Devon’s Doubles Turn Into Singular Sensation

As Manager Doug Rader put it, Devon White had a very nice day.

It was the good fortune of the New York Yankees that hardly any other Angel did.

White hit three doubles, tying a club record, in the Angels’ 4-2 loss at Anaheim Stadium Sunday.

He batted four times, and three times he made it as far as third base. And the Angels left him there twice, high and dry.

Had White’s teammates given him opportunity to dash another 90 feet both times he was stranded, he would have evened the score.

Instead, the Angels lost their fourth game in a row, and were swept by the Yankees, a team that was six games under .500 when it came to Anaheim.

The Angels are left to ponder the ineptitude of an offense that has not scored as many as three runs in an inning in the past 50 innings, and has scored three runs in an inning only once in the past 73.

“Not enough guys are producing, it’s simple as that,” Rader said. “The effort is there. There are some signs people are doing the right thing. We are going through a tough time.”

They are a club whose team batting average looks as if it belongs to a shortstop. Sputtering along at a .231 clip before Sunday’s game, the Angels managed only six hits against the Yankees and saw their batting average fall to .229.

That average, for reference purposes, is 12 percentage points below Dick Schofield’s career average of .241.

The story of the Angels’ series against the Yankees wasn’t just poor offense, but poorly timed poor offense. Over the weekend, the Angels were one for 20 with men in scoring position, with two sacrifice flies. Sunday, they were zero for six with men in scoring position.

White doubled to right with two out in the first, and took third when Jesse Barfield misplayed the ball. But Chili Davis came to the plate and grounded to short.

In the fourth, White led off with his second double. Davis flied out to center, and White took third on Wally Joyner’s groundout. Dante Bichette, who went zero for three to end an 11-game hitting streak, struck out to end the inning.

In the sixth, the Angels got a run without putting a man in scoring position--on Luis Polonia’s home run, his first since last July 26.

With one out, White doubled down the right-field line, tying the club record for doubles in a game, last matched by Joyner. With Davis batting, White stole third, coming home on Davis’ groundout to third. Joyner reached second on a single and a passed ball. But he was stranded after Bichette walked and Rick Schu, pinch-hitting for Jack Howell, grounded to first.

The Angels stranded five runners Sunday and 16 in the series. They scored only seven runs in three games, failing to live up to even their own average, a paltry 3.48 runs a game.