This Time, McGwire Slams Door Shut on the Angels, 7-2

The Angel bullpen returned to the scene of its greatest 1988 crimes, the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, where on consecutive April days, DeWayne Buice balked in the winning run and Donnie Moore served up a game-deciding home run.

Dark days, indeed. Dark deeds, too--deeds that apparently have not been forgotten. Thursday night, in an incredible simulation, Buice provided Angel Manager Cookie Rojas with one heck of a flashback when he walked in the go-ahead run and surrendered a game-breaking grand slam to Mark McGwire in the eighth inning of Oakland’s 7-2 victory over the Angels.

Buice, who arrived from Edmonton a few hours earlier to replace the recently injured Moore, entered a 2-2 game with one out and Walter Weiss on second base in the bottom of the eighth.

Buice got the first batter he faced, Dave Henderson, to ground out for the second out. But then, on Rojas’ command, Buice intentionally walked Jose Canseco.

Not a bad intention, either, considering that Canseco leads the major leagues with 31 home runs and 90 RBIs.

That brought up Carney Lansford and he blistered a one-hopper down the third-base line that Jack Howell somehow gloved with a dive into the dirt. Howell could not, however, climb to his feet and throw Lansford out at first base. Lansford was safe, the bases were loaded, and due to bat next was catcher Ron Hassey.

The Angels remember Hassey. He hit the three-run home run off Moore here that turned an 8-6 Angel lead into a 9-8 Oakland victory on April 20.

This time, Hassey beat the Angels without swinging the bat--watching Buice deliver four wide ones to bring home Weiss with the tiebreaking run.

Still, the Angels were within 3-2 with one more inning to go. But then came McGwire, and three pitches later, there went the baseball. McGwire drove Buice’s 1-2 offering into the left-field bleachers for his first career grand slam and his 21st home run of the season.

Just like that, Terry Clark, who surrendered Weiss’ inning-opening single, became a losing pitcher for the first time in his big-league career. After tying Bo Belinsky for the best start by an Angel rookie pitcher (5-0), Clark wound up a loser when Buice, again, failed to shut down the A’s.

“What can you do?” Buice asked. “I had no forkball. That one (to McGwire) just didn’t break.”

Buice last appeared in an Angel game June 15. Since then, he injured his left hamstring, was placed on the disabled list, went to Edmonton on rehabilitative assignment and then, last week, was demoted to Edmonton. He was only recalled Wednesday evening when Moore was diagnosed as having a broken finger on his pitching hand.

Welcome back, DeWayne.

“What the heck, it happens,” Buice said. “I just hope (Rojas) gives me the ball again one of these days.”

By handing the ball to Buice Thursday, Rojas watched his club lose for the sixth time in its last nine games, falling 14 1/2 games behind the A’s in the American League West standings. If this four-game series in Oakland represented a make-or-break opportunity for Rojas’ club, the Angels can just about begin readying themselves for April 1989.

Clark was worthy of a better fate. He limited the A’s to two runs through seven innings, and after Brian Downing delivered his 18th home run in the top of the eighth inning, Clark took a 2-2 tie into the bottom of the eighth.

There, Clark faced two more batters--Weiss, who singled, and Luis Polonia, who sacrificed.

Then came Buice, who, by inning’s end, would sacrifice Clark’s perfect record.

“It’s always frustrating to lose while you’re in the dugout,” Clark said. “But that’s why you have relievers. That’s what they’re paid for. If you didn’t have relievers, you’d have to leave starters out there until they die.”

Instead, starters get pulled in the eighth inning--and then have to suffer a much greater torture.

Before he left, Clark also became all-too-well acquainted with that Angel anti-hero of ‘86, Dave Henderson, who scored the A’s first run and drove in their second, staking Oakland starter Storm Davis to a 2-1 lead after six innings.

Henderson was the second batter Clark faced Thursday, and on the first pitch he saw, Henderson lined a double off the left-field fence. Clark immediately wild-pitched, moving Henderson to third base, and from there, Henderson scored on a ground-out to shortstop by Canseco.

In the sixth inning, Henderson broke a 1-1 tie after Polonia doubled off Clark and took third on a balk. Henderson followed with a single to right field, and the A’s led again, 2-1.

Downing tied the game with his eighth-inning home run, but it was a short-lived tie. There would still be time for an appearance by the Angel bullpen.

The loss left the Angels 3-7 against Oakland this season. Four of those defeats have come in the seventh inning or later.

Angel Notes

DeWayne Buice rejoined the Angels in Oakland Thursday after spending a 25-day stint with triple-A Edmonton. His line with the Trappers: 0-0, 9 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 2.89 ERA, 0 saves--and one suspension. Buice spent four days in late July on the Pacific Coast League’s suspended list after bumping an umpire during a game in Colorado Springs, Colo. “I ran into a hot umpire,” Buice said. “He had been really going at it with the pitcher before me (Mike Cook). I came in, threw three pitches and shook my head after one of his calls. He threw me out without me saying a word.” That got Buice hot and, as he put it, “I kind of fell into him--at a rapid rate.”

Buice admits he deserved the suspension--”I bumped him, I was wrong”--but also says he put the four days to good use. “I didn’t get my rhythm and my velocity back until the suspension,” Buice said. “On two different days, I threw for 20 minutes at a time and really aired it out. I got my timing down and my fastball back. Before the suspension, my strikeout-to-innings pitched ratio was basically even. After the suspension, it was close to two strikeouts an inning.”

Add Buice: His rehabilitation assignment lasted 20 days, but once it expired, the Angels declined to return him to the major league roster. Instead, the Angels activated Buice and kept him at Edmonton--where he would have remained until Sept. 1 had it not been for Donnie Moore’s finger injury. “I didn’t have to like it, but I understood it,” Buice said.

Dan Petry will begin his rehabilitation assignment Saturday when he is scheduled to start for the Class A Palm Springs Angels. If all goes well, Petry will throw on the sidelines Monday and make another start for Palm Springs next Thursday. . . . When Oakland’s Dave Henderson doubled in the first inning, it marked his 29th double of the season, a career high. Henderson also has 17 home runs and 68 RBIs-- also career highs.