CAUGHT HIM : After All These Years, Downing Breaks Up Ryan’s Bid for a Perfect Game

Back in July, Brian Downing was asked if he had an edge when hitting off Nolan Ryan.

After all, Downing was Ryan’s catcher for two seasons, in 1978 and ’79. Considering how well a catcher gets to know his pitcher, was there a way for Downing to read Ryan’s pitches?

Downing hemmed and hawed, talking about how Ryan had changed as a pitcher. And also how, no matter how often one faces him, Ryan is still Ryan, owner of five no-hitters.

Finally, though, Downing ‘fessed up.

“There are some things, but I’m not going to say what they are,” he said. “I may have to face him again later this season.”

Well, later came Saturday night.

Downing, who may be in his last year with the Angels, ended a perfect-game bid by Ryan with a one-out single in the eighth inning.

Ryan, who ended up with 13 strikeouts, still had enough to finish. He threw a three-hit shutout for a 2-0 victory.

It was the second time that Ryan has shut out the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. He threw a three-hitter July 6 in a 3-0 victory.

Downing saw only five pitches all night. He fouled out in the second and flew out in the fifth.

In the eighth, he walked to the plate and lined the first pitch into right-center field.

“I didn’t want to get behind on the count. Everyone knows how he is from the eighth inning on,” Downing said. “I was looking for a breaking ball that I could drive that way. The fastball happened to be there.”

Downing found some satisfaction in breaking up the perfect game. The Angels, with the defeat, lost any chance of finishing in second place. The team has also lost eight of its last nine games.

“Being no-hit would have been the ultimate slam,” Downing said. “The only thing on my mind right now is that we don’t have a chance for second.”

Downing said that Ryan wasn’t at his best Saturday night.

The best came in Ryan’s earlier confrontation with the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. Downing was hitless in three at-bats in that game.

“He was amazing that night, nobody could touch him,” Downing said. “Tonight, he struggled at the beginning. But after the third inning, he really got rolling.”

Downing knows about the type of roll Ryan can get on. In 1979, he was the catcher when Ryan took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the New York Yankees.

Ryan lost that bid, too. He gave up two hits in the ninth.

“He had two games that year, back to back, that started at 5:10 p.m.,” Downing said. “He was at his best (in the dusk).”

Ryan left the Angels at the end of the 1979 season. After a contract dispute, he signed with the Houston Astros.

Now, 10 years later, it might be Downing who leaves. He has an option year for 1990, but the Angels haven’t said whether they will keep him around.

So, his hit Saturday night might have been the last of his 11-year career with the team.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Downing said. “This is not my night. It’s his.”

OK, on Ryan’s night, what was Downing looking for?

Was there something in Ryan’s delivery that tipped him off?

Did two years of catching one of baseball’s greatest pitchers give him an edge at the plate?

“I just like being up there in those types of situations,” Downing said. “Whether it’s two outs in the ninth with a runner at third, or trying to break up a no-hitter. Sometimes you do it, most times you don’t.”

Whatever Downing may or may not know, it will remain with him.

Later could come again.