61,696 See Angels Give Up the Lead to Athletics, 5-0

The Angels in a pennant race, playing for first place in mid-August? This was something that had to be seen to be believed, so 61,696 fans showed up at Anaheim Stadium Friday night to check things out.

This is what they got:

--Too much Mike Moore.

--Not enough Mike Witt.

--Two home runs from a couple of Oakland bantamweights who, between them, had previously totaled four home runs in 1989.

--A 5-0 Athletics’ victory that dropped the Angels out of first place and a game behind the A’s in the American League West, a deficit the Angels hadn’t seen since July 3.

For more than a month, the Angels had not been more than a half-game removed from the lead, spending 32 of the previous 35 days in first place. But in the first game of their final regular-season series against Oakland, the Angels fumbled away their latest .002 margin atop the standings, victimized by Moore and two of the lesser power threats in the A’s batting order.

Moore, the free-agent pitcher who got away from the Angels last winter, threw an eight-hitter to improve his record to 15-6--three of those victories coming at the expense of the Angels.

Offensively, Moore was buoyed by surprising home runs by second baseman Tony Phillips and third baseman Carney Lansford. How surprising? Before Friday, Lansford, a .330-hitting line-drive specialist had homered once in 375 at-bats. Phillips, a .245-hitting utility man, had homered three times in 310 at-bats.

But against Witt, struggling again after a brief midsummer resurgence, both were able to clear the fences. Phillips connected with a runner on base in the sixth inning, and Lansford hit his homer to open the eighth.

The loss was the third in a row for Witt (7-10), the lone pitcher with a losing record in the Angels’ rotation. Including three non-decisions, Witt hasn’t won a game since July 9.

Angel Manager Doug Rader, however, did his best to absolve Witt from this one when a reporter asked about the Angels’ apparent need for a late-season “resurrection” by Witt.

“That might be a little harsh,” Rader said. “There’s nothing wrong with Mike Witt’s pitching and there’s nothing wrong with Mike Witt. When you compare him to what Mike Moore did tonight, 99% of the guys in the league are going to look like they need to be ‘resurrected.’

“Mike Witt will be there,” Rader continued. “And I think if everybody laid off him a little bit, it would help. He’s hard enough on himself, he doesn’t need any help.

“For Pete’s sake, give the guy a break.”

Rader labeled Witt’s performance (seven-plus innings, eight hits, five runs) as “effective.”

“He just threw a couple of bad pitches,” Rader said.

The two home runs, incidentally, boosted Witt’s season total to 21, or 10 more than the total given up by any other pitcher on the Angel staff.

But one point in Rader’s case could not be disputed: Moore was not going to be beaten on a night he did not allow any runs.

Moore struck out eight en route to his fifth complete game. He wavered a bit in the first four innings, surrendering six singles, but corrected matters by throwing more forkballs in the last five innings.

“My surprise pitch,” Moore calls his forkball. “It’s become a good complement to my fastball.”

The Angels’ first four innings provided a study in how not to play offense in an important game. By the end of the fourth, the Angels had six hits against Moore--and nothing to show for it.

Opportunities wasted, at a glance:

--Second inning. Tony Armas hits a one-out single and is immediately singled to third base by Chili Davis. The next batter, Jack Howell, snuffs the threat by grounding into a double play.

--Third inning. With two outs, Claudell Washington and Johnny Ray deliver consecutive singles, sending Washington to third. There he remains, however, as Devon White bounces into a force play.

--Fourth inning. Two more singles by Armas and Davis. But Armas is thrown out by Oakland right fielder Stan Javier while attempting to move from first to third on Davis’ hit, and Howell closes out the inning by striking out.

Oakland squandered a couple of early scoring chances, too, most strikingly in the third inning.

With Terry Steinbach on third base with one out, Rickey Henderson lofted a high fly ball of medium depth to right field. Steinbach tagged as soon as Angel right fielder Armas gloved the ball, but was erased at the plate on a spectacular throw by Armas. Angel catcher Lance Parrish fielded the relay on the fly and, blocking the plate with this left foot, reached back to tag Steinbach, attempting to slide head-first around Parrish.

Two innings later, however, the A’s broke through with a run--Stan Javier doubled and scored on a single by Walt Weiss--before Phillips and Lansford did their rare Mark McGwire impressions in the fifth and sixth innings.

At that point, Moore took over, retiring 16 of the last 18 batters he faced.

For the Angels, this was nothing new. In four starts against Moore this season, they’re 0-3. And in those starts, Moore has a 1.16 earned-run average, giving the Angels just four earned runs in 31 innings.

“He was as important an acquisition as any ballclub made during the winter,” Rader said. “He’s a very talented pitcher. A very dominant pitcher.”

And the A’s were the ones that got him.

One game into this series, that’s the main reason one game in the standings separates the A’s from the Angels.

Angel Notes

Suddenly, double-A Midland is the place to be if you’re a prospect in the Angel farm system. For the second time in three days Friday, the Angels bypassed their triple-A club in Edmonton to fill a roster vacancy, recalling Midland infielder Bobby Rose to replace injured shortstop Dick Schofield. The thinking, apparently, is to cash in on the hottest hitter in the Angel organization. Rose, 22, was batting .359 with 11 home runs, 73 RBIs, 21 doubles and five triples with Midland. Last week, he batted .542 (13 for 24) while hitting for the cycle on Aug. 4 against El Paso. He rejoins former Midland teammate John Orton, the catcher who was recalled Wednesday to back up Bill Schroeder and the ailing Lance Parrish.

Schofield, who broke a bone in his left hand Thursday night when he was hit by a pitch by Seattle’s Scott Bankhead, was placed on the 21-day disabled list, which means he’ll be sidelined until September. Schofield had his left little finger placed in a hard splint, which won’t be removed for two weeks. Then, he’ll have the finger re-examined and placed in a lighter, more flexible splint, which will allow Schofield to begin physical therapy. The fracture is not on Schofield’s throwing hand, but that is not necessarily good news, according to Angel trainer Ned Bergert. “It could take him longer to come back,” Bergert said. “When he bats, his left hand is his bottom hand, down by the knob. When he makes contact, (the force) drives right up into that hand.”

Jose Canseco update: The Oakland right fielder, who strained his right thigh Monday, missed his fourth straight start Friday. He has pinch-hit twice since sustaining the injury and could return to the lineup today, but A’s Manager Tony La Russa didn’t care to break Canseco back in against Angel starter Mike Witt. Canseco has a career batting average of .091 against Witt, with three hits in 31 at-bats. . . . Friday’s crowd of 61,696 was the seventh largest home crowd in Angel history. Excluding those games played on holidays or featuring special promotions, it is the largest regular-season crowd ever at Anaheim Stadium.