Joyner and Angels Find Something to Celebrate

It was Wally Joyner’s birthday Thursday, and the Texas Rangers were in town. This was a plot that had been used before.

A player’s birthday typically draws congratulations, a scoreboard message and a clubhouse cake. With Joyner, there is an extra air of anticipation because of the day two years ago when his ninth-inning single turned Charlie Hough’s no-hitter into a one-hitter, and eventually into an Angel victory over the Rangers.

This time, Joyner managed to drive in the game-winning run, even if it was more by fortune than clutch hitting.

Kirk McCaskill pitched a three-hit shutout, meaning that the game-winning RBI went to the first taker. It happened to be Joyner, who singled to center in the first inning, driving in Brian Downing, who had walked and stolen second.

There is, of course, no reason why a player would play any better on his birthday, and in fact, Joyner said, he often doesn’t.

“Usually, I don’t do very good on my birthday,” he said, picking at the cake left out for him in the clubhouse. “Last year, I don’t remember anything special at all, and all through high school, I used to play bad on my birthday.”

He finished the game Thursday with 1 hit in 3 trips to the plate. In the seventh inning, in his final at-bat, he was walked intentionally with two out and runners at second and third, with the stadium organist playing birthday music.

It was not a great day, but it was better than some have been for Joyner, who is batting .273 with 3 home runs and 24 RBIs.

“I feel 26,” Joyner said, in a tone to indicate that he finds this deserving of a little sympathy. “Especially a day game after a night game.”

Two years ago, when, as a 24-year-old rookie, he broke up Hough’s no-hitter, Joyner hit .290 with 22 home runs and 100 RBIs. Last year, he hit .285 with 33 home runs and 117 RBIs.

His struggles this year have been well noted. He has just 5 hits in his past 26 at-bats.

But while Joyner ate birthday cake in the Angel clubhouse, in the visitors’ clubhouse was another man for whom June 16 is a red-letter date: Hough.

The 1986 game that Joyner spoiled by hitting a single up the middle with one out in the ninth is the closest Hough has come to a no-hitter in his major league career, which covers more than 15 years.

He has handfuls of 2, 3, and 4-hitters, but only the one 1-hitter against the Angels, a game he lost 2-1 on George Wright’s three-base error, Joyner’s single and two passed balls on third strikes.

Not surprisingly, he prefers not to recall the details.

“It was his birthday? I didn’t know.”