglia and rolled to the wall.

One out later, Tony Armas singled to score Davis.

Witt received a 5-0 cushion in the third when Davis led off with a single to left and scored on a double down the left-field line by George Hendrick. Texas Manager Bobby Valentine took out Hayward and brought in Craig McMurtry. Armas greeted McMurtry with another single to left, picking up his second run batted in of the evening.

“The early lead was nice until the fourth,” Witt said, “and then it was really nice.”

Texas fashioned a two-out rally in the fourth and cut the Angels’ lead to three. Incaviglia and Pete O’Brien got consecutive singles. Larry Parrish then launched a rocket to dead center that hit the wall about two feet below the top, next to the 400-foot sign, to score Incaviglia and O’Brien.

“Did you see the smoke behind that ball?” asked Davis. “That thing left a dent in the wall.”

It didn’t leave a lasting mark on Witt’s psyche, however. He gave up just one more hit until the ninth, when O’Brien doubled to right-center.

“I don’t expect a team to score two runs with two outs, but they’ve been doing it all year,” Witt said. “This time, though, I was more relaxed in the fifth because I still had that 5-2 lead.”

Witt, as has been the case throughout his struggles this season, said he didn’t have any better stuff than usual and he wasn’t pinpointing his pitches any better. But catcher Bob Boone noticed a marked difference from Witt’s last outing, when he gave up 13 hits and 8 earned runs in 5 innings at Milwaukee.

“He didn’t make as many mistakes tonight,” Boone said. “He hung a couple of breaking balls, but otherwise he was pretty consistent. When a guy is throwing strikes with his breaking stuff, it makes the game real fun for me.”

Witt (3-7) hasn’t had much fun this year, but then neither has anyone else in an Angel uniform. That, according to Davis, is a big part of the problem. Like Rojas, he thinks too many players have been trying to turn the season around singlehandedly.

“The last couple of outings by (Chuck) Finley and Witt should inspire the other starters,” Davis said. “Harvey’s performance should challenge the other guys in the pen. And the hitting can be contagious, too. That’s the way these things go.

“If we don’t play for anything else this year, we should play for pride. We don’t want to be the laughingstock of the league. I’ve been through that with the Giants, when we lost 100 games, and that’s the feeling you get, that other teams are laughing at you. This team is just too good for that.”

Davis hopes his teammates can forget about the standings and concentrate on playing with enthusiasm.

“We can’t be thinking about Oakland now,” he said. “We just need to start having some fun. Hey, we’ve won two in a row, baby. We’re hot.”

The Angels haven’t exactly removed themselves from the laughingstock category, but at least they can take a day off at home today and dare to feel good about themselves.

Angel Notes

Manager Cookie Rojas prides himself on maintaining an even keel, but the pressure of the season apparently is beginning to get to him. When asked about a lineup the other day, he got a bit agitated and said, “Just because I make changes, it has nothing to do with any one individual. I don’t put a little hat on a player and sit him in a corner and tell him he’s been a bad boy.” And after Tuesday night’s game, a radio reporter put a microphone in front of Rojas’ face and asked a question. “Get that thing out of my face,” Rojas snapped. The reporter said he was only trying to do his job. “I just don’t want that thing in my mouth,” Rojas said. The Angel manager, who is not prone to blowups, apologized in both cases. “I’m not mad, I’m just intense about this game,” he said. “I can’t be like Tommy Lasorda, joke around and tell you how to make a salad with oil, vinegar, black beans and rice.”

Rojas said that Thad Bosley, who was signed to a triple-A contract Tuesday, will report to Edmonton Friday and could be up with the Angels in “7 to 10 days.” Bosley has been bothered by a pulled hamstring recently. “We’ll see how he feels and how he plays,” Rojas said. “He can DH, is one of the best pinch-hitters in the game and made just 2 errors in his last 108 (outfield) appearances.” . . . Gus Polidor, who was sent to Edmonton June 2, was in Los Angeles Wednesday to have his sore rib cage re-examined. . . . The temperature at game time was 97 degrees. Starter Mike Witt, who is 18-8 in June, says he likes warm weather. But this warm? “Well, let’s say I don’t mind it,” he said. “I don’t enjoy it this hot, but it doesn’t bother me like it bothers some guys.”