Armas Not Ready for the Farm : For Angel Left Fielder, It Was Another Major Day

The Angels beat the New York Yankees, 13-2, Sunday. Tony Armas had four hits.

This amounts to a basketball player making a last-second shot from half court with his team already ahead by 25.

Take away Armas’ 4 hits, 2 RBIs and 2 runs, and the Angels still have 15 hits and 9 runs.

But lets take a look at the big picture. Well, August, actually.

Armas, 35, has hit seven home runs this month. Included among those was Friday’s ninth-inning shot with two out and two strikes on him. That capped a six-run Angel rally against the Yankees, tied the score at 6-6 and sent the game into extra innings, where the Angels’ eventually won, 7-6.

Included among the seven are homers off the likes of Dave Stewart, Bruce Hurst, Roger Clemens and Dave Righetti.

Venture a bit out of August and you’ll find that Armas is 38 for 100 in his last 29 games. That’s a .380 average, which has raised his season average to .274.

Nothing Wade Boggs is going to lose sleep over, but Armas has ended only one of 11 major league seasons hitting more than .270. That was 1980 with Oakland when he hit .279.

The man is doing all right.

Sunday, he had two doubles and two singles, which earned a “he had a helluva day” from Angel Manager Cookie Rojas. But will it earn him left field?

Armas and Thad Bosley have been platooned in left since Bosley was called up July 5. But with Armas hitting the way he has--he has a five-game hitting streak--and Bosley out with a sore foot since Aug. 21, the job seems to be Armas’.

Armas isn’t making a big issue out of it except to say that it’s much easier to hit when you’re playing every day.

“I’ve just waited for my chances,” Armas said. “I try to make the best of them.”

Asked to look ahead to next year, he refused.

“I know I can still do it,” he said. “I’m not going to worry about it now. I’m not going to get into it with anyone.”

This is the same Tony Armas who twice led the American League in home runs and had three seasons in which he had more than 100 RBIs. It’s the same Armas who has been on the disabled list six times in his career and who was dumped on his credentials in July of last year by the Boston Red Sox.

He ended up in Edmonton, playing for the Angels’ triple-A club. He was playing in a uniform that seemed a bit too snug and chasing a dream of getting back to the big leagues that seemed out of his reach.

He was called up in mid-August but finished the season with the Angels hitting only .198 in 81 at-bats. The kind of statistics that usually mean the end of a career.

The way he’s hitting these days, Armas seems intent on sending the message that he isn’t done yet.