Brewers Remain in East Race : They Get Within 5 Games of Boston by Beating Angels

The winning and losing of baseball games, at this late stage of the season, usually comes down to a matter of priorities.

Foremost on Angel minds Monday night, for instance, was their continuing pursuit of little victories. A better-than-.500 record would be nice. So would a 15-win season for Mike Witt. And a 100-runs batted in season for Chili Davis. Anything to keep the attention focused.

The visiting Milwaukee Brewers, meanwhile, were simply trying to win a division championship.

Final score from Anaheim Stadium: Brewers 4, Angels 2.

Before a crowd of 20,207, the team that had to win beat the team that would’ve liked to win. With the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox losing to the Toronto Blue Jays earlier, the Brewers moved within 5 games of Boston and into second place in the AL East.

Robin Yount drove in 3 runs, and Bill Wegman (13-11) pitched 7 strong innings to drop Witt (13-14) and the Angels (75-76) below .500.

Witt, who must win his 2 remaining starts to extend his streak of 15-win seasons to 5 straight, lasted 6 innings. He allowed 10 hits and yielded 2 runs in the 3rd and 2 more in the 7th.

That’s not much, but the Brewers can do a great deal with 4 runs. That’s just about Milwaukee’s per-game average this season (4.16)--and the Brewers have parlayed such modest offensive support into 81 victories.

“Their pitching is what’s doing it for them,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas assessed. “This year, they haven’t been hitting like they usually can. The only ones having good years are (Paul) Molitor and Yount.

“But their pitching . . . Their ERA is (a league-leading 3.39). Over a whole season, that’s pretty good pitching.”

Rojas and the Angels saw enough of it over the course of 9 innings Monday night. Wegman limited the Angels to 2 runs on 7 hits--including Brian Downing’s 23rd home run of the season--before Paul Mirabella and Chuck Crim combined to close out the Angels.

Impressed, Rojas offered heartening words for the Brewers in their chase of the Red Sox.

“They have a good chance. They’re still in it,” Rojas said. “They don’t have as many games left (as Boston), so they can’t afford to lose. But I think they’ve still got a good chance.”

Over in the Milwaukee clubhouse, however, the thinking was somewhat less sunny.

“Our chances are slim to fair at very, very best,” Brewer Manager Tom Trebelhorn said. “By fair, I mean that we have enough left that if we win them all, we might have a chance.”

The Brewers have 4 games remaining against the Angels, so at least they have a chance in those games.

A more difficult assignment rests in 6 games Milwaukee must still play against Oakland.

And with no games left against Boston, the Brewers will also be relying heavily on the kindness of strangers.

“It’s tough knowing that we have to depend on other people to beat the team ahead of us,” said Yount, who had a 2-run single in the 3rd inning and a run-scoring single in the 7th. “But it’s all academic if we don’t win.”

Monday night in Anaheim, the Brewers did their part. And in Toronto, the Blue Jays did theirs.

That’s 1.

Now, if they can do it again tonight. And tomorrow. And some more times after that.

Angel Notes

There was apparently more to Bryan Harvey’s ragged ninth inning Sunday afternoon--he blew a 4-1 Angel lead by surrendering a grand slam to Texas’ Pete O’Brien--than just a few bad pitches. Monday, Harvey complained of discomfort in his right arm and had the elbow examined by team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum. Yocum had an X-ray known as a tomogram performed on the arm, with test results expected back today. “I have a little problem aggravating me in there,” Harvey said, holding his right elbow. “It started bothering me last week in Texas. But it’s no big deal. I felt the same thing about 2 months ago and it went away. I played catch today and it felt OK. It’s all right.” Added Angel Manager Cookie Rojas: “It’s just an inflammation in the elbow. It should just be a matter of a day or so.” Or so the Angels hope. Harvey leads the Angels in saves with 17--and could use a few more to enhance hischances in this year’s American League rookie-of-the-year race. . . . Another pitcher with arm problems, Milwaukee’s Ted Higuera, finally received clearance to pitch tonight. Higuera, 13-9 with a 2.27 earned-run average, missed his last start because of a sore shoulder and was questionable for tonight before testing his arm in the bullpen Sunday. Higuera claimed to have no after-effects from the workout.