Joyner Decides to Simplify Things : Angels: Hot-hitting first baseman no longer spends time thinking of himself as a home-run hitter, and it has paid dividends.

Wally Joyner stepped to the plate. Simplify, he told himself.

He was not thinking about his first at-bat Sunday, a fly to center.

Or his second, a called strikeout on a pitch that he thought was outside--a strikeout that stranded Max Venable on third and angered Joyner enough that he tossed his helmet, drawing an automatic $100 fine.

He was not thinking about his third at-bat, a foul pop to first that left Devon White on third.

Nor was he thinking about Donnie Hill or Gary DiSarcina or Johnny Ray, all of whom stood in the basepaths courtesy of a single, an error, a sacrifice and an intentional walk.

Joyner was thinking about pitcher Tony Fossas, a left-hander who had come on to strike out White in relief of starter Bill Wegman.

Joyner took the first pitch. He sent the second into the right-field stands for his third homer of the week and seventh of the season.

“After I hit the ball, I knew it was a home run,” Joyner said. “Then I thought, ‘There was somebody on first, somebody on second, somebody on third. . . . “

Grand slam.

“Honestly, I had forgotten the bases were loaded,” Joyner said. “I got upset with myself (over) a couple of previous at-bats because there was a guy at third and I didn’t execute. I didn’t put the ball into play. After I walked to the plate, I tried to simplify as much as I could.”

The Anaheim Stadium crowd cheered as if Joyner had won the game, even though he had only turned a one-run, seventh-inning lead over the Milwaukee Brewers into a five-run lead.

They didn’t stop cheering until Joyner was long back in the dugout, keeping on until Chili Davis’ fly ball ended the inning. They paused for a moment, until Joyner came jogging onto the field to take his place at first.

That would have to settle for a curtain call, because Joyner did not take one.

“I didn’t think it was appropriate at the time,” he said.

Joyner didn’t elaborate, but the reason might be because he has spent so much time this season trying not to think of himself as a home-run hitter. That is one of the things, he says, he must do to keep himself in the groove that has seen him go 30 for 75 in his past 21 games, raising his average from .222 May 5 to .303.

With 15 RBIs in the past six games, he has pushed his season total to 29, highest on the team. He has seven home runs, almost half his 1989 total of 16, and five more than he had at the All-Star break last season.

What Joyner has done the past few weeks is not much different from what the Angels have done. They were reaching and pressing, trying to right their slump in a single swing.

So was Joyner.

“I caught myself going up with nobody on base and trying to hit two- and three-run homers,” Joyner said.

It wasn’t working.

“When you’re losing, hitters are trying to do too much, and when you’re winning they’re loose,” said Deron Johnson, the Angels’ hitting coach.

Joyner’s escape from his early-season funk has coincided with better hitting from Ray and Davis, among others, as well as the arrival of Dave Winfield.

And with the turnaround of the offense, the Angels have won seven games in a row, climbing from a virtual tie for last into fourth place.

“I think we got to the point where everybody decided what we were doing was not the right thing,” Joyner said.

So they changed.

“We took some pitches,” Joyner said. “We didn’t care about striking out as long as you had a good at-bat. We went back to simple things.”