They’ve Been Thrown a Curve : Scott Lewis: Having suffered a broken neck, he considers himself lucky no matter how he pitches.

No matter how he fares as the Angels’ fifth starter this season, Scott Lewis will consider himself incredibly lucky.

His good fortune goes beyond being blessed with a strong right arm and sound pitching instincts. Those qualities helped him prevail over Joe Grahe in their competition to replace injured Bert Blyleven in the starting rotation, but they’re not the main reasons Lewis greets each day with unfettered optimism.

He’s also fortunate the Angels ignored his poor performance for Nevada Las Vegas in the 1988 NCAA regional tournament and chose him in the 11th round of the free agent draft. Still, that was a minor miracle.

Lewis is simply lucky to be alive after breaking his neck in three places in a diving accident eight years ago.

Lewis was 17, and it was the day before he was to begin football practice at Medford (Ore.) High School. On an inner tube trip on the Rogue River, near his home, he and a friend had spotted a rope attached to an oak tree overhanging the water. They decided the rope would be ideal for swinging out into the river for a cooling plunge.

“I had to be the first one to go,” Lewis said. “I never thought to check the water. It was murky, but it looked deep.

“So there I am, out there. I thought I was going to belly flop and I said, ‘I’ll do a swan dive.’ I just hit (head-first) and fell over. I couldn’t move.

“This much of my face came out of the water,” he said, covering two-thirds of his face, “and I saw 50 people looking at me and laughing. I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to drown.’ I couldn’t swim.”

He also found he couldn’t move his arms or legs. Only a quick rescue by his friend saved him from suffocating in the mud of the riverbed.

“It was about that deep,” he said, holding his hand about waist-high. “I was paralyzed completely for 15 or 20 minutes, then there was a little numbness.

“They told me I fractured the C-3 and C-4 (vertebrae). Ninety percent of the time that means instant death because it affects the canal that holds the spinal cord. I was in a halo brace for five months and 28 days, to be exact.”

Two small marks on his forehead where the brace was anchored, dots nearly invisible now beneath his tan, are the only signs of his ordeal. “I’m lucky I can walk around. Everyone says I’m lucky,” he said.

And the Angels have been lucky with Lewis, too. He progressed rapidly through their farm system, pitching for Class-A Bend, Quad City and Palm Springs in 1988. He was 11-12 for double-A Midland in 1989, which earned him a promotion to triple-A Edmonton last season.

“They didn’t leave me very long in one place, and it worked out best for me,” he said. “I didn’t leave any place I pitched wondering if I could compete there.”

Lewis was 13-11 for the Trappers last season, tying for the Pacific Coast League lead with six complete games, walking only 35 and striking out 124 in 177 2/3 innings. But like the day he was drafted, he had to wait for the Angels to call him.

“They made a few call-ups and I thought, ‘What do I have to do to get here?’ ” he said. “When it finally happened, it was a relief that they weren’t overlooking me.”

His performance after his Sept. 14 summons was impossible to overlook. He made his debut Sept. 25, showing poise and promise in giving up two runs to the Texas Rangers in 7 1/3 innings of an 8-2 Angel victory.

His other decision was a 2-1 complete-game loss to Kansas City on Sept. 30, a polished performance that might have made him the front-runner for a starting job when it became obvious Blyleven wouldn’t recover from shoulder surgery in time to start this season. Lewis’ brief look at the majors was enough to convince him he wasn’t out of his range. It also gave him the confidence to join in--and instigate--the banter that has enlivened the Angels’ clubhouse this spring.

“I think I can pitch here. After last year, I figured I just needed a little more preparation and consistency to be successful,” said Lewis, who will follow Chuck Finley, Kirk McCaskill, Mark Langston and Jim Abbott in the rotation.

“I have enough pitches and good enough stuff to compete at this level. It’s the finer things I need to learn. . . . I didn’t come back here thinking I didn’t belong. I came to compete. It might have been different if I’d gotten roped, then I might have said, ‘I don’t belong.’ I might have lost some of my drive.”

Lewis’ drive accelerated during his friendly rivalry with Grahe, who was his roommate in Mesa, Ariz., for the beginning of spring training. The two shared tips on hitters, commiserated with each other and cheered on one another.

“As far as the game goes, I learned a lot of things, and as far as just being a human and being somebody’s friend, I learned a lot, too,” Lewis said. “It didn’t turn into a back-stabbing thing. I honestly hoped every time he went out that he would pitch good, and I knew he did the same for me. We rose to the occasion. It helped us both.”

Lewis’ experience and age--Grahe is 23, two years younger--helped him win the job. “It was close,” pitching coach Marcel Lachemann said, “but I’d say Scotty was ahead coming in and stayed ahead.”

Lewis is a lean 6-feet-3 and 178 pounds, but he can drive his fastball more than 90 m.p.h. The mid- to upper-80s is his usual range. He has a good curveball, a slider that’s more of a cut-fastball and a changeup, and he depends more on location than velocity.

Lewis also has been able to depend on Blyleven for advice, even though Lewis is, at least temporarily, stepping into the veteran’s spot.

“We talk about baseball all the time. He knows the game and he’s real receptive to me,” Lewis said. “He never treats me like a rookie who’s trying to take his job. I’ve asked him how he holds his curveball and he’s shown me that.

“That’s what’s good about this team, how good everyone has been. Nobody has too big of an ego to help a rookie.”

Lewis hardly acts like a rookie on the mound.

“He’s very professional. He’s got a major league arm, major league ability and he’s very close to having a major league idea of what he’s doing,” catcher Lance Parrish said.

“He’s a thinking-man’s pitcher. He knows he’s got to change speeds and hit spots, that he can’t just throw the ball. It’s a lot of fun for me to catch him because he’s very in tune with what he’s doing.”

It’s fitting that not only is Lewis taking Blyleven’s place in the rotation, he’s also taking Blyleven’s place as the resident prankster. Brash enough to joke with veterans such as Dave Parker and Dave Winfield, Lewis didn’t care whom he victimized with a squirting device disguised as a soda can.

“I had a sweet one going the other day,” he said, smiling. “I was (teasing) DiMag (clubhouse attendant Carl DePhillipo). I had the can in my glove and all I had to do was squeeze it and you couldn’t tell where it was coming from. He was chewing out everyone.

“And I got Jimmie Reese (the Angels’ 86-year-old conditioning coach) right in the ear. Aw, he didn’t mind. I was just having fun. You’ve got to. You can never tell when it’s going to end.”