Angels Finally Enjoy a Blyleven Win : Longtime Nemesis Turns Back A’s on a Four-Hitter, 7-1

Great reoccurring headlines in Angel history:

Angels Fall Short of American League Pennant.

Angels Hire New Manager.

Blyleven Wins at Anaheim Stadium.

It was time to roll out the latter one again Tuesday night, but this time there was a twist.

This time, Bert Blyleven wore an Angel uniform as he snuck big breaking curveballs past the bats of the Oakland Athletics, needing only an economical 98 pitches to earn a 7-1 win.

After 19 seasons and 28 career victories over the Angels, Blyleven, the longtime Angel killer, finally won one for the other side.

He did it in his second Angel start and he did it in style--taking a one-hitter into the seventh inning and a shutout into the ninth. He wound up with the 35th four-hitter and the 232nd complete game of his career.

“My first Angel win,” said Blyleven, letting the thought linger for a moment. “That was a nice way to get it. My last start went only five innings, and that’s a long time to have to spend in the clubhouse.”

In his first start, last Thursday against the Chicago White Sox, Blyleven (1-0) worked five innings, surrendered two solo home runs and left the game with the score tied, 2-2. The Angels eventually lost, 3-2.

“Emotion-wise, I was more level tonight than last time,” Blyleven said. “That was my first start as an Angel, and I wanted to do so well. To only go five innings and get a no-decision was very disappointing.”

With a calmer frame of mind, Blyleven said, he was better able to deal with the circumstances--and the Oakland lineup--Tuesday night.

“When you do get excited, there’s a tendency to rush things,” Blyleven said. “Tonight, I just tried to stay back, and that allowed my curveball to be more effective.”

And, another thing. When pitching against the A’s, it always helps to catch them on a night when neither Jose Canseco nor Mark McGwire is in the lineup. Canseco (torn ligament in left wrist) and McGwire (lower back strain) both sat this one out.

“That’s when you have to beat them,” Blyleven said. “When they’re in the lineup, they can do a lot of damage. I know they’re missed. But as we face them, we have to take advantage of nights like this.”

Through eight innings, Tony LaRussa’s re-shuffled lineup could manage just two hits against Blyleven. Shortstop Walt Weiss had a third-inning double, and Carney Lansford, replacing McGwire at first base, had a seventh-inning single off the glove of Angel third baseman Jack Howell.

Blyleven began to show signs of fatigue in the eighth, walking two batters, but opened the ninth with his shutout bid intact.

Stan Javier, however, led off the ninth with a single, and Dave Parker followed with a mammoth drive to deep center field that glanced off Devon White’s glove and then off the fence for a double.

Javier took third on the play and ruined the shutout by scoring on Lansford’s groundout to second base.

“I was getting tired, but there are only so many opportunities I have to pitch a shutout,” said Blyleven, who is tied for 15th on the all-time shutout list with 55. “I wanted a shutout. But when they ended up scoring a run, I said, ‘Let’s just end this thing.’ ”

Blyleven accomplished that by striking out Ron Hassey and getting Felix Jose to line to short for the final outs, leaving the field with career victory No. 255.

After opening this series with a 4-0 victory, capitalizing on shoddy Angel defense, the A’s returned the favor Tuesday night. Officially, Oakland was charged with just one error--third baseman Tony Phillips kicked a seventh-inning grounder--but left fielder Luis Polonia demonstrated once again why he has a bright future as a designated hitter.

Polonia turned a pair of Angel hits into extra bases, letting a bloop single by White bound past him for a first-inning triple and slipping while giving chase to a fifth-inning drive by Lance Parrish. Polonia fell on the play, and Parrish ended up on second base, credited with a two-run double.

The Parrish-Polonia parlay capped a six-run inning in which the Angels sent 10 batters to the plate and knocked Oakland starter Storm Davis (1-1) out of the game. The inning also included consecutive run-scoring singles by Glenn Hoffman, Mark McLemore, White and Claudell Washington.

Given those runs, Blyleven knew what to do with them.

He has an idea of how to pitch in this place.

“That ball Parker hit would’ve been out in the ‘Dome,” said Blyleven, referring to his most recent home stadium, the Metrodome in Minnesota. “The ball Hassey hit (a fourth-inning flyout) would’ve been out in the ‘Dome.

“I’m basically a fly-ball pitcher, and this stadium is conducive to my style of pitching.”

Finally, after all these years, the Angels were able to enjoy a little of that style.

Angel Notes

Why Brian Brady? That was the question put to Manager Doug Rader after the Angels decided to replace disabled outfielder Tony Armas with Edmonton outfielder Brady, 26, who has never batted above .290 at any minor league level. Rader cited the need for a left-handed hitting spot player to fill the 24th spot on the roster. “It’s important right now, when discussing Brian, not to cheapen the reason he’s here,” Rader said. “We wanted a left-handed bat, and Jim Eppard (sprained left wrist) is unavailable right now. Most of the other guys we have in triple A, (Jeff) Manto and (Lee) Stevens, are in the developmental stage and it would be more disruptive than anything else if we were to bring one of them up now.” In other words, the Angels want Manto and Stevens to play every day.

Armas, placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday night with a second-degree hamstring strain, could be sidelined a good deal longer than that. “Personally, I would think it’s going to be quite some time,” Rader said. “Tony’s legs are kind of old, there’s been some calcification build-up in there. All those things retard the rehabilitation process.” Armas, 35, also serves as the Angels’ backup first baseman. In his absence, that role will be shared by catcher Bill Schroeder and utilityman Glenn Hoffman. . . . Hoffman played the final six innings at shortstop Tuesday night when starter Dick Schofield complained of tightness in the muscles on the right side of his chest.

Former Angel catcher Darrell Miller, released at the end of training camp, has signed with the New York Yankees and is playing for their triple-A affiliate at Columbus.