Angels Appear to Have Blueprint for Success

They are wary and they are weary, their scar tissue now calloused by 32 years of false starts and worse finishes, as the slow groan of the Anaheim Stadium turnstiles will attest.

One here.

One there.

A mere 17,000 or 18,000 a night.

But people are talking, which, considering the state of the franchise three weeks ago, is the next best thing to being there.

“Break up the Angels,” Barry Melrose quipped to reporters after his Kings completed a Thursday afternoon workout. This is the new and revised usage of the phrase, referring to something other than Whitey Herzog’s tenure as Angel director of player personnel.

On the morning of April 22, 1993, the Angels occupied first place in the American League West. I saw it. You saw it. Initially, we all blamed the post office--another April Fool’s joke, lost in the mail.

But there they are again today, their reign extended for a second consecutive day by a third consecutive rout of the Cleveland Indians.

That makes them 9-4, now a full game ahead of the second-place Texas Rangers. As a team, they are hitting .301, averaging six runs per game. As an individual, J.T. Snow is out-Wallying Wally Joyner ‘86, his six home runs reducing that 7-year-old memory to Wally Third World by comparison.

Basically, the Angels have spent 13 games terrorizing half the pitching staffs in the American League East. Of course, those pitching staffs belong to Milwaukee, Cleveland and Detroit, which goes a long way toward solving this mystery.

Milwaukee and Cleveland rank 13th and 14th in team earned-run average and Detroit twice has scored 20 runs, out of force of habit. The Angels have seen only one top-line staff so far, Baltimore’s, and lost two of three to the Orioles.

But two days in first place are two more than anyone expected from this expansion team in classically redesigned clothing, a vantage point last visited by the Angels on the eve of the 1991 All-Star break.

Doug Rader knows what happened after that.

So far, this test sample has been a best-case scenario for Herzog’s beleaguered front-office staff.

Snow, the lone tangible evidence that Jim Abbott once slept here, had to hit, right away, if the lynch mob was to be stopped this side of Orangewood. Well, check these numbers: .383, six home runs, 17 RBIs. Or just gauge him this week: three days, three games, four home runs. The kingdom, for the time being, has been spared.

The Bryan Harvey-less bullpen, which torched Diablo Stadium throughout March, either had to pull together or Mark Langston and Chuck Finley had to throw 70 complete games. So Julio Valera tweaks his elbow, is consigned to the bullpen to work himself back into shape--and the Angels, by committee, now only trail Harvey by a single save, his four to their three.

Rene Gonzales, thrown the third-base job after the Angels traded Luis Sojo for a torn rotator cuff, has been .270-steady at the plate and a surrogate Kelly Gruber in the field.

And the not-ready-for-prime-time kids--Tim Salmon, Damion Easley, Chad Curtis, Gary DiSarcina--have been noticeable improvements over their predecessors, Von Hayes, Bobby Rose, Junior Felix and Dick Schofield, which sounds like damning praise, I know.

But therein lies the difference between this Angel team and last year’s motley lot, regardless of won-lost records. This could just be another fluke start--the ’92 Angels opened 17-13 en route to 72-90--but even if it is, these Angels will return to earth with younger and better players at a minimum of four everyday positions.

This time last season, Lee Stevens was at first base, wishing Joyner had never been born, and Hayes was in right field, wishing he was anywhere else, preferably with fishing rod and six-pack at his feet.

Stevens didn’t drive in his 17th run until June 26--two months behind Snow’s 1993 pace. Hayes hit two home runs in 50 games, then got released. Salmon has three home runs in one-fourth the time.

Last April, Felix was in center, driving Herzog crazier with every warning-track fly, and Rose was at second base, driving fans in the first-base dugout seats for cover.

Now, Curtis patrols the outer limits of the Big A outfield--still no Devon White, he steals enough bases and flags down enough baseballs to earn his keep--and Easley is turning double-play pivots without turning them into automatic two-base errors.

It’s a fresher look, one that resembles an authentic blueprint instead of a failed arts-and-crafts project that was last year’s roster. Those ’92 Angels, where are they now? Hayes--out of baseball. Rose--out of the organization. Felix--a Florida Marlin. Stevens--a Syracuse Chief.

Check back next April. If Salmon, Easley, Curtis and Snow are ex-Angels then, you can bet another will be named Herzog.

I’d still like this team a good deal better with Abbott getting the ball every fifth day and Harvey getting it in the ninth inning. I suspect Buck Rodgers will, too, once the Torontos and the Minnesotas start replacing the Clevelands and the Milwaukees on the schedule and the novelty of April fades into the day-to-day drudgery of July and August. The starting rotation remains “Mark and Chuck and press your luck” and, in Anaheim, “bullpen closer” still refers to the guy who shuts the gate. The young lineup has yet to face a Clemens or a Viola--and guess who’s coming to dinner this weekend?

So the Orange County populace remains cautious.

So the Orange County populace, by and large, remains at home on baseball nights at Anaheim Stadium.

Right now, Angel fans are in a show-me state. They have heard the rumor-- Psst, the Angels are playing hard, pass it on --but, remember, it took 32 years, 2,600 defeats and a million jilts before those hearts made a clean break.

It will take more than 13 games for them to heal.