At Witt’s End, Angels Beaten by Brewers, 4-1

June is supposed to be Mike Witt’s month, so at least the calendar is finally on his side. April and May wanted nothing to do with Witt, the Angels’ erstwhile ace, who has spent most of the great California pitching revival of 1989 with his nose pressed against the glass.

Witt lost again Wednesday, falling to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-1, before a County Stadium crowd of 14,129. He gave up a three-run homer to Greg Brock on Brock’s first day off the disabled list, walked five and yielded three doubles, including two in as many at-bats to Paul Molitor.

Witt’s record is 3-5, the only losing mark in the Angel rotation. His earned-run average is 4.42, highest on the Angel staff. The Angels are streaking--winning 23 of their last 30 games--but Witt has been left behind, managing a 1-3 record during that span.

He isn’t taking it well.

Trying to put it in layman’s terms for those laymen around him carrying note pads, Witt said, “Suppose you write 10 bad articles and then you write another. Obviously, you’re not doing your job. But if you write one bad article out of 10, you can just call it a bad night.

“If you’re a pitcher and you’ve had six bad outings and only four good ones, that’s kind of . . . You’re not doing your job.”

Witt pitched eight innings Wednesday after getting blown out of his previous start with two out in the third. Someone asked if he considered this progress.

“I’m looking for results, I’m not looking for progress,” he snapped. “I don’t get paid to make progress. I get paid to get people out.”

Witt, losing pitcher in both Angel defeats during their just-completed 5-2 swing through New York, Boston and Milwaukee, allowed the Brewers eight hits in eight innings. Not great, not awful, but just enough to keep Witt’s wheels spinning in the mud.

On this day, Witt had to pitch in the mud, as rain fell steadily from the game’s first pitch until its last. Witt surrendered three hits in the first two innings, but didn’t get bogged down until the third, when he walked Robin Yount and yielded a single to Gary Sheffield before facing Brock.

Brock, sidelined since April 2 with a shoulder injury that required arthroscopic surgery, returned to the Brewers’ active roster only hours before the game. His third-inning at-bat against Witt was only his second of the season.

When it was finished, Brock’s batting average read .500 and Milwaukee led, 3-0.

Brock hit that new addition to Witt’s repertoire, the forkball, 400 feet, nearly to straight-away center field. When the ball landed beyond the outfield wall, Brewer starter Don August had all the offense he required to improve his record to 4-6.

“I gave up a three-run home run and that was basically the game,” Witt said. “Brock hit a pretty good pitch and that was it.”

Bill Schroeder, the Angel catcher who called the pitch, corroborated Witt’s assessment.

“If I had to do it over again, I’d go with the same pitch,” Schroeder said. “It wasn’t that bad a pitch. It wasn’t, by any means, a hanger.”

Yet, it effectively hung up Witt again. With Wally Joyner’s run-scoring ground ball in the fourth inning the extent of the Angel attack, Witt could do nothing but keep pitching and ride out the rest of the game.

“As the game progressed, I thought he threw much better,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “The three-run home run got him rolling. It’s a shame he had to give it up, but I thought he pitched well after that.”

Not well enough for Witt.

The best thing he could say about Wednesday is that tomorrow’s another day--and that means the beginning of June. Historically, June has been to Witt what October was to Reggie Jackson--his peak period. During this month, Witt has won 21 games, lost nine and fashioned a 2.93 ERA.

So, at least he’s got that going for him, right?

“I’m just looking for a good outing,” Witt said. “I don’t care what time of year it is.”

And what is Witt’s definition of a good outing?

“You know what I mean,” Witt said. “A good outing, to me, is a win, a complete game, giving up about two runs.”

Preferably, in that order.

There haven’t been many of those for Witt in April and May. Remember the days when Witt was the pitcher who stopped losing streaks, not winning ones, the Angel starter who picked up the rest of the staff time after time? This year, the roles have been dramatically reversed, with Kirk McCaskill, Chuck Finley & Co. doing the bailing for Witt.

“I don’t think I’ve picked up anyone this year,” Witt said. “That’s like 10 years ago. This is this year. And this is the best team I’ve ever played on.”

That, Witt claims, has made the waiting all the tougher. Anyone can hitch a ride. Witt would at least like to be a part of the car-pool.

Angel Notes

In truth, Mike Witt allowed the Brewers nine hits, but because of a misjudged fly ball by third-base umpire Ken Kaiser, the box score will forever read eight. In the seventh inning, Kaiser ruled a line drive to left field by Milwaukee’s Terry Francona an out when, in fact, the ball one-hopped the turf into the glove of Angel left fielder Dante Bichette. With two out and a runner on second base, Bichette came up throwing--only to find Kaiser with his fist in the air to signal the third out. “That was a miraculous catch,” Brewer Manager Tom Trebelhorn deadpanned later. “That catch right there, I’ll tell you what--if you want to call one-hoppers to shortstop line-drive outs, that’ll be fine with us.” Bichette admitted he caught the ball on the bounce, but added, “It was a tough call for the umpire. It was raining and it was really close. Nobody’s perfect.” Bichette’s reaction when he spotted Kaiser’s out sign? “I just headed for the dugout,” he said. “I wasn’t going to hang around out there and show the umpire up.”

The Angels scored in the fourth inning after Johnny Ray’s single and a deep fly ball by Devon White that kicked off the glove of Milwaukee center fielder Robin Yount for an error. Ray wound up on third base on the play and came home on a grounder to second base by Wally Joyner. The Angels’ only other scoring threat came in the seventh inning, when they loaded the bases against Don August and relief pitcher Jay Aldrich. But with two out, Brian Downing grounded into a force play to end the inning.

Bichette started in left field in place of Chili Davis, who has been bothered by a sore hand. Bichette responded with two singles in four at-bats, snapping out of a 1-for-16 spell.

The Angels concluded their Eastern swing with five wins, two losses and two rain-outs. The 5-2 mark was the team’s best on a trip through the American League East since May 18-25, 1982, when the Angels also went 5-2 against Milwaukee, Detroit and Boston.