Angels Start Short-Handed but Field a Winner Against Brewers

The Angels, who have made a habit of embarrassing themselves in front of the hometown fans this season, came up with the ultimate faux pas Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium.

Starter Mike Witt wound up and delivered the first pitch of the game--a nice little curveball for a strike--while his center fielder was still in the clubhouse.

Brewer leadoff hitter Jim Gantner saved a measure of Angel face by waiting until the second pitch of the game to line a single to center . . . where White, still breathing heavily after his dash from the dugout, was by this time positioned.

The Angels, who came into the game--and left it--with the worst home record in baseball, scored a 7-3 victory over the Brewers before a crowd of 31,626. It was the first time in 20 games that the Angels had scored more than five runs at home, where they are now 12-22. But make no mistake, this one was no clinic and included enough mortifying misplays to make up an entire blooper segment for “This Week in Baseball.” Besides the Incredible Invisible Outfielder trick, there were miscues of both the mental and physical variety.

Almost lost in the carnival atmosphere was Witt’s performance. Witt, who brought a 17-inning scoreless streak to the mound, saw that disappear shortly after White reappeared. But he went the distance, yielding 10 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks, to improve his record to 6-7 and reduce his earned-run average to 4.09.

The Angels, of course, will take a victory at Anaheim any way they can get it, even one that began with what Angel Manager Cookie Rojas called “a helluva weird way to start a game.”

White refused to divulge exactly what he was doing in the clubhouse--the rumor was, he had a phone call--but he did say he realized he was in trouble when he heard the game start on the clubhouse radio.

Witt’s first inkling that anything was wrong came when he heard the crowd erupt.

“I thought it was a fight or something,” he said. “Then I saw Devo run out of the dugout. It’s funny now, but I was (angry) at the time.”

The rule book says that if a team refuses to, or is unable to, field nine players, it must forfeit. It doesn’t detail what happens when a guy doesn’t take his position, however. Rojas said the umpires told him that the play--no matter what had happened--would have been nullified.

Still, this seemed to be taking the home-field disadvantage to new extremes. And it clearly bothered Witt, who fell out of his new-found groove for one inning, anyway.

The game-opening laughter had hardly died down when it became apparent that the Angels had more than one fielder who was missing--mentally, if not physically. After Gantner’s single, B.J. Surhoff hit a sharp grounder to third base. Jack Howell fielded it and turned to throw to second, but nobody was there, so he settled for the out at first. Second baseman Johnny Ray simply forgot to cover the bag.

Gantner scored on Robin Yount’s double to right, and Yount later scored on Jeffrey Leonard’s single to left.

It was an inauspicious start for Witt, but he soon resumed his comeback as Angel stopper.

“If there were any doubts about Mr. Witt, they should be answered now,” Rojas said. “He pitched a very strong game again.”

The Brewers were quick to show that the Angels didn’t have a monopoly on errors--mental, physical, embarrassing or otherwise. With one out in the second inning, White looped a single to center. Howell followed with a hit-and-run grounder into the vacated hole at shortstop, and when Leonard casually fielded the ball and shortstop Dale Sveum even more casually handled the relay, White raced home . . . almost as fast as he ran out to center in the first.

Darrell Miller followed with another hit-and-run single into the empty hole at second, and right fielder Rob Deer overran the ball, allowing Howell to score and tie the score at 2-2.

The Angels took a 4-2 lead in the third on singles by Brian Downing, Ray, Chili Davis and a run-scoring ground-out by Wally Joyner.

And they broke the game open with three runs in the seventh. White walked, Howell singled and Miller was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brewer Manager Tom Trebelhorn brought in former Angel Mark Clear to replace starter Tom Filer, and with the infield playing in, Dick Schofield poked a grounder into right for two runs batted in. Downing hit into a double play to bring home Miller.

Witt, meanwhile, had retired 11 Brewers in a row during a stretch that started with the final out of the second inning and ended with one out in the sixth. Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the eighth on two singles and Witt’s fielding error.

“We started fast and finished early,” Trebelhorn said. “We were finished in the first inning. It was not a real sharp ballgame.”

That, of course, is an understatement. But all in all, the game turned out pretty well for the local eight, er, nine.

Angel Notes

Chili Davis was still fuming Saturday about being called out on strikes by umpire Drew Coble with the bases loaded and two out in the 11th inning of Friday night’s 5-4 loss to the Brewers. “Where were you last night?” Davis asked one reporter. “You really missed it. I was really mad.” Davis fouled off one pitch and then took two called strikes. “Both of those pitches were way high,” he said. “Both of those calls were (terrible). I really felt like ripping that guy, and you guys were nowhere around.” Davis was told that the game lasted 3 1/2 hours and newspapers have deadlines, but he was welcome to express his feelings a day late. “I’m not as mad now as I was last night,” he said. “You know, I like playing here, but this makes you want to go back to the other league. I mean that trash man they had behind the plate last night was a joke of an umpire. I hope he’s a reserve or something.” Imagine what Davis might have said Friday night.

Right-hander Willie Fraser (4-7) will start for the Angels today in place of Dan Petry. Petry, who twisted his right ankle while trying to field a ground ball Monday in Minnesota, is still slightly hobbled but figures to make his next start. . . . The Angels passed the 1 million mark in attendance Saturday night, marking the 19th time in 23 seasons they have drawn more than 1 million. . . . Joe Rudi, Bo Belinsky and Dean Chance are just a few of the former Angels who will play in the Equitable Old-Timers’ game before today’s series finale with Milwaukee. They will compete on an American League West squad that will meet an AL East team featuring Whitey Ford and Bob Gibson. The old-timers’ game will start at 12:15, with the Angel-Brewer game at 2:05.

Milwaukee third baseman Paul Molitor, who stole two bases Friday night when the Brewers set a club record with six steals, was out of action Saturday because of a groin strain. Molitor is third in the league with 25 steals. . . . Wally Joyner hit a line drive off the leg of reliever Dan Plesac Friday night and eventually scored as the Angels got two runs in the eighth inning to tie the score, 3-3. It was a big hit but apparently not a big hurt. “I give him my best shot, it hits him right in the shin and he didn’t even rub it,” Joyner said. “(The trainer) started to run out of the dugout, and he just waves him off. I was embarrassed.”