Angels, Rader Open What Will Have to Be a Hit Show

It is neither overstatement nor cause for concern to report that the best pitch made by an Angel this spring belongs to the new manager, Doug Rader.

These Angels need pitching, to be sure, but more than that, they need direction. They need a fresh start after last September’s 2-18 fiasco, a heart transplant after that season-ending 12-game losing streak, a reason to believe and someone to believe in.

Is Rader that someone? Angel management hopes so, which is why they appointed him to replace Cookie Rojas last fall. But Rader is as dogged by his past as the team he inherits, having flamed out in his first managerial assignment, a 2 1/2-year reign of terror with the Texas Rangers.

Hired last November, Rader has spent all spring trying to prove he’s worthy of the job.

In short, Rader’s pitch has been:

I screwed up in Texas, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’m keeping an open mind and I hope you will, too. I’m really not that bad a guy and the Angels really aren’t that bad a team. Any takers?

Well, for starters, the Angels appear willing. Alienated by Gene Mauch’s detachment and amused by Rojas’ on-the-job training, most of the young players that form this club’s nucleus have yet to connect with a manager.

Mauch could go weeks without talking to certain players. Rojas could inadvertently break up team meetings by railing at his troops, “You’ve hit bottom rock.”

The Angels say Rader talks to them. He makes them laugh, too, usually intentionally. Canvass the Angel clubhouse these days and you’ll hear the same cliches: Rader communicates. Rader’s door is always open.

“He keeps the game fun,” third baseman Jack Howell says. “He can joke about a mistake if you play a ball wrong, but he can also take you aside and say, ‘Hey, look.’ So far, it’s been very relaxing, very enjoyable to play for him.”

Adds pitcher Kirk McCaskill: “You can communicate with him, but at the same time, you get the feeling you shouldn’t cross him. That’s a good combination. That’s what this team has needed.”

Can this be the same Doug Rader who was fired amid a player revolt in May of 1985? Can this be the same Doug Rader who closed the door on Dave Stewart, Tom Henke and Jim Sundberg, who threw clothes and vitriol in an ever-escalating war with Texas reporters?

With the Southern California media, Doug Rader has been, well, charming. He has been accommodating and amiable and witty, capable of quoting both ZZ Top and John Steinbeck--”Ol’ Steiny,” Rader calls him--willing to serve as peacemaker between writer and offended ballplayer.

Maybe that was Rader’s evil twin in Texas.

Or maybe this new and improved look is merely a desert mirage, destined to fade at the outset of the first Angel losing streak.

“I think it’s reasonable for people to think that way,” Rader says. “It’s like everything else. You’ve got to demonstrate it, you can’t just say it.”

Today, the demonstration begins in earnest, with the Angels opening their 1989 season against the Chicago White Sox at Anaheim Stadium. Angel pitching will test Rader’s nerve, no doubt, but the manager claims to hold “a reasonable expectation of success.”

He said: “I think we’re going to score some runs and I think we’re going to take some chances and I think they’re going to work out.”

The Angels have already taken a chance with Rader. Will it work out?

A few things to mull over while awaiting an answer:

Why the Angel offense will be better in 1989.

Downing, dh

Ray, 2b

White, cf

Joyner, 1b

Davis, lf

Parrish, c

Washington, rf

Howell, 3b

Schofield, ss

This is how the basic Angel batting order should read, pending the imminent arrival of Dante Bichette as an everyday player.

In a word, solid. Not a Gary Pettis in the bunch. Dick Schofield is the closest thing to a weak link in this lineup, but even he has a little pop in his bat--he hit 13 home runs in 1986--and is coming off a .300 spring.

The black hole is no longer required in the Angel lineup.

“Go down the list,” an excited Wally Joyner says. “Who do you pitch around? You can’t afford to pitch around anybody anymore.”

Adds Brian Downing: “Last year, we had only a couple guys capable of hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Now, we’ve got six or seven legitimate spots in the lineup--guys who can, and have, hit 20 home runs (in a season).

“That’s not bad. That’s what it’s going to take.”

Why Jim Abbott is in the starting rotation.

Because 20 home runs from six or seven guys is what it’s going to take to keep the Angels, and their millstone-like rotation, afloat in the American League West.

These aren’t the ’65 Dodgers we’re talking about. These aren’t even the ’86 Angels. Last season, no Angel starter won more than 13 games or had an earned-run average below 4.10. Combined, Angel starting pitchers in 1988 won 50 games, lost 68 and fashioned a 4.56 ERA.

To this crew was added 38-year old Bert Blyleven, who, in 1988, led the American League in defeats with 17, earned runs with 125, and the highest ERA among pitchers with 30 or more starts, 5.43.

Add in some ERAs from this spring--Kirk McCaskill, 8.19; Dan Petry, 8.04; Chuck Finley, 4.36; Blyleven, 4.05--and you should have your answer to the Jim Abbott question.

But in case you’re not convinced ...

Three more reasons why Jim Abbott makes sense:

--He’s a left-handed starter who throws hard. Once you get past Mark Langston, name another in the American League.

--At 21, he’s older than Seattle center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., 19, and Milwaukee shortstop Gary Sheffield, 20, two touted rookies who are supposedly ready.

--He’s pitched in the Pan American Games and the Olympics, played in foreign countries and already conducted more interviews than many big leaguers do in a career.

He still needs two months in Midland?

Why Johnny Ray beat out Mark McLemore.

Ray batted .346 with the Angels in 1987, .306 last season and .340 this spring. In 1988, he drove in 83 runs, two fewer than Joyner; had 42 doubles, as many as Kirby Puckett, and batted .342 with runners on base, which was better than Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly and Mike Greenwell. He is the only active major leaguer with 30 or more doubles in each of his last seven seasons.

Why the Angels would like to trade Ray and make room for McLemore.

After moving in from left field, where he committed five errors in 40 games last season, Ray made 15 errors in 104 games at second base. He had a .972 fielding percentage at second base--the lowest among regular American League second basemen in 1988. He turned just 64 double plays--nearly half as many as Seattle’s Harold Reynolds. He stole four bases--or two more than Bob Boone.

Two reasons why this year’s outfield should be better than last year’s:

--Chili Davis in left can’t be any worse than Johnny Ray in left.

--Claudell Washington in right can’t be any worse than Chili Davis in right.

Why you should draft Devon White for your Rotisserie League team.

When all is well with White, he’s one of the league’s finest all-around talents, cut from the same cloth as Boston’s Ellis Burks and Texas’ Ruben Sierra.

And all appears to be well with White in 1989.

The knee is fine. The confidence is high after last year’s Gold Glove and this spring’s .350 batting average. He’s out of the leadoff spot, which he hated, and will bat third, ahead of Joyner, which means he should see a few more fastballs. And, of course, there’s the carrot of arbitration eligibility come 1990.

The Angels haven’t had a 30-30 man since Bobby Bonds in 1977, but White is capable of ending that streak as early as this year.

How to tell Jack Howell apart from Jay Howell:

--Jack uses pine tar on his bat.

--Jack would probably get along just fine with Don Baylor.

--Jay doesn’t have a .198 career batting average against left-handed pitchers; wasn’t pinch-hit for last season by Domingo Ramos, Gus Polidor and Chico Walker; wasn’t crushed by Arizona’s playoff loss to Nevada Las Vegas--Jack attended the U of A--and has yet to be mentioned in a trade rumor involving Wade Boggs.

Why Dick Schofield is a millionaire:

--He has led league shortstops in fielding in each of the last two seasons and three times in the last five years. Fabled Baltimore shortstop Mark Belanger finished his career with three league fielding titles. Phil Rizzuto did it twice.

--He committed 13 errors last year and only nine in 1987. That’s 22 errors in two years at baseball’s most demanding position--three fewer than Chili Davis committed in right field last season.

--He’s beginning his sixth season as the Angels’ starting shortstop. Only Jim Fregosi, who stayed for nine years, manned the position longer.

The Angels’ regular shortstops in between Fregosi and Schofield: Leo Cardenas, 1972; Rudy Meoli, 1973; Dave Chalk, 1974; Mike Miley, 1975; Chalk again, 1976; Bobby Grich, 1977; Chalk a third time, 1978; Bert Campaneris and Jimmy Anderson, 1979; Freddie Patek, 1980; Rick Burleson, 1981, and Tim Foli, 1982 and ’83.

Why the Angels trust in the concept of the rechargeable battery.

Consider the pairing of former All-Stars Mike Witt and Lance Parrish.

Witt’s victory totals since 1986: 18, 16, 13. Witt’s loss totals since 1986: 10, 14, 16. Witt’s strikeout totals since 1986: 208, 192, 133. Witt’s ERAs since 1986: 2.84, 4.01, 4.15.

Parrish’s home run totals since 1985: 28, 22, 17, 15. Parrish’s RBI totals since 1985: 98, 62, 67, 60. Parrish’s batting averages since 1985: .273, .257, .245, .215.

Witt is still just 28 years old. Parrish is 32. They can’t be over the hill already.

Can they?

Why the Angels will finish fifth.

Oakland, Minnesota and Kansas City have better teams. Texas could, too, provided that Jeff Russell is the answer in the Ranger bullpen.

The Angels have improved, but so has the division, clearly the stronger in the American League in 1989. Two years ago, 85 games won the West for Minnesota. This year, 85 victories may not be enough for fourth place.

This Angel team is capable of scoring 800 runs--and giving up 820. The 8-7 ballgame could become an Anaheim Stadium staple this summer, which means the fans should have a lot more fun than the Angel bullpen.

If the offense can carry the starting pitching to 80 victories, and the Angels break even in September, Rader will have this team on the right track and the season should be declared a resounding success. Things will have worked out.