High-Powered Angels Still Rolling : Three Home Runs Fuel 4-0 Victory Over Athletics

The Angels are running as smoothly as Jose Canseco’s Porsche these days and they are showing off some pretty awesome power, too. It may be too early to say the Athletics and Angels are running for pink slips, but this is not a good time to be in any kind of race with the Angels.

The Angels are rolling along on cruise control and enjoying their best season ever. Tuesday night, they won their seventh game in a row, slugging three home runs to bash Oakland’s Bash Brothers, 4-0, before another sellout crowd of 43,529 at the Oakland Coliseum.

It was the Angels’ 60th victory of the season in 98 outings, marking the first time in their history that they have won that many in less than 104 games. And they lead the majors with 93 home runs after Jack Howell, Chili Davis and Dick Schofield went deep against Oakland starter Dave Stewart.

“Yes, it’s very important for us to hit home runs,” Manager Doug Rader said. “Unless you’re blessed with a lot of team speed, the more home runs you get, the easier it is.”

And for the Angels lately, it does come easy. The combination of pitching--they have 13 shutouts--and power has made for a potent mix.

The victory gives the Angels a two-game lead over the A’s in the American League West, but don’t expect Rader to bubble over with enthusiasm over his team’s recent success.

“We didn’t come here with the intention of (moving ahead of Oakland),” he said. “We’re just trying to gain against .500. Leads are not very important in July.”

Even if this series isn’t as important as the media crush in Oakland this week would seem to indicate, Tuesday night’s game was certainly a showcase of two of the league’s best pitchers.

Stewart, the winningest pitcher in the league with 14 victories, went the distance and lost for only the sixth time this year. Angel All-Star Chuck Finley, who combined with reliever Greg Minton to record the first Angel shutout here since 1982, lasted 7 2/3 and improved his record to 12-6.

“Chuck’s got a good feel for what he’s doing,” Rader said. “Actually, he’s very much like Dave Stewart in that the forkball has made the difference in his career.”

Finley, who was 9-15 last season, has made a major turnaround thanks to that nasty little split-fingered pitch. Last year, he had 111 strikeouts and only two complete games. He already has 117 strikeouts and a league-leading 10 complete games this season.

He might have had No. 11 Tuesday night, but he gave up a single and two walks in the eighth and had to give way to Minton.

“I was just mixing the ball around the plate,” Finley said.

He wasn’t close enough to the plate in the eighth, however. Carney Lansford drew a one-out walk and Dave Henderson followed with a single to left. Mark McGwire then hit a sharp grounder at Howell, who stepped on third for out No. 2.

That brought on Canseco and a roar from the crowd in the Coliseum. Finley had a strike on the Oakland slugger when he fired a high inside fastball that spun Canseco off the plate. Canseco glared at Finley and said, “Don’t do it; don’t do it.”

Finley didn’t seem too intimidated. “I don’t know what he said and I don’t care,” Finley said. “It’s a free country. He can say whatever he wants.”

Finley and catcher Lance Parrish thought they had the last laugh--but home plate umpire Rick Reed called a 3-2 pitch a ball and the bases were loaded. Rader decided it was time for a change--after all, Finley had thrown 134 pitches--and he brought in Minton, who got Terry Steinbach on a force out at second. Minton pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his sixth save of the year.

The pitchers had once again done their job. The A’s again had one extra-base hit in the game and never had more than one hit in an inning. The Angels, however, had their offense in overdrive from the start.

Howell, who had snapped a one-for-26 drought with a home run in his final at-bat Monday night, slammed a two-run shot in his first trip to the plate Tuesday night. Howell got all of a 2-1 delivery from Stewart in the second inning, sending the ball deep into the bleachers in right.

Howell, who hit 16 homers last year, leads the club with 14.

Davis, who also homered Monday night, kept pace with Howell, hitting his 13th in the fourth to give the Angels a 3-0 lead. The slicing line drive to left-center was nearly identical to the homer he hit in the seventh inning Monday night.

Then it was Dick Schofield, who has been on a power surge of late, hitting all four of his home runs this season in the last 13 games. His ninth-inning shot put a fitting cap on the Angels’ evening.

“Two games don’t establish a trend,” Rader said, “but I’m very happy with way our people have played. Still, you can’t put a disproportionate emphasis on that right now.”

Sounds good, but the A’s might be feeling just a bit shellshocked, anyway.

Angel Notes

Rickey Henderson is obviously pleased about his return home to Oakland and it’s showing in his batting average. The center fielder’s first-inning single Tuesday night raised his batting average in Oakland Coliseum to .431 since coming from the Yankees on June 20. He has also hit safely in 23 of 28 games since returning to the Athletics. “I love playing here again,” he said. “This is where I started out as a young player. The fans have been fantastic, too. And my mother was in the stands last night. She called me up to tell me what I was doing wrong.” He has 11 hits in his last 29 at-bats with eight runs scored and five RBIs.

Henderson has 15 steals in 18 attempts with Oakland. “I’ve got the green light, but I still pick my spots depending on the situation,” he said. “Sometimes, if you steal the base, you’ll take the bat out of somebody’s hands because they’ll just walk him. And we’ve got some guys who you want to get their swings.”

Henderson didn’t attempt to steal in the first inning Tuesday night and Carney Lansford hit into a double play, the fifth Oakland has hit into in the last two games. It was the 109th double play the A’s have hit into this season. . . . At that pace, they’ll end up with 177. The major league record is 171. “At least we’ve gone from where we were going to break it by a big, big margin to where we’re going to barely break it,” Manager Tony La Russa said. “I guess the probable cause is that the manager has been sitting on his hands too much. The options are to sacrifice, hit-and-run or steal. But take the first three double plays we hit into (Monday) night. (Dave) Parker, (Mark) McGwire and (Jose) Canseco were up. I don’t think I’m going to have those guys sacrifice.”

Pitcher Kirk McCaskill said he felt no soreness in his right elbow after Monday night’s five-inning, 85-pitch outing. McCaskill missed one start because of a “tired arm” after experiencing pain in the elbow during a 2 2/3-inning performance July 14 in Baltimore . . . Johnny Ray extended his hitting streak to 14 Tuesday night with a line-drive single to right in the third inning. . . . Monday night’s victory was the Angels’ sixth consecutive one-run win, giving them the best record in the American League in one-run games (20-11).

LETTER OF THE LAW

The chief of chiefs has some advice for speedy Jose Canseco. Mike Downey’s column, Page 3.

HOWELL IS HITTING

Jack Howell finally escapes the dominance of Dave Stewart. Elliott Teaford’s story, Page 4.