Finley Loses Plea for Help; Angels Lose Game, 5-1

They’ve tried taking extra batting practice and taking no batting practice at all; they’ve tried playing rookies and playing veterans.

In their attempt to halt the monthlong slide toward the bottom of the American League West, the Angels have tried every known strategy--and on Monday, that included begging.

Sure that he had thrown a strike to Chicago’s Robin Ventura on a 2-and-2 pitch in the sixth inning, Chuck Finley sank to one knee, his arms outstretched in a plea to home plate umpire Mark Johnson. Finley lost his case, and soon after, the Angels lost the game. Ventura lined Finley’s next pitch to right-center for a double, helping lift the White Sox to a 5-1 victory before 30,483 at Comiskey Park.

Ventura’s double scored Mike Huff, breaking a 1-1 tie. After Ventura tagged and took third on Frank Thomas’ fly ball to the warning track in right, he strolled home on George Bell’s single to left. That seemingly modest 3-1 deficit was insurmountable for the Angels, who have scored four runs only once in their last 13 games. They collected five hits off Jack McDowell (8-3) and were muzzled by Bobby Thigpen, who struck out Jose Gonzalez with the bases loaded in the eighth and got pinch-hitter Hubie Brooks to line to first with two on on the ninth.

“I’m not a bit overwhelmed. I’m a lot overwhelmed,” interim Manager John Wathan said after his team’s fourth consecutive loss, seventh in eight games and 16th in 19. “It’s getting hard to comprehend why it’s happening. . . . I’ve just about run out of answers.”

The answer for Finley (1-5) when he was asked the turning point of Monday’s game was the 2-and-2 fastball to Ventura in the sixth inning.

“I thought we got to a point where we had him set up,” Finley said. “You work a lot of situations and you know you’ve got to put the ball in a certain place. I thought I did but unfortunately, (Johnson) didn’t call it that way. I get slapped with an ‘L’ and he gets player of the game.”

By going to his knee, he said, “I was asking for somebody’s help.”

In truth, he needed less help Monday than in his previous outings, pitching with better control and velocity for longer than in any other game. He held the White Sox scoreless through four innings, the longest he has shut out an opponent from the start of a game this season.

Shaking off the sting of a Craig Grebeck shot he tried to barehand and instead deflected with his thumb, Finley gave up singles to Steve Sax, former Angel Shawn Abner and a run-scoring single to Lance Johnson as Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the fifth.

The Angels pulled even in the top of the sixth on a double by Ron Tingley, a sacrifice and Luis Polonia’s single to center, but they couldn’t sustain the pressure on McDowell. Polonia stole second and third and Von Hayes walked, but McDowell picked Hayes off first to defuse the Angels’ threat.

“That pickoff was a big one for us,” said McDowell, who had lost three successive decisions after becoming the major leagues’ first seven-game winner. “I think our team is getting back on track with our aggressive hitting over the last two days.”

Of course, playing the Angels has helped a lot of teams end slumps. Two Chicago runs in the seventh sent Finley to the dugout and sent the Angels to their fifth consecutive road loss. In the four losses on this seven-game trip, they’ve been outscored, 26-8, and are averaging six hits per game.

Said Tingley: “We can’t keep doing this until the All-Star break or we’ll be 12, 15 games out and that’s too much.”

One more pitch to Ventura was too much for Finley. “I froze him,” Finley said, “and after (not striking him out), the situation turned around and he did what he does. If we get him, we’ve got a guy on first and one out and it’s a totally different situation. I thought it was a very good pitch. . . .

“It’s easy to come to the clubhouse during a losing streak and be down, but I’m very optimistic. I’m very confident this team can do positive things. It would be hard to come in here if I saw guys didn’t care and weren’t trying, but I don’t see that.”