HALO HEAVEN : Now That Angels Aren’t a Joke, They Are Learning to Laugh

If this were last year, you’d probably be reading this on Page 9, back with the hair-transplant ads and the Morro Bay fish counts, because by June 1988, the Angels were no longer newsworthy. They were history.

Fifty games into their 1988 schedule, the Angels were 19-31, buried in last place, already 16 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics. Those were the days of whines and Rojas, of Junior Noboa and Chico Walker, of 12-4 blowouts, panic in the outfield and seeming disarray in the front office.

Funny what 12 months, a change of managers, a change of catchers, two trades, a $2.6-million free-agent signing, a reshuffled outfield and some miraculous starting pitching can do to a team.

Fifty games into their 1989 schedule, the Angels have the best record in baseball: 33-17. No Angel team has ever had a better 50-game start. The only one that comes close, the Don Baylor-Rod Carew-Nolan Ryan Angels of 1979, didn’t log victory No. 33 until June 5.

These Angels have won 23 of their last 30 games, a .767 winning pace. These Angels have already thrown 11 shutouts, two more than all of last season. These Angels have limited the opposition to two or fewer runs 24 times.

So, what’s right with these Angels?

Some play is being given the Angels’ schedule, because most of it, so far, has featured teams from the American League East. Clearly, this division is no longer the old gray nightmare it used to be, what with Milwaukee and New York ravaged by injury, Boston suffering the post-Bruce Hurst pitching blues, Toronto breaking in a new manager and Detroit playing without its manager.

Catching the depressed AL East at precisely the right time, the Angels are 24-8 against teams from that division.

Against the West, the Angels are a mere 9-9--including a 2-5 fling with Oakland. And they have yet to face Minnesota, Texas and Kansas City, which opens a three-game series in Anaheim tonight.

The fresh-start theory must also be examined. When the Angels gave one to Manager Doug Rader, they, in essence, gave the same to themselves. Whether it was the fault of Cookie Rojas or not, Cookie Ball will always be remembered as the failed experiment with the rookie manager, culminating in the confusion and malaise that resulted in 12 consecutive season-ending defeats.

Symbolically, at least, the hiring of Rader wiped the Angels’ slate clean.

In addition, the franchise cut several other ties to its past, bringing in two new catchers, Lance Parrish and Bill Schroeder; two new starting pitchers, Bert Blyleven and Jim Abbott; two new outfielders, Claudell Washington and Dante Bichette, and a new left-handed relief pitcher, Bob McClure.

Each of those changes has helped improve the Angels. But, really, when this group congregated at training camp in Mesa, Ariz., in late February, who would have predicted that by June 1, the following developments would be reality?

The Angels lead the American League in team ERA.

Listen. The shelling has stopped. The 4.52 earned-run average the ’88 Angels possessed after 50 games has nearly been halved, with the ’89 Angels checking in at 2.69.

Now check out the individual ERA leaders in the American League. Three of the top five wear halos on their caps--No. 1 Kirk McCaskill at 1.49, No. 2 Chuck Finley at 1.83, and No. 5 Blyleven at 2.36. And in the bullpen, McClure at 0.75 and Greg Minton at 1.14 are both pitching at Twilight Zone paces.

How this has happened has made for lively discussion.

Early on, there was the pitch-inside argument, which credited Parrish and Schroeder for altering age-old Angel pitching strategy by calling a more aggressive game, thereby indicting the pitch-calling of age-old ex-Angel catcher Bob Boone.

Since Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News gave this argument a national forum, soon followed by rebuttals by Boone, the subject has become rather sticky with the Angels. Already, Rader and McCaskill have had phone conversations with Boone to smooth matters over.

Still, the verbal volleying of early May should lend an extra edge to this weekend’s Boone reunion at Anaheim Stadium.

More conventional, and considerably less controversial, is the us-against-the-world argument, which has served to inspire Angel pitchers by pitting them against their detractors, of which there were many before the season.

“I think they looked at it as a challenge,” Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said. “When we didn’t sign (Bruce) Hurst or (Nolan) Ryan during the winter, there was an outside perception of ‘It’s all over.’ I think our pitchers looked at this as their chance to prove something.

“And, not to take anything away from Hurst or Ryan, because they’re both outstanding pitchers, but I don’t see how they could be doing any better than the guys with us now.”

In actuality, the Angels’ pitching revival has happened for some simple reasons. McCaskill is uninjured again. Blyleven is out of the Metrodome. Finley has matured. And Abbott has finally lent stability to the No. 5 starting slot.

Now, if only Mike Witt can come around.

Wally Joyner is off to a worse start than he had in 1988--and no one has noticed.

Popular thought holds that the Angels staggered at the gate in 1988, never to be heard from again, because their cleanup hitter, Joyner, got off to a slow start.

Now ponder these numbers:

After the first two months of 1988, Joyner was batting .280 with two home runs and 19 RBIs.

After the first two months of 1989, Joyner is batting .249 with one home run and 18 RBIs.

Obviously, what these last two months have proven is that the Angels should not, and do not, live by Wally alone.

Slack has been picked up by:

--Johnny Ray, who, happy again as the second base starter, drove in 22 runs during May after returning from the disabled list.

--Devon White, who has the numbers--.296, seven home runs, 30 RBIs, 20 stolen bases--of which MVP seasons are made.

--Claudell Washington, the free-agent addition who has given the Angels consistency at .311 and punch, six home runs, at the top of the lineup.

--Chili Davis, still at his best with a bat in his hands, still driving in the clutch runs--25 RBIs overall.

“You’re not going to hold this lineup down,” Finley said.

It has become a more effective lineup, now that Joyner is no longer required to hold it up.

The entire Angel outfield, which still includes Davis, has committed but two errors.

In April and May of 1988, there was nothing routine about a fly ball to the Angel outfield. Ray spent 40 ill-advised games in left field and made five errors. White was sidelined after knee surgery and his replacement in center field, Chico Walker, was hardly the man. Finally, in right field, there was Chili, with nine errors to his name by June 1, destined for a club-record 19 by season’s end.

If you were an Angel pitcher, would you be demoralized?

Credit the signing of Washington with another assist here. Washington is no challenge to White’s Gold Glove collection--he’ll still misjudge a ball now and then--but his presence alone has effectively improved a pair of outfield positions.

Washington has solidified the right-field position--zero errors in 36 games--while enabling Davis to move to left, where he has significantly narrowed his margin for error--two in 44 games.

Two full months from White has helped, too. In short, White has been his usual scintillating self in center.

“Every day, he does something that either amazes you or astounds you,” Rader says.

Catcher has become the power position in the lineup.

Another change in the post-Boone era: Home runs from the men behind the plate.

In seven years as the Angels’ starting catcher, Boone did not hit more than nine home runs in a single season.

In their first two months as Boone’s successors, Parrish and Schroeder have already combined for 12.

Parrish, regaining his confidence after slipping into his own personal Bermuda Triangle in Philadelphia, is batting .273 with seven home runs, including five in his last nine games.

Schroeder, whose home-run ratio in Milwaukee, one every 21 at-bats, ranked near the top among active catchers, has homered five times in his first 46 at-bats as an Angel.

Such a presence cannot be overstated, according to White, particularly in the case of Parrish, a cleanup hitter who often bats seventh for the Angels.

“Lance Parrish is a big man in the lineup,” White said. “If something happened to anyone up in the order, he’d be the perfect fill-in man.”

For the time being, he has done much to fill out the Angel offense.

Doug Rader has fostered peace and prosperity in our time.

Rader continues to puff away on his cancer sticks, but he’s still doing his damnedest to kick that other habit of his--his past.

Privately, Rader acknowledges his belief that people are still waiting for that first explosion of temper, that first misstep; so publicly, Rader treads very carefully. He won’t criticize another player or manager or umpire and will sidestep any question pointed in that direction. His new mantra seems to be, No controversy . No controversy . . .

If that has sometimes made for bland copy, it has also made for a steadier course. Said one Angel official: “Doug tempered the (Mark) McLemore-Ray situation about as well as anyone could. He saw to it that Abbott wasn’t built up too much in the spring. And he’s defused a lot of potential controversies, like whether or not Bichette should make the team.”

With help from such veterans as Blyleven, the inveterate prankster, Rader has also accomplished the near impossible--defrosting the Angels’ clubhouse. Where before the sounds of surliness dominated the atmosphere, practical jokes are now played along with loud rock music and players actually seem to be enjoying themselves.

Angel baseball has become a laughing matter.

“Everyone says we have a much looser clubhouse,” White said. “The people in here are like a family now. I only played here two years so I don’t know what went on before, but it seems like everybody’s much closer.”

And the reason for that?

“The manager is pretty loose,” White said. “He lets you pretty much go out there and do who you’ve got to do. So far, everything’s falling just right.”

White laughed.

“Of course, I haven’t seen his bad side yet,” he said. “I’m not jumping the gun, saying he’s a great manager or anything. Things have been going right since spring training. Nothing bad has happened yet.”

The same approach could be applied to the state of the Angels: Things have been going right since spring training. Let us wait. The first slump has yet to come.

When it does, how the Angels respond and recover will tell a lot about their chances of continuing to push the A’s for the division title. But until then, the Angels have to be satisfied with whatever small steps of progress they have managed to take.

At last, they’re front-page news again.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES

A.L. West Standings on Morning of June 1

1989 W L Pct. GB Angels 33 17 .660 -- Oakland 34 18 .654 -- Kansas City 30 21 .588 3 1/2 Texas 27 22 .551 5 1/2 Seattle 25 28 .472 9 1/2 Minnesota 23 27 .460 10 Chicago 18 33 .353 15 1/2 1988 W L Pct. GB Oakland 35 15 .700 -- Minnesota 25 23 .521 9 Texas 25 24 .510 9 1/2 Kansas City 23 27 .460 12 Chicago 21 27 .438 13 Seattle 22 29 .431 13 1/2 Angels 19 32 .373 16 1/2

BATTING STATISTICS OF MORNING OF JUNE 1

AB R H HR RBI Pct. First Base 1989 Joyner 169 20 42 1 18 .249 1988 Joyner 193 25 54 2 19 .280 Second Base 1989 Ray 143 18 43 1 26 .301 1988 Ray 187 26 57 2 29 .305 Shortstop 1989 Schofield 73 13 20 0 6 .274 1988 Schofield 168 20 39 2 12 .232 Third Base 1989 Howell 139 15 28 3 11 .201 1988 Howell 168 15 46 3 24 .274 Left Field 1989 Davis 170 24 44 6 25 .259 1988 Hendrick 45 3 9 1 9 .200 Center Field 1989 White 203 31 60 7 30 .296 1988 White 98 19 24 2 11 .245 Right Field 1989 Washington 132 18 41 6 21 .311 1988 Davis 197 25 52 6 28 .264 Catcher 1989 Parrish 150 23 41 7 23 .273 1988 Boone 110 9 22 0 7 .200 Designated Hitter 1989 Downing 183 25 52 4 16 .284 1988 Downing 129 23 35 8 18 .271 Reserves 1989 277 39 69 10 30 .249 1988 403 51 91 4 31 .226

PITCHING STATISTICS ON MORNING OF JUNE 1

IP H CG BB SO W-L ERA McClure 1989 12 7 0 1 6 2-0 0.75 1988 Not with team Minton 1989 31 2/3 25 0 14 16 1-0 1.14 1988 9 2/3 15 0 7 3 0-1 5.61 McCaskill 1989 72 2/3 58 2 20 33 6-1 1.49 1988 63 2/3 71 1 26 36 2-4 3.96 Finley 1989 69 62 4 25 43 7-2 1.83 1988 64 1/3 59 1 25 36 3-6 3.92 Blyleven 1989 72 1/3 70 3 13 34 5-2 2.36 1988 Not with team Abbott 1989 55 1/3 54 1 23 35 5-3 3.42 1988 Not with team Harvey 1989 16 13 0 11 19 1-1 3.93 1988 25 1/3 11 0 6 24 2-1 0.36 Petry 1989 17 2/3 15 0 9 6 1-0 4.08 1988 68 1/3 77 1 30 24 2-4 5.01 Fraser 1989 22 16 0 8 10 1-3 4.09 1988 50 56 0 31 20 4-4 6.12 Witt 1989 77 1/3 91 3 16 33 3-5 4.42 1988 76 1/3 75 3 34 50 2-6 4.83 Pitchers Not With Team This Year Corbett 3 1/3 0 0 2 2 0-0 0.00 Cliburn 21 2/3 24 0 12 9 1-0 3.73 Buice 30 2/3 29 0 11 29 1-3 4.70 Moore 10 1/3 21 0 5 6 2-2 6.96