Minnesota’s Sweet Music Ends Angels’ Trip on a Sour Note, 3-1

The Frankie “Sweet Music” Viola banner still hangs from the Metrodome’s upper deck, a relic of the Minnesota Twins’ World Series past, and the most valuable player of that series continues to take his cue from it.

Since the most famous bed sheet in Minnesota was unfurled during the summer of 1987, Viola has not lost in the Metrodome.

Wednesday afternoon’s 3-1 victory over the Angels extended Viola’s winning streak at home to 17 games--19 if you count postseason starts--and the Twins’ left-hander is 11-2 against the American League in 1988, in ballparks all over America.

By now, the streak and the sheet have become old news in the Twin Cities, with Viola still saying, “I have no idea what the secret is,” and, “I don’t know--I hated it here my first two years.”

But he does admit to finally having learned how to pitch in this oversized pinball machine--no mean feat. “What changed for me was (a decision) to always go with my best stuff,” Viola said after his three-hitter ended the Angels’ six-game winning streak. “I do not alter my game plan. I’ve seen many pitchers come in and do that here. That was something I also had to learn at Tiger Stadium and Fenway.

“When you’re throwing well and feeling the way I feel here, you’re just facing a uniform up there. It doesn’t matter who’s at the plate.”

That’s called confidence, a sensation the Angels wish they could pass along to Willie Fraser, Viola’s counterpart Wednesday. For the seventh time in eight starts, Fraser was a loser, watching his record slip to 4-7. He has not won a game since May 13 and in seven appearances since, his earned-run average is 8.82.

“Willie’s going through a bad streak where he’s worrying about it, instead of being himself,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said.

Confidence, of course, is a two-way street and it’s obvious that the Angels are starting to lose theirs in Fraser. Already, Fraser has been in and out of the rotation. In the unkindest cut yet, he was pulled after three innings against the Twins, trailing, 3-0.

Rojas said his decision was made more out of deference to Viola than anything else. “With Viola pitching, you don’t want to get too many runs behind,” he said.

Rojas also said: “Fraser wasn’t too sharp today. He was getting behind the hitters all the time. I thought (reliever Stewart) Cliburn could do a better job.”

In his three innings, Fraser allowed three hits--a double by Gary Gaetti, a single by Al Newman and a triple by John Moses. He also hit two batters, Moses in the first inning and Randy Bush in the third.

Fraser’s opinion of his performance?

“I thought I had good pop today,” he said. “I got most of the balls down. Only two of them were up--the hit by Newman and the double by Gaetti. And I didn’t walk anybody.”

That was a good sign, Fraser said.

A not-so-good sign, though, was having Rojas ask for the ball after the third inning.

“Their confidence could be down on me a little bit,” Fraser acknowledged. “The bad thing is when you start doubting yourself. If you stay within yourself and keep yourself pumped up, that won’t happen. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”

For the time being, Rojas says he is keeping Fraser in the rotation.

“We’ve got to think positive and give him some help,” Rojas said. “The only way he can solve his problems is keep going out there. He can’t solve them sitting on the bench.”

Of course, Rojas has no other good options at the moment. The number of major league-caliber starting pitchers in the Angel organization runs five deep and that’s it.

So, almost by default, Fraser remains the Angels’ No. 5 starter.

“Everybody’s going to struggle some time during a season,” Rojas said. “It happened to Mike Witt--and he straightened it out. There’s no reason why Willie can’t do the same.”

He’ll need to pitch more than three innings a start to do it, though. And he’ll need to start catching a few breaks.

Like not pitching on the same day Frank Viola is pitching against the Angels.

Angel Notes

Frank Viola faced just 31 batters in getting his 11th victory. He allowed a second-inning single to Wally Joyner, a fourth-inning walk to Johnny Ray, a sixth-inning single to Dick Schofield and a seventh-inning double to Tony Armas. He also set up the Angels’ only run when he tried to pick Ray off first base. Viola’s throw misfired badly, enabling Ray to advance to third. Ray scored the run--unearned--on a grounder by Chili Davis,

Davis, renowned pitcher-hater, on Viola: “He threw a three-hitter and beat a pretty hot ballclub. We should be impressed. We had very few opportunities, if any, to score. He kept people off base, he challenged people. What bothers me is when a pitcher stays away from you, pitches around you and beats you with junk. Viola, he came right at us with fastball, changeup, curveball. He threw a good game.”

The Angels got five innings of scoreless pitching from relievers Stewart Cliburn and Donnie Moore. Cliburn allowed 2 singles in 4 innings before Moore worked the eighth inning, yielding a single and a double, but no runs. Cliburn lowered his ERA to 2.38.

The Angels are off today, but Manager Cookie Rojas said he has no plans to re-arrange his pitching rotation because of it. . . .With a 5-1 record, the Angels concluded their first winning trip since June 22-July 1 of last season. . . . Mark McLemore, who underwent arm surgery to removed a clotted vein last week, will have the stitches removed today by Dr. John West. . . . Hope on the horizon? The Angels may be buried in the American League West, and triple-A Edmonton is struggling in the Pacific Coast League, but the Angels’ Class-A affiliate, Palm Springs, won the first half championship of the California League’s Southern Division. Palm Springs finished the half with a 40-31 record.