Another Heavenly Victory--Angels Shut Out Yankees

The Angels’ wonder year continues to press onward, defying expectation, explanation and the laws of gravity that were supposed to consign them to the depths of the American League West.

Strange things are happening in Anaheim, again and again, and Sunday afternoon’s 5-0 victory over the New York Yankees provided one more sensory overload at Anaheim Stadium.

Another Angel shutout was thrown, the club’s eighth in 36 games, which is one short of the staff’s total after 162 games in 1988.

Chuck Finley became a five-game winner, tying him with Roger Clemens.

Greg Minton earned his fourth save in six weeks, after blowing 10 of 17 save opportunities in 1988.

Chili Davis made two outstanding defensive plays in the outfield.

And the Angels, 13-2 in their last 15 games, climbed 10 games above .500 at 23-13. That’s the second-best record in the major leagues. The only thing keeping the Angels out of first place is the fact that the best record (24-12) belongs to AL West rival Oakland.

“It’s a hard thing to describe,” said Finley, who has ridden the wave to a 5-2 start, the winningest record on the Angel staff. “The defense has been so good, the hitting’s been timely, the pitching staff’s come together.

“All I know, the guys are having a lot of fun.”

That’s apparent.

When’s the last time, in a single game, Angel outfielders made a leaping catch against the wall, a running catch on a dying flare or a full-sprint, flat-out diving catch in the gap--and Devon White was not involved?

Last year, Angel outfield defense more closely resembled Yankee center fielder Bob Brower’s guerrilla maneuvers in the fourth inning Sunday--errors on back-to-back plays, paving the way for a four-run inning.

But Sunday, there was Davis, owner of a club-record 19 outfield errors in 1988, racing back to the fence to rob Tom Brookens in the second inning before racing in to take away a bloop single from Don Slaught in the eighth.

Over in right field, Claudell Washington, back in the lineup for the first time since April 29, was denying Steve Sax of extra bases with a spectacular, parallel-to-the-ground diving catch to open the sixth inning.

So impressive was Washington’s play that Angel third baseman Jack Howell, caught up in the emotion, plunged into the home dugout on the next play to snare a pop foul off the bat of Don Mattingly.

“Back-to-back great plays,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said, admiringly. “Sometimes good fielding, like good hitting, can be contagious.”

Finley was the benefactor, leaning on those plays to survive his own unsteadiness (seven hits and two walks) to complete six scoreless innings.

“Those guys were running through walls and jumping into dugouts,” Finley said. “As long as I keep the ball in the park, guys are going to run it down.

“It’s a lot easier to pitch when you have guys willing to run into walls for you. They didn’t give up on nothing.”

Davis, who also delivered his fifth home run of the season against Yankee starter Andy Hawkins (3-5), was in rare form after the game--spending most of his locker-side chat discussing fielding exploits.

Imagine that.

“People seem astonished whenever I catch a routine fly ball,” Davis said, breaking into a grin. “That’s OK. I know I played bad defense last year. But last year was a fluke. I’m sure I’m going to make another error some time, but I know I’m a better defensive player than people thought last year.”

Davis has unquestionably become a better defensive player since moving from right field to left. As a right fielder in 1988, Davis had 14 errors by early June. As a left fielder in 1989, Davis has but one error in 33 games.

Rader believes the move has made a difference.

“Any time you can remove yourself from an unpleasant memory, it can’t do anything but help,” Rader said. “From a physics standpoint, there’s not much difference between catching a ball in right field and catching a ball in left.

“But I think (the switch) took an awful lot of pressure off him. Since then, the application has been there, Chili works on it daily and he’s been aggressive all the time out there.”

On this day, tentativeness belonged to the Yankees. The Angels scored all the runs they needed in the fourth inning, a four-run outburst hinged around errors on successive plays by Brower.

One run was already in when Angel shortstop Kent Anderson hit a single to center, prompting Howell to attempt to score from second base. There would be no play at the plate, however, because Brower misplayed the ball, enabling Howell to score and Bill Schroeder to advance from first base to third.

The next Angel batter, Washington, also hit a single to center. Brower bobbled the ball again, sending both Schroeder and Anderson, all the way from first base, homeward-bound.

“Brower looked like he has not played for a while,” Yankee Manager Dallas Green dryly assessed.

This much is true. Brower hadn’t appeared in a game since May 5.

But what about the rest of the Yankees?

“They were not here today,” Green suggested. “Some were at Disneyland.”

The Angels, meanwhile, continue to cavort in Fantasyland. It may only be May, but the Angels are enjoying the ride, hoping that the coupons hold out for the rest of the summer.

Angel Notes

Immediately after Sunday’s game, the Angels announced they were activating outfielder Tony Armas from the disabled list and returning pitcher Rich Monteleone to their triple-A affiliate in Edmonton. Armas has been sidelined since April 10 with a second-degree left hamstring pull. Monteleone, recalled from Edmonton on May 1, made two appearances for the Angels, winning one game in Baltimore with two innings of scoreless relief. In his last outing, in Toronto on May 6, Monteleone pitched to two batters and allowed a hit and a walk to prolong a four-run inning for the Blue Jays.

Dick Schofield, recently returned from the disabled list himself, was out of the lineup again, this time with a groin injury he sustained while sliding into second base on Saturday. “He probably could’ve played today,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “Right before batting practice, I said, ‘Schoey, what’s the best thing? Remember, we’re still in May.” We decided it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to push it. We’re looking at it as the proverbial day-to-day thing.” . . . Devon White’s seventh-inning triple was his sixth three-base hit of the season, best in the major leagues. Before 1989, White had totaled eight triples in 331 games as a big leaguer. . . . Chili Davis’s fifth-inning home run was his ninth career hit against Andy Hawkins. Four of them have been home runs.

Angel owner Gene Autry was admitted to the Estelle Doheny Eye Clinic Hospital in Los Angels Sunday evening, where he is scheduled to undergo laser surgery today to place a new cornea in his right eye. Autry had cornea transplant surgery on his right eye in March of 1985, but the eye rejected the cornea after 14 months and Autry has since been left with 2,400 vision, which is considered legally blind. Autry is expected to be hospitalized for three days.