Dream Pairing a Nightmare for Valenzuela and Angels

They smiled and embraced for the cameras, united by their common homeland and the uncommon circumstance of being winless this season.

When the Angels’ Fernando Valenzuela and Milwaukee’s Ted Higuera posed for photographers Wednesday morning at Anaheim Stadium, each was struggling to pick up the threads of a distinguished career. At day’s end, Higuera had 10 strikeouts and an 8-0 victory. Valenzuela had little but disappointment to show for his second Angel start.

Valenzuela flailed through 1 2/3 innings, giving up three walks, five hits and five runs. In two outings covering 6 2/3 innings, he has yielded 14 hits, three walks and nine earned runs for an earned-run average of 12.15. Paul Molitor tagged him for a first-inning single and a two-run homer in Milwaukee’s four-run spree in the second inning, the third homer Valenzuela has given up in two games.

“This was a terrible game,” he said. “I think I can do better than what I was doing today.”

His performance looked worse when compared to the six shutout innings pitched by Higuera, his Mexican compatriot. The two were scheduled to pitch against each other in a March exhibition game at Monterrey, Mexico, when Valenzuela was still with the Dodgers, but a rotator cuff tear prevented Higuera from pitching.

After a lengthy rehabilitation and three futile starts, Higuera (1-2) took an emphatic step back Wednesday, holding the Angels to four hits and dropping them to third place, 2 1/2 games behind the division-leading Oakland A’s. Valenzuela has yet to display his old skills, and he didn’t even show as much Wednesday as he had in his Angel debut.

“His velocity was down a little bit from where it was the last time,” said pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, estimating that Valenzuela’s fastball had slowed to the low 80-m.p.h. range. “Whether that’s dead arm (fatigue that often afflicts pitchers in spring training) or something else, time’s going to tell.”

Having made an investment in him--and having seen him attract 49,977 fans last Friday and 32,515 to a traditionally low-drawing weekday afternoon game Wednesday--the Angels will give Valenzuela ample time to right himself.

“Our thinking hasn’t changed a bit,” Senior Vice President Dan O’Brien said after watching Valenzuela. “I think it’s premature to start making judgments.”

The Brewers quickly discerned Valenzuela was hittable. Molitor, who raised his average to .346, singled and scored in the first inning. After Molitor had homered in the second, Willie Randolph singled to right-center field and Greg Vaughn drew a full-count walk. Robin Yount ripped a pitch to left-center field, driving in Randolph and Yount and sending Valenzuela to the clubhouse, behind, 5-0. Joe Grahe relieved him, giving up three runs over 5 1/3 innings.

“When I was warming up in the bullpen I said, ‘I think this will be my day,’ but as soon as I got to the mound, I started getting behind hitters,” Valenzuela said. “That’s bad. I think I can do a lot better. . . .

“After my last game I said, ‘I think I can do a lot better,’ and to do it this way, I’m really disappointed. I didn’t keep my team closer and give a chance to my team to come back.”

Using his screwball too soon and too often proved his undoing.

“I saw hitters look at that pitch and not swing,” he said. “It’s a good pitch for me but not for the hitters. They don’t swing. . . . It was tough for me to stay ahead of the hitters.”

Catcher Ron Tingley knew they were falling into the trap of overusing the screwball, but he had little choice.

“We showed it a little earlier than we wanted to, but when he was struggling and we needed to get a ground ball, we had to go back to that pitch because it’s an out pitch for him,” Tingley said.

“He even admitted he was choking it a little bit (while gripping the ball), not being real loose. I didn’t think he was missing the strike zone by a lot. He made a couple of good pitches early. But if you’re not consistent in that area, you’re not going to get the calls.

“It was a tough day. Every time we made a mistake, they hit it. Molitor’s on fire. You could throw a stinking Ping-Pong ball up there and he’d hit it.”

The Angels struck out 13 times against Higuera, Julio Machado and Dan Plesac as the Brewers won for only the third time on their 12-game trip and inflicted the Angels’ worst defeat of the season.

“Teddy’s a good pitcher, a good man,” former Brewer Dave Parker said. “He had a little above-average speed on his fastball and was spotting his breaking pitches well to right-handers.”

Said Tingley: “Higuera was definitely painting the corners today. If he needed an outside corner, he got an outside corner. You’ve got to tip your hat to him. . . . He’s basically the same type of pitcher Fernando is, only he’s got to use his fastball more than Fernando.”

Valenzuela doesn’t feel a need to change the mechanics of his delivery--only the result.

“I need location. That’s what I don’t have today,” he said. “As long as the team gives me the ball every fifth day, I have a lot of confidence things are going to change.”