Leonard’s Slam Puts Angels in a Sling, 9-5

The Flap no longer comes down when Jeffrey Leonard taxis around the bases after a home run. Different league, different calling card.

Now, the Sling is the thing. Serve up a home run to Seattle’s new left fielder today and you’ll have to bear watching him milk it by carrying his left arm in a crook, as if it’s set in a plaster cast.

The Angels’ Mike Witt got to check it out for the first time Friday night and it wasn’t a pretty sight, particularly when three other Mariners slinked across the plate before the Sling.

When is a home-run trot more than just a home-run trot?

When it comes after a grand slam that obliterates a 3-0 Angel lead and sends the Mariners on their way to a 9-5 victory before 14,590 fans at the Kingdome.

Things had been going so well for the Angels, too. They scored three times in the second inning against Seattle’s overpowering Mark Langston, who shut them out on six hits a week ago. They managed four hits in the inning, including a double high off the right-field wall by Dante Bichette, a run-scoring single by Brian Downing and a two-run single by Mark McLemore.

“I was kind of excited,” Angel catcher Lance Parrish said. “Langston is awful tough. To get three runs off him like that, I felt like we were in the driver’s seat.”

Too bad a traffic jam had to break out in the bottom of the third.

With one out, Witt surrendered a single to Harold Reynolds, who moved to second when Angel third baseman Jack Howell fielded Ken Griffey Jr.’s ground ball and fired high and late to first base.

Witt walked Alvin Davis, loading the bases.

Then he made one pitch to Leonard.

The Sling was soon in full swing.

Leonard hit the ball over the left-center-field fence, nearly launching it 400 feet, nearly sinking the good ship USS Mariner, the miniature clipper that sends off a cannon blast with every Seattle home run.

The powder burns were felt as far as the Angel dugout, where Manager Doug Rader was quick to assess the damage.

“The bottom line is, you score that many runs off Mark Langston, you better take advantage of it,” Rader said glumly.

The Angels eventually scored five runs against Langston (2-1), but the final two came in the ninth inning, after the Mariners had scored three times in the eighth to open a 9-3 advantage.

Leonard’s slam effectively floored the Angels, who responded to the home run by managing one baserunner in their next five innings against Langston.

They also struck out 10 times--Howell three by himself--as Langston reached double figures in strikeouts for the 28th time in his career.

“He got tougher as the game went on,” Parrish said. “Even on his bad days, he looks great.”

Witt, meanwhile, continued to flounder. He surrendered two more runs on three hits in the fourth inning and left with one out in the eighth, having yielded a double to Mickey Brantley and a run-scoring single to Dave Valle.

En route to his second loss in three decisions, Witt allowed 11 hits and seven runs (six earned) in 7 1/3 innings, an outing that raised his earned-run average to 5.48.

Asked to explains Witt’s trials and troubles, Rader furrowed a brow.

“He seemed to have decent stuff,” Rader said. “I think it’s the same old story--you let the wrong people get on, you get caught up in the wrong sequencing and you’re asking for trouble. You put yourself in a compromising situation.”

Witt’s third-inning walk to Davis, Rader said, forced him to make the back-breaking compromise to Leonard.

“In that situation, it’s natural to try to be too careful,” Rader said. “You try to make a pitch a little better than adequate, you get a pitch over the plate and they put the ball in play.

“Put the ball in play in this ballpark and things are going to happen.”

Or if you put it out of play, as Leonard did.

Witt, of course, did not struggle alone. Howell had a rough night on the turf, too, going hitless in four at-bats with three strikeouts--lowering his batting average to .118--while committing the third-inning throwing error and not covering third base quickly enough on a fourth-inning stolen base by Griffey.

But on this evening, with silver linings few and far between, Rader singled out Howell’s final at-bat in the ninth inning.

Howell finally made contact, hitting a fly ball to left field against Seattle reliever Mike Schooler.

“He battled like a dog his last time up,” Rader said. “It would’ve been easy for him to throw in the towel right there. But he never quit. If he keeps working at it like that, he’s going to dig his way out of this thing.”

Solace is taken where you can find it, one supposes. And after Leonard did his Sling, the Angels found the pickings very slim.

Angel Notes

Dick Schofield update: Friday’s bone scan showed no rib fracture, but the Angel shortstop will still be sidelined at least a week with what was diagnosed as a first-degree strain of the right pectoral muscle. (Strains are graded from first to third degrees, first being the least severe.) He is scheduled to be re-examined by team physician Dr. Lewis Yocum Tuesday and could miss the Angels’ 10-day trip through Seattle, Chicago and Oakland. For the time being, however, the Angels are not planning to place Schofield on the disabled list, which would make him ineligible for 15 days. “I think we’ve just got to put up with this for a week,” Manager Doug Rader said. “I think we’ve got to gamble here. Maybe he won’t take a full two weeks to get back.”

Without Schofield, Rader will use Glenn Hoffman and rookie Kent Anderson, recalled Thursday from triple-A Edmonton, at shortstop. To make room for Anderson, the Angels reassigned reliever Vance Lovelace to Edmonton, thus ending Rader’s 10-day experiment with an 11-man pitching staff.

Bill Schroeder started at first base for the Angels because Rader wanted to spare Wally Joyner the agony of having to bat against Seattle left-hander Mark Langston. “Cruel and unusual punishment,” Rader quipped. Joyner has a career batting average of .130 against Langston, managing three hits in 23 at-bats.