This Game Was Finished Long Before the Last Out

Southern California baseball fans have long been the subject of ridicule because of their propensity to leave games before the conclusion.

A number of fans left Anaheim Stadium after only one inning Monday night, but no one could accuse them of bailing out before a decision had been reached. In fact, this one was over before the second out of the game had been recorded. The late arrivals should have made U-turns at the turnstiles.

In the bottom of the first, the Angels lost their right fielder and their manager. It didn’t much matter, though. They had already lost the game.

Toronto scored six first-inning runs on seven hits--a profitable mix of two triples, a double and four singles--en route to a 12-2 victory in front of 24,241. Well, maybe 10% of that number saw the last out, but fans who saw the first inning got their money’s worth.

Tony Fernandez got things started with an innocuous fly ball to right against Chuck Finley, who was making his first start in almost three weeks after suffering a sprained thumb on June 29. Finley got Fernandez to fly out the second time he faced him, but that at-bat also came in the first inning and only one of the other eight hitters Finley faced in between failed to get a hit.

Before the game, Manager Cookie Rojas said that the key to Finley having a successful return was his control.

“There’s no reason he shouldn’t be in top form,” Rojas said, “but you never know until the bell rings.”

It rang and shortly thereafter Finley’s ears were ringing with hoots, boos and assorted jeers. Finley was throwing strikes all right, but the Blue Jays kept striking back.

A quick recap:

Lloyd Moseby and George Bell singled to right. Kelly Gruber doubled into the gap in left to score them both. Cecil Fielder hit a drive down the right-field line that Chili Davis played into a triple and Toronto led, 3-0. Manny Lee lined a run-scoring single to right. Fred McGriff also singled to right. Sil Campusano tripled off the wall in left to score both Lee and McGriff.

Left fielder Tony Armas had a shot at catching Campusano’s ball but succeeded only in catching the spikes of his left shoe in the vinyl that covers the wall.

Plenty of offense, very little defense and not much pitching for only half an inning.

Then, in the bottom of the inning, the Angels treated the fans to some bad judgment and poor sportsmanship.

Devon White led off with a single to center, but was almost caught retreating to first after a very wide turn toward second. One out and a walk later, White--with his team trailing by six runs, remember--decided to steal third. He was safe, but Davis struck out on the play when first base umpire Drew Coble ruled that he chased the pitch.

Davis noted his displeasure with the call by flipping his helmet at the feet of home plate umpire Tim McClelland. Then he pointed and yelled over his shoulder at Coble while walking toward the dugout. Coble ejected him before he got there, however.

That brought out both Davis and Rojas. Davis was restrained while Rojas screamed and tried to finger-jab Coble over the considerable frame of crew chief Don Denkinger. Rojas managed only to get himself ejected.

“I asked him why he threw (Davis) out,” Rojas said. “He told me it was because he gestured at him. I asked if he could throw a guy out for gesturing when he couldn’t possibly hear what he was saying. He said he could and I said, ‘No kidding?’ ”

Well, maybe it didn’t go exactly like that, but the exchange provided the only moments of drama during this rout.

In the eighth inning, public address announcer Dennis Packer introduced the nightly attendance quiz like this:

“Think back a few innings and see if you can guess tonight’s attendance . . . “