Angels Cry Foul After Orioles Win, 11-9 : Bullpen Lets One Get Away on Devereaux’s Disputed Home Run in Ninth

Doug Rader’s postgame address unfolded about the same way as the game he had just witnessed--starting slowly, gradually gaining steam and then, finally, exploding.

“Any loss is tough, but it’s especially tough to lose them that way,” Rader began, moments after his Angels were defeated in the bottom of the ninth inning, 11-9, by the Baltimore Orioles Saturday night on a controversial home run by Mike Devereaux.

“We lost a ballgame because we couldn’t throw the ball over the plate and because a foul ball was called fair. I’m not saying that from a biased standpoint. Facts are facts. The ball was foul. We lose.”

Rader stared at the ground, mentally replaying Devereaux’s drive down the left-field line and third-base umpire Jim Joyce’s home-run signal. Rader’s eyes narrowed into slits of red as he tried to fight back the words.

He failed.

“I’m trying to weigh my words very, very carefully,” Rader said, “because the tempting thing would be to say that all you have to do is pop off in the press regarding the ineptitude or inadequacy of an umpiring crew and it seems to get results.

“But being the diplomatic kind of person I am, I refuse to do that. But it sure seems to make some difference for some people . . . and I think that stinks.”

Rader’s reference was as obvious as three of the names on Saturday’s roster of umpires--Jim McKean, Ken Kaiser and Larry Young. Those names comprise three-fourths of the crew that last week riled Baltimore Manager Frank Robinson to the point of threatening to retire.

That threat ultimately went unheeded, but only after American League President Bobby Brown held an air-clearing meeting with Robinson.

This series at Memorial Stadium reunited Robinson with McKean, Kaiser and Young, plus Joyce, who was filling in for regular member John Shulock, who is on vacation.

And by Rader’s implication, that reunion involved a gun-shy umpiring crew.

“The reason this game took so long was because the strike zone was the size of this,” Rader said, tossing a matchbook on his desk. “And all of a sudden, the foul pole is extended 10 feet south.

“To lose a game like that is a shame.”

The Angels lost this one after rolling up a season-high 19 hits--including four by utility outfielder Max Venable--and taking a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning with bullpen closer Bryan Harvey on the mound.

As has been the norm with Harvey in recent weeks, he was wild. With one out in the ninth, he walked Mickey Tettleton and Randy Milligan, threw two wild pitches and surrendered a two-run single to pinch-hitter Larry Sheets.

Tie game, 9-9.

Out went Harvey and in came Bob McClure, Rader’s third relief pitch of the night. Up stepped Devereaux, the former Dodger outfielder who began this series mired in a 1-for-23 slump.

McClure worked the count to 1 and 1, then made a third offering that Devereaux drove down the left-field line. The ball hooked toward the foul pole and landed in the seats.

Joyce called the ball fair, waving Devereaux around the bases on a game-winning home-run trot that ended in a joyous Oriole celebration at the plate.

Ninety feet up the third-base line, however, livid Angels were converging on Joyce. Third baseman Jack Howell and Rader began the protest, which was heatedly picked up along the first-base line by Marcel Lachemann, the normally mild-mannered pitching coach who, in this instance, had to be restrained from Joyce.

“That was the best barometer of all,” Rader said. “Marcel Lachemann is the consummate gentleman. To see him in that condition should indicate clearly how inadequate some people are.”

Television replays appeared to support the Angels’ contention, showing Devereaux’s ball slicing right to left in front of the foul pole.

Crew chief McKean, speaking on behalf of Joyce, said: “I saw two replays of it and they were inconclusive. I couldn’t tell from where I was. It was that close. But Jim Joyce called it a home run.”

And about Rader’s remarks regarding the fallout from last week’s dispute between Robinson and McKean’s crew?

“I have no comment to that,” McKean said.

A plate umpire has the authority to override a questionable home-run call, but Rader said that, given Saturday’s circumstances, such an idea had no chance.

“No way on earth,” he said. “One team was already off the field. There were 47,000 (Oriole) fans in the stands. And all the ruckus we were making?

“There’s no way in the world that play would get overturned, even if it meant getting it right. And that’s a shame.”

Rader said he hadn’t seen a replay but also said he didn’t need one.

“It’s so obvious,” he said. “That’s the part that’s so disturbing. It was so obvious. That’s the most frustrating thing about it all.”

Even more so when your team wastes 19 hits--including home runs by Dick Schofield and Lance Parrish--and leads of 1-0, 3-1, 7-3, 8-6 and 9-7.

“That’s the real shame about a game like that,” Rader repeated. “So many wonderful things by our players get overshadowed by it.

“Max Venable gets four hits. Who’s going to remember that tomorrow? Dick Schofield does some good things with the bat and on the basepaths. Who’s going to remember that tomorrow? The heroics by a lot of our people are going to be completely forgotten.”

One swing of the bat and one circle of an umpire’s right arm were all it took to rub them out.

Angel Notes

The Angels sent slumping pitcher Kirk McCaskill (2-5, 6.69 earned-run average in his last seven starts) back to Los Angeles for a medical examination. Dr. Lewis Yocum diagnosed the problem as an irritation in the joint of McCaskill’s right elbow. McCaskill received an injection and was placed on a different dosage of the anti-inflammatory medication he had been taking. “For a long time, it looked like his arm was tired,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “Considering how (little) he’s pitched the last couple of years, that’s to be expected. Some fatigue has set in there, and we wanted Dr. Yocum to look at him and check him out.” Rader said he is considering skipping McCaskill’s next turn in the rotation, scheduled for Thursday in Anaheim against Detroit. “If it’s in Kirk McCaskill’s best interest to take it very conservatively, then we will do so,” Rader said. “We have an off-day Wednesday, so skipping him is no big deal. We can still keep everybody else on schedule.” That would mean starting Chuck Finley in McCaskill’s place, since Finley still would have had four days’ rest.

Mickey Tettleton’s steal of third base in the fourth inning was the first by a Baltimore catcher since Floyd Rayford accomplished it on Sept. 14, 1985. The Orioles definitely pick their spots when they attempt this. The opposing catcher on that date, too, was Lance Parrish, then playing for the Detroit Tigers.

Baltimore’s Phil Bradley saw his 16-game hitting streak come to an end when he went hitless in three at-bats and five plate appearances. Bradley also walked twice, including once with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, forcing home Bob Melvin with Baltimore’s seventh run of the evening. . . . Max Venable’s four-hit game was the first of his career. It came against the team that released him before the 1988 season, which resulted in Venable sitting out the year before signing a minor-league contract with the Angels last winter.