Day Opens in Sun, Ends in Chill : Griffey’s Home Run Leaves Angels in Cold

The Angels expected to produce more than five hits in their season opener Monday night.

Bert Blyleven didn’t expect the one-and-one fastball he threw to Ken Griffey Jr. in the fifth inning to stay more outside than inside on the 20-year-old outfielder, who turned it into a three-run home run.

But losing their home opener didn’t create agony among the Angels.

Regret, maybe. Disappointment, certainly. But concern? Hardly It’s far too early to worry.

Isn’t it?

“No, we’re going to panic and go home,” Manager Doug Rader said with a serious expression, before laughing at his own joke. “C’mon. Last year we lost our first game of the season to the White Sox, and we won 91. Maybe it’s an omen.”

Their offensive production in their 7-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners looked more like a repeat of last season than a peek at the future. Starter Brian Holman, one of three players the Mariners acquired from Montreal for Mark Langston--who later signed with the Angels--gave up three hits in five innings before 38,406 at Anaheim Stadium. Blyleven, making his 12th opening day start, had only one rocky inning, but the Mariners made the most of it to score five runs.

“Nobody wants to start out the way I did,” Blyleven said. “We scored four runs, and that should be enough for me to win. Everybody wants to win the opener. I’m just sorry I didn’t perform in the fifth inning.

“But hey, we’ve got 161 more. One sixty-one and one wouldn’t be a bad record.”

His record is 0-1 because of Griffey’s 365-foot shot over the wall in right field. Blyleven had gotten through the first four innings unscathed, giving up only two singles. And he might have escaped the fateful fifth with little damage had third baseman Rick Schu been able to get a double play on Brian Giles’ one-out grounder instead of only a force at second.

Pete O’Brien led off the fifth with a double to right, moved to third on Greg Briley’s grounder and scored on Edgar Martinez’s single to left. Dave Valle sent a bouncer under Mark McLemore’s glove for another single, sending Martinez to third and bringing up Giles, who started at short because of injuries to Omar Vizquel and Mario Diaz. Schu corraled Giles’ grounder, but not deftly enough to get the double play.

“It hit the heel of my glove and bounced out,” Schu said. “If I come up cleanly, it’s a double-play ball.”

The Mariners exploited that gift, as Harold Reynolds singled to center and Griffey pounded Blyleven’s fastball over the fence.

“The fifth inning was a tough inning. I just got the ball up a little bit,” Blyleven said. “I’m not happy wih the way I pitched, but I felt good. I just made a pitch to Griffey that was inside, and I didn’t get it as inside as I wanted and he hit the heck out of it . . . it was the same pitch I struck him out on (in the fourth inning), maybe a little bit higher. I planned to go through the fifth one, two, three. I didn’t plan to give up 12 hits and five runs.”

He gave up seven hits, not 12. “It only seemed that way,” he said. But the Mariners got to five Angel pitchers for 15 hits, four by Griffey and three by Valle.

The big fifth erased a 2-0 lead the Angels had built on Ray’s first-inning home run and his sacrifce fly in the third, set up on a single by Schu and walks to Mark McLemore and Devon White.

“They had some two-out RBIs and we didn’t,” Rader said. “We had some opportunities with two out and didn’t capitalize, and that was the ballgame.

“A number of people on this ballclub are not anywhere near operating level. We’re emphasizing patience and understanding. I believe in these people because this is a very good ballclub.”

Griffey, who was enjoying a spectacular rookie season last year until he broke a bone in his left hand, had an unsettling day before he unsettled the Angels.

“I had butterflies this morning and threw up once in the hotel right before I came to the stadium,” he said. “Last year, I didn’t know what to expect, so I couldn’t be scared or nervous. This year, I know what to expect, and that made me nervous. I don’t know why. those feelings went away after the first pitch, the first at-bat. It was time to play ball.”

The Angels weren’t perturbed about losing their first game.

“There’s still 161 left. It’s too early for us to be troubled or for anybody to think anything’s wrong,” said Willie Fraser, who yielded three hits and two runs in relief of Blyleven in the sixth inning. “I don’t know if the hitters are ahead of the pitchers: Nolan Ryan went out today and threw five innings and didn’t give up a hit. It’ll all even out in a couple of weeks. At least, I hope it does for me.”

McLemore believes things will even out sooner than a couple of weeks.

“The first game’s nothing to worry about,” he said. “a game like tonight, you just look at the positives. We played good defense, but we didn’t capitalize on some chances . . . It’s only been one game. It’s a long season.”

Angel Notes

The Angels’ lineup contained two slight surprises--right-handed hitter Rick Schu starting at third against a right-handed pitcher instead of switch-hitter Donnie Hill--and Mark McLemore hitting ninth. Devon White was the leadoff hitter early in the spring and McLemore had occupied that spot for most of the later games.

Manager Doug Rader is determined to make a leadoff hitter out of White, who has the speed to create havoc when he reaches base but struck out 129 times and walked 44 times last season. “Hitting first helps him refine the skills he needs to incorporate in his swing, and that’s why he’s hitting there,” Rader said.

Injuries dictated that Chili Davis (sore groin) would be restricted to a designated hitter role instead of playing in left field, and that Dante Bichette would play left. Brian Downing’s continued problems with sore rib muscles also kept him from being the DH. Schu won out over Hill because of his experience at third.

“The way (Schu) is swinging the bat right now, number one, and number two, his background is third base and I just thought it would be a little bit easier assignment for him today,” Rader said. “Regarding Brian and Chili, the factors were how proficient Chili would have been defensively with the groin and how well Dante is swinging the bat. Brian is not 100 percent.”

Rader said he felt “some butterflies and excitement” about opening day, adding that “what I always want to do is get it over with and get into the grind of the season where you get numb. Numbness usually takes two or three weeks into the season . . . I’d rather be a little more calm and analytical than be caught up in the excitement of opening day.”

His Mariner counterpart, Jim Lefebvre, recalled his first opening day, as a Dodger in 1965.

“Opening day is always special,” he said. “We won the game. (Don) Drysdale pitched. I popped up to the catcher four times, but who cared? It was opening day and I was a Dodger.”

As recognition for making the team, Schu--who had worn uniform number 60 in spring training--was given the more conventional number 20. It was the number of the man he unsuccessfully tried to replace in the hearts of Philadelphia Phillie fans: Mike Schmidt.

“I was always a big fan of his,” Schu said. “I couldn’t get the number when I was over there. I didn’t care what number I got here, just as long as I was here.” Hill also got a new number--22, instead of the 52 he sported in spring training. . . . Reliever Bob McClure, who complained of pain in his left elbow last week, received a cortisone injection in the elbow Monday. He will be re-evaluated Wednesday or Thursday by Dr. Lewis Yocum, the team physician.