ANGELS : Herzog Gets No Relief When Looking at Pitching

Whitey Herzog, club vice president, wants desperately to believe the Angels will be the surprise team of the American League. He knows in his heart, he says, that they are much improved from a year ago.

“I think we’re better in so many areas,” Herzog said. “I’m not saying we’re going to be the ’27 Yankees, but I really think we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”

Herzog paused, suddenly looking pained.

“But there’s one area that bothers the hell out of me,” he said. “The bullpen. Now that worries me. That worries me a lot.

“The whole key to our club will be whether our bullpen will be good enough, and right now, to be honest, they haven’t pitched worth a damn. I think they have the ability, but you can’t like what you’ve seen out of their performances.

“We’re all concerned.”

Herzog looks at his roster, checks out statistics of the relievers remaining in camp and shakes his head. No reliever has excelled. Joe Grahe, Steve Frey and Chuck Crim--projected as the nucleus of the bullpen--have a cumulative 6.21 earned-run average.

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers is most concerned about his left-handed relievers. No one has been dominant against left-handed hitters, and it wasn’t until Sunday, when Steve Frey struck out Will Clark and retired Barry Bonds, that there were hints of optimism.

“There are other managers who have got to be saying, ‘Look at that lucky Rodgers, he has three left-handers in his bullpen,’ ” Rodgers said. “Hey, what good does it do if they can’t get lefties out?”

Said Herzog: “If you ask me, Mark Holzemer has showed us he has the most poise. He’s impressed me the most because he doesn’t get rattled.

“But somewhere in the next year, year and a half, we’ve got to come up with some arms. I think that’s evident.”

Dr. Lewis Yocum reported that Angel starter Julio Valera had the usual soreness after throwing lightly Saturday and remains optimistic that Valera’s elbow should be healthy at the season’s outset.

“I think (a tender elbow) will be a chronic thing throughout his career,” Yocum said, “but we can control it. It’s something he’s had a long time, and we just want to make sure it doesn’t get worse.”

Pitching coach Chuck Hernandez also said he will work with Valera to improve his mechanics, ensuring that he doesn’t put extra stress on his elbow.

Notes

Angel starter Mark Langston breezed through the first six innings Sunday against the San Francisco Giants, but then tired in the seventh, giving up six hits and six earned runs in the Angels’ 6-4 defeat. “It was good to be whacked around.” said Langston, who entered the game with an 0.56 ERA. “I’ve been cruising all spring.” . . . Langston will start again Friday in the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium, and pitch two or three innings, preparing himself for the April 6 season-opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. . . . Ty Van Burkleo, the leading candidate for the final utility job on the team, was spiked in the left big toe by Luis Raven during warm-ups before the Angels’ split-squad game against Colorado. Van Burkleo played in the game, striking out three times. . . . Starter Russ Springer, expected to open the season at triple-A Vancouver, gave up eight hits and two earned runs in six innings against Colorado in a 3-0 defeat at Tucson. . . . The third base duo of Rene Gonzales and Gary Gaetti had been hitless in the last 29 at-bats before Gaetti’s single during the fourth inning. . . . The Angels have hit only five homers all spring. Oakland first baseman Mark McGwire has six. . . . Former Angel Jim Abbott pitched seven shutout innings for the New York Yankees in a 13-0 victory over the Florida Marlins at Cocoa, Fla., and singled in the fourth inning. His only other hit as a major leaguer was a 400-foot triple for the Angels in spring training two years ago.