Armas Helps Angels Find Way in Oakland

The Angels finally found their way out of Oakland Coliseum Sunday afternoon, which, in itself, is a major development, considering how lost they looked during their first six games here this season.

Escort service was provided by Tony Armas, which had to figure. Devon White may lose baseballs in the sun, DeWayne Buice may lose his control on the mound and Chili Davis may nearly lose his cool in right field, but Armas is one Angel who doesn’t need a map whenever he ventures onto the field here. Armas played for the Athletics from 1977 to 1982 and, in 1988, he represented the Angels’ lone candle in the Oakland darkness--proof positive that it is possible for an Angel team to win here.

Matching a pair of career highs, Armas hit two home runs and finished with four hits as he led the Angels to a 6-4 victory in front of 40,013, enabling the Angels to end a six-game losing streak at the Coliseum and avert a four-game sweep during this latest visit.

Armas hadn’t gotten two home runs, or four hits, in a single game since 1986, when he played for the Boston Red Sox.

But Sunday’s game brought back memories from earlier days for Armas--back in the early 1980s, when he teamed with Rickey Henderson and Dwayne Murphy to form what was regarded as baseball’s premier outfield.

“This is nice for me,” said Armas, who hit a two-run home run off Oakland starter Dave Stewart and a solo shot off loser Gene Nelson (7-4). “I’ve still got a lot of fans here. They go way back with me. They remember.

“I had some good days in Oakland. But, it’s been a long time since I had a day like this.”

Armas, a 35-year-old platoon player who usually starts against left-handed pitchers, was in the lineup Sunday only because Angel Manager Cookie Rojas wanted to give designated hitter Brian Downing a day off. That meant moving Davis from right field to designated hitter and playing Armas in right, despite the fact that Stewart throws right handed.

Armas batted three times against Stewart. He hit two singles and a home run, his two-run homer giving the Angels a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning. Then, with the score tied at 4-4 in the seventh inning, Armas hit another home run against Nelson, another right-hander.

With that home run, Armas accomplished three things:

1) He made a winner of Mike Witt, who plodded through seven innings and pitched just well enough (9 hits, 4 runs) to boost his record to 9-11.

2) He lifted his home run total to 9, which ties him with White and gives him one more than Wally Joyner.

3) He strengthened his case for consideration as the Angels’ every-day left fielder.

“I don’t know why I don’t (play) against right-handers,” said Armas, batting .267 with 36 runs batted in. “I think I can hit right-handed or left-handed pitchers. But, I’ve got to wait for my chance to play. I’ve got to go by the rules.”

Davis also hit a homer in the fifth for the Angels, his 18th of the season. For Davis, the crack of his bat must have been a sound for burning ears after four days of abuse from the Coliseum bleacher fans, who mainly remember Chili as the San Francisco Giants’ chilly right fielder.

If Armas has fans lingering in the Coliseum seats, Davis only has hecklers. And perhaps that’s why Davis was less effusive about his day at the plate than Armas.

“We won the ballgame, that’s all that matters,” Davis grumbled to reporters. “It’s no big thrill, it’s just a baseball game. When I come in here, it’s just like playing anybody else. That part of my career is over with.”

Davis stared and glared.

“Is that enough?” he said. “Can I get dressed, so I can get the hell out of here?”

Yes, that was enough.

Mark McGwire also hit a homer for Oakland, bringing his 1988 total to 22 and the game’s total to four.

Oakland Manager Tony LaRussa considered that to be an uncommonly high total in this park, but when his assessment was relayed to Armas, he simply laughed.

“I know this park better than LaRussa,” Armas said. “I played here for six years. I know the ball carries good here in the day time.”

Armas still considers Oakland kind of a home away from home. He said he never wanted to leave the A’s in the first place and talked about the trade--for Carney Lansford in December, 1982--that ended a happy relationship.

“I was surprised by that trade,” Armas said. “They said we had the best outfield in baseball, with me, Murphy and Henderson. I was the first one to get traded.

“But, they really needed a third baseman badly here. They needed Carney Lansford. And Boston needed a right-handed power hitter to help Jim Rice.”

Today, Armas is an aging Angel who needs a contract for 1989. He says he wants to play two more years and Rojas believes it can happen in Anaheim.

“He’s showing people he’s definitely a good asset,” Rojas said. “He hasn’t gained weight (the knock against Armas with the Red Sox), he can still play the outfield well and he has a pretty good arm. He’s showing people he can still help a ballclub.”

And in Oakland, in 1988, the Angels needed all the help they could get.

Angel Notes

After the game, the Angels announced they were optioning reserve infielder Gus Polidor to Class AAA Edmonton in preparation for a roster move they plan to make today. That move figures to be the recall of second baseman Mark McLemore, who has been batting better than .300 in Edmonton. Polidor, used sparingly by Manager Cookie Rojas, hit .158 in 4 runs batted in over 47 games with the Angels. “Maybe this is good news for me,” Polidor said. “Maybe now, (Angel General Manager) Mike Port will do something with me. I’ve spent three years on the bench and now I’m going to Edmonton for the second time this year. Maybe now, they’ll trade me. If they don’t need me, maybe they’ll let me go somewhere else.” Polidor said he plans to ask Port to trade him during the off-season. “Last year, I had a chance to play for about a month and I did pretty good,” Polidor said, who hit .303 while replacing the injured Dick Schofield for 27 games in 1987. “This year, I was playing only once or twice every two weeks. That’s not good for a young player. That’s tough.”

Rojas, no fan of the new interpretation of the balk rule, got into two heated arguments with home plate umpire Rich Garcia over his refusal to call a second-inning balk on Dave Stewart and then the reversal of Garcia’s balk call against Gene Nelson in the eighth. Garcia sent baserunner Darrell Miller to second base in the eighth inning before second base umpire John Hirschbeck interceded and overruled the call. Garcia originally thought Nelson faked a throw to first base while still standing on the pitching rubber--a balk--while Hirschbeck maintained Nelson first stepped off the rubber before gesturing toward first. “That’s the first time I ever saw a balk overruled,” Rojas said. “That’s got to be the first time in the history of baseball.” . . . Oakland third baseman Carney Lansford had to leave the game after bruising his right thumb while tagging out Bob Boone on a sixth-inning play. A’s Manager Tony LaRussa replaced Lansford by moving right fielder Tony Phillips to third base and ending Jose Canseco’s intended day off. Canseco, resting hands hurting from broken callouses, returned to right field and stroked a single in his first at-bat.