With Ray on Sidelines, Angels Fall Again

As anyone associated with the 1988 Angels will say, this baseball season has transgressed into a prolonged preview of Hades.

Bill Buckner got out of Anaheim and said, “It’s like I died and went to heaven.”

Cookie Rojas had to stay behind and said, “We’re going through hell.”

At least now, Buckner and Rojas can finally agree on something.

Monday night, hell’s Angels lost again to the Kansas City Royals, 5-3, before 23,111 at Anaheim Stadium. It was the Angels’ third defeat in a row and the Royals’ 10th win in their last 11 games.

But even before George Brett’s three hits, that line drive Chili Davis botched in right and Chuck Finley’s eighth losing start, Rojas had a notion his team was about to plunge from bad to worse.

Before Monday’s game, Rojas had to scratch second baseman Johnny Ray, the club’s top hitter, from the starting lineup because of a strained right shoulder. On the surface, that wouldn’t seem too serious a development, except that this is the same injury that has bothered Ray since late April--and will require an examination today by Angel team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum.

“We’re going to have him tested,” Rojas said with a sigh. “He’s been hurting awhile. Making the switch from outfield to infield, and making different types of throws, have bothered his shoulder. He can’t keep swinging the bat the way (the shoulder) is now.”

Ray was already substituting for the Angels’ regular second baseman, Mark McLemore, who is on the disabled list with a case of phlebitis (inflammation of a vein) in his throwing arm. Monday, McLemore tested his arm with some pregame throwing and all that resulted was more bad news for Rojas.

“The vein swelled up and started hurting again,” Rojas said. “It had gone down, but he threw today and it puffed up again, just like before.”

By game time, Rojas was down to Junior (.071) Noboa as his starting second baseman. And by the seventh inning, when he had to pinch-hit for Noboa, Rojas was down to desperation moves--shifting outfielder Chico Walker to second base and moving first baseman Jim Eppard to the outfield.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Rojas said. “Every day, it’s something different.”

Except the outcome of the game. After squeaking past the Royals in Friday’s series opener, 1-0, the Angels dropped three straight to Kansas City, being outscored, 18-7, in the process.

In this one, the Angels actually led, 2-1, on that rarest of birds, a home run by Bob Boone. Boone’s two-run shot in the bottom of the second inning was the 100th of his major league career. It came during his 2,017th game as a major leaguer and his 40th year on the planet.

But the Royals came back with three runs in the fourth inning to make a winner of starter Floyd Bannister (7-5), who worked the minimum five innings necessary for the winning decision.

The inning began with consecutive doubles by Brett and Danny Tartabull, instantly tying the score, 2-2. Then, Kevin Seitzer singled Tartabull to third, Pat Tabler lofted a sacrifice fly and Kansas City had regained the lead.

The Royals added what proved to be the decisive run when the next batter, Frank White, reached base on an error by Noboa, moving Seitzer to third and in position to score on Mike Macfarlane’s sacrifice fly.

Finley (4-8) surrendered a fifth run in the fifth inning, an earned run that should have been charged to Davis. Willie Wilson was credited with a triple when Davis failed to track down Wilson’s drive down the right-field line. Davis then ricocheted off the short fence in front of the outfield seats and let the ball trickle away from him into the corner.

Wilson then scored on a single by Brett.

The Angels, meanwhile, completed the final four innings without scoring against Royal relievers Jeff Montgomery and Steve Farr, who earned his fourth save.

The Angels got Dick Schofield as far as third base--Schofield tripled off center fielder Gary Thurman’s glove in the fifth inning--but left him stranded when Devon White struck out for the third out.

“We score one or two and then after that, we just stop,” Rojas lamented. “We get into a one-hit-an-inning thing and can’t get anything going.”

And if Ray is lost for any amount of time, the situation figures to become worse. Ray leads the Angel regulars with a .288 batting average and is second on the club in runs batted in with 33.

With no Ray or McLemore at second base, Rojas was asked, does he have any remaining options?

“It’s gonna be Junior or Walker,” Rojas said. “That’s all I got. Can you play second base?”

The questioner assured the manager he couldn’t, but wondered if Rojas, an All-Star second baseman with Kansas City in the 1970s, might consider picking up a glove again.

“I’m too old,” Rojas replied.

Angel Notes

Bob Boone’s 100th career home run helped tie one of those obscure records that make for fun reading on the back of baseball cards: Father-Son Duos With 100 Career Home Runs Apiece. Boone’s father, Ray, finished his big league career with 151 home runs, enabling the Boones to share this rare distinction with the Bells, Gus and Buddy. Father Gus wound up with 206 home runs and son Buddy, currently playing with the Cincinnati Reds, has 194. . . . Add Boone: The home run was Boone’s first since last Sept. 14 and only his fourth in his last 208 games. Three of those home runs have come against Kansas City. . . . Their Stars Have Fallen: Mike Cook, a member of the Angels’ 1987 opening day roster, and Shane Young, who came to the Angels as part of last year’s John Candelaria trade, have both been removed from the club’s 40-player protected roster. Angel General Manager Mike Port downplayed the significance of the announcement, calling it “a paper move,” and in fact, the decision won’t affect Cook and Young until next December’s Rule V draft of unprotected big league players. But the move does indicate a loss of confidence in Cook and Young, who have struggled in the minor leagues this season. Cook, recently demoted to triple-A Edmonton’s bullpen, is 1-5 with a 6.21 earned-run average. Young, pitching for the Angels’ double-A affiliate in Midland, Tex., is 1-2 with a 4.01 ERA. The Angels have 32 players left on their protected roster.