While Angels Err, A’s Beat Abbott, 5-0

Funny, but after all this talk about the Angels rushing Jim Abbott, it’s turning out to be the other way around.

If Abbott, making the inestimable jump from college baseball to the major leagues, is supposed to be the one with the churning stomach, why does the Angel defense turn to jelly behind him? And if Abbott, the 21-year-old seedling, is supposed to be pressing, how does one explain the Angels’ offensive output--zero runs--in his two big league starts?

Thursday afternoon, Abbott’s second turn in the Angels’ rotation went down fairly much like the first. He pitched in and out of jams, was victimized by two Angel errors, received no offensive support and lost, 5-0, this time to the Oakland Athletics before an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 24,137.

Last time, it was 7-0 to the Seattle Mariners, although Abbott was responsible for just three earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. Thursday, he lasted six innings and gave up four runs, but this time two were unearned.

“Of all the people we were concerned about,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said, “Abbie’s been the least affected by it all. We haven’t scored him a run or made the big defensive play behind him.

“I think he was composed in his first game and I think he was composed today. I wish we would, as a team, respond to him.”

Again, the Angel hitters found themselves overmatched by a hard-throwing pitcher. After Mark Langston shut them down Saturday, Oakland’s Mike Moore limited them to three hits through eight innings before Dennis Eckersley allowed a fourth hit in the ninth.

And again, an error by second baseman Mark McLemore caused an inning to blow up on Abbott. In the top of the sixth, McLemore kicked a grounder to open the door for a pair of unearned runs--a virtual replay of Saturday night--and expedite Abbott’s exit.

The score was 1-0 before Oakland’s Terry Steinbach opened the sixth with a deep but catchable fly ball to right field. Angel right fielder Claudell Washington, however, failed to catch it--running into the wall and letting the ball hit the fence below his glove.

Steinbach was credited with a double.

Carney Lansford hit a bouncing ball to McLemore . . . and there went the bouncing ball, caroming off the second baseman’s leg for an error that allowed Steinbach to move to third base.

Dave Parker hit a potential double-play ball that staggered McLemore, who wrestled with the ball and wound up with only a force-out at second. Steinbach scored, and the A’s were on their way to two more runs, which came on Mike Gallego’s two-out double to right-center.

By inning’s end, McLemore had incurred the wrath of the home crowd, being singled out and booed for crimes against Abbott.

Let down Abbott and you’ve let down 24,000 others. The fans, too, were pressing Thursday--pressing for an Abbott victory.

“Guys makes errors every day,” McLemore said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they get booed.

“They want to see him win. That’s understandable. They don’t want to see any mistakes made behind Abbott.

“I don’t think there’d be a lot of boos if someone else was pitching. But you just have to deal with it.”

Abbott also heard the boos. He called them unfair and tried to brush aside any talk of his teammates failing behind him because they were trying too hard.

“I hope they don’t have that kind of feeling,” Abbott said. “If you get a lead and jump out early, it’s easier to play. I haven’t pitched with a lead yet, and that’s made it much tougher on everybody.

“With all the attention, mistakes get magnified. That’s not always real fair for the people behind me.”

Abbott also tried to shoot a few holes in the lack-of-support angle.

“Sometimes, it’s harder to score runs when you’re down,” he said. “I haven’t helped us out in that department yet.”

McLemore suggested that it wasn’t so much a matter of who the Angel pitcher was, as who the opposition’s pitcher was.

“Who pitched last time, Langston?” McLemore said. “Mike Moore today. Those are two of the best pitchers in the league.”

Add bad timing to the list of things Abbott has been victimized by so far.

Still, Rader continues to stand by his man. The manager has invested a lot in Abbott--Rader has felt more than a little heat over his decision to keep the rookie on the Angels’ 24-player roster--and the experiment would stand less scrutiny if Abbott’s record weren’t 0-2.

“He threw well enough to win,” Rader maintained. “He gave us the opportunity to win. He continues to show poise and good stuff, and those are the only two criteria you need to pitch in the big leagues.”

But Rader had to admit: “It’d be wonderful for him to (win one).”

Until then, the Angels are left to contemplate the question: Who’s rushing whom?

Angel Notes

The soreness under Dick Schofield’s right armpit persists, so the Angels have scheduled him to undergo a bone scan today at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood. At the same time, the Angels open a 10-day trip tonight in Seattle, so they recalled shortstop Kent Anderson from Edmonton, opening a roster vacancy by reassigning pitcher Vance Lovelace to Edmonton. “There’s no sense him (Schofield) going on the road without knowing the severity of the injury,” Manager Doug Rader said. “So, we’re having him stay behind for tests and calling up Anderson for some infield insurance.” Angel trainer Rick Smith said the bone scan will be performed to determine if Schofield is suffering from a hairline fracture of the ribs. “It’s in a real weird area,” Smith said. “I’ve never seen this before. And the thing most perplexing about it is, Dick doesn’t know when or how it happened. There was not one acute episode of him swinging or diving or running into a fence. But it hurts him, and he’s made no progress the last two days, so we’re having the tests done.”

Oakland Manager Tony La Russa, on Jim Abbott: “He’s got a real live arm. He’s an outstanding talent. I wish he was in the other league.” . . . Mark McLemore said Thursday’s boos were the first he’d ever received as a member of the home team. “I don’t think I’ve ever been booed for doing anything wrong before,” he said. “It’s a little weird. I wasn’t out there trying to miss balls and I wasn’t the only one not hitting. That’s not the first time I’ve made an error and it won’t be the last time. But hopefully, it’ll be a long time before the next one.”