Yankees Quickly Jump on Abbott, Cruise to Win : Earlier Rainouts Cause Rookie to Draw Hot Team

Jesse Barfield, Tom Brookens and the rest of the New York Yankees had the greatest immediate impact on Jim Abbott’s third major league defeat Friday night, but the seeds for the Angels’ 5-2 loss at Anaheim Stadium were sown by the rainstorm that washed out last Sunday’s game in Toronto.

One postponement led to another, the second being the postponement of Abbott’s next start, which was supposed to have been Wednesday in Detroit against the floundering Tigers but wound up getting delayed until Friday against the recently resurgent Yankees.

Funny what two extra days can do to a guy.

Instead of Pat Sheridan or Ken Williams or whoever Sparky Anderson is leading off these days, Abbott had to deliver his first pitches of the evening to Rickey Henderson. And by the time Abbott had finished pitching to Henderson, the Yankee left fielder had driven the baseball off the base of the wall in left-center for a double. He was soon to score on a sacrifice fly by Don Mattingly.

Another Yankee run followed in the second inning, with Abbott loading the bases and Steve Sax singling off the glove of Angel third baseman Jack Howell.

And finally, in the third inning, it all fell apart for Abbott.

Barfield, who was a Toronto Blue Jay the last time the Angels played in Anaheim, opened the third with a home run, his seventh of the season and his third as a Yankee.

Steve Balboni then singled, and one out later, Brookens sent his third home run of the season over the left-field fence.

Abbott was down, 5-0, and two outs later, he was out of the game, his record on its way to 2-3.

“He really seemed uptight tonight,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “In all honesty, he didn’t have his very best stuff. That 2-0 pitch to Barfield was kind of a goose ball, and he hit it out.”

A goose ball, apparently, is any pitch that makes a pitcher want to duck. In this case, Abbott reported it was a fastball, delivered too high and too straight.

“I fell behind in the count and threw him a high fastball over the plate,” Abbott said. “That’s his pitch. You can’t do that.”

This was the second time in less than a month that Abbott had been victimized by bad weather. In late April, he had a start rained out in Chicago, which forced him to delay his first big league victory until April 24 against Baltimore--coming on nine days’ rest.

Friday, Abbott attempted to beat the Yankees while pitching on six days’ rest. The result was his shortest, and most ragged, outing as an Angel.

In three innings, Abbott made 78 pitches, yielding six hits and three walks. All told, he put nine Yankees on base--and five of them scored.

Henderson got things rolling early with his first-inning double. He advanced to third base on an infield out by Sax and came home on Mattingly’s sacrifice fly to left.

In the second inning, catcher Don Slaught drew a leadoff walk from Abbott, followed, one out later, by a single to center by Alvaro Espinoza.

Abbott came back to strike out Roberto Kelly for the second out but walked Henderson to load the bases. Sax then hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line, which Howell failed to grab in a diving attempt.

Slaught scored on the play, giving New York a 2-0 lead that would become 5-0, just as soon as Barfield and Brookens got in their third-inning swings.

“He wasn’t as free and easy and relaxed as he has been,” Rader said. “But that’s part of learning. You can’t have it every night.”

New York starter Richard Dotson turned that 5-0 lead into his first victory of 1989, lasting seven innings before giving way to relief pitcher Lee Guetterman. Dotson (1-0) allowed two runs on six hits to set up Guetterman for his fifth save.

The Angels managed but two hits in five innings against Dotson, who was making his second start of the season after two relief appearances.

The only runs they could muster came in the sixth, following a leadoff single by Dick Schofield. Brian Downing singled Schofield to second, and when Wally Joyner forced Downing, Schofield advanced to third.

Schofield and Joyner eventually scored on a single to center by Devon White, giving White 21 RBIs for the season.

Dotson completed the seventh inning before New York Manager Dallas Green called on Guetterman, who worked the eighth and ninth innings for the save. In 16 appearance and 23 innings, Guetterman has yet to allow an earned run.

Dan Petry and Willie Fraser mopped up for the Angels. Petry pitched four innings, surrendering only a fourth-inning walk to Sax. Fraser worked the last two innings, walking two and hitting a batter.

“They really shut them down,” Rader said, referring to his long-relief men. “That was outstanding to see.”

But it wasn’t enough to offset the sight of those first three ugly innings.

Angel Notes

Claudell Washington rejoined the Angels Friday after spending 10 days in Northern California to be with his daughter, Camille, who had to be hospitalized after a home accident. “She’s recovering, out of the hospital and now in physical therapy,” Angel Manager Doug Rader reported. Washington was held out of the lineup Friday and, according to Rader, probably won’t play until Sunday. “You can’t dump him in there right away,” Rader said. “It’s gonna take him a little bit. He took a lot of extra hitting today and he’ll do the same thing (this) morning. Hopefully, he’ll be ready by Sunday.” Rader lamented the fact that the layoff will may dull the swing of “probably our best hitter at the time, but personal business comes first. No question about that. I’m just glad everything’s turning out good.”

Third baseman Jack Howell had to be removed from Friday’s game after a sharp grounder off the bat of Steve Sax struck him in the left wrist. Initially, the injury was diagnosed as a contusion of the left hand but X-rays were done in the Angel clubhouse, which proved inconclusive. Howell is scheduled to have the hand examined today by specialist Dr. Norman Zemel at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood.

AN EXPERIENCED ASSISTANT Mike Port hires Dan O’Brien to be senior vice president in charge of baseball operations for the Angels. Mike Penner’s story, Page 10.