Angels Can’t Get Reed on Brewers in 5-1 Loss

Jody Reed listened all winter to friends calling him stupid. He watched a newscast accuse him of being greedy. Even his own family had difficulty understanding the decision.

While Reed may forever be ridiculed for turning down $7.8 million from the Dodgers, the second-guessing Friday night was focused on the guys across the field.

Reed put on a dazzling exhibition in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-1 victory over the Angels before 8,788 at County Stadium, leaving the Angels wondering why he wasn’t playing for them.

There was Reed going two for three with three runs batted in. There was Reed turning three double plays. There was Reed diving across second base, robbing Bo Jackson of a single and single-handedly stopping a rally.

There was Manager Buck Rodgers wishing he was an Angel.

“He was the star of the game,” Rodgers said. “He did absolutely everything out there. He definitely would have been a nice guy to have.

“Quite frankly, I didn’t even know he was available at the time he signed with Milwaukee. When you’re told one day that he’s looking for three years at $8.5 million, and a couple of days later he’s signing a minor league contract at $350,000, something’s not right.

“I’d have thought that we definitely would have been interested at that point.”

And Reed was quite interested in the Angels. When the Dodgers acquired second baseman Delino DeShields in November, Reed began scouring the country for a job. The Angels were one of the first teams he called.

It seemed to be a natural fit. The Angels were moving Damion Easley to third base, and had no one else with experience. Instead, former General Manager Whitey Herzog chose to trade for Spike Owen and give Kevin Flora a shot at the job.

Owen quickly showed that he couldn’t handle the everyday job. Flora was not ready. And they had to start a frenzied search the last 10 days of spring for a second man, settling on a $605,000 platoon of Harold Reynolds and Rex Hudler.

It could have been Reed at $350,000.

“My agent called the Angels,” Reed said, “but it lasted about five seconds. Don’t ask me why, but they just had no interest.”

The Angels might have to pay the consequences, and starting Friday night, it appears they already have. Reed was as responsible as anyone for starter Phil Leftwich’s demise.

The Brewers took a 3-0 lead in the first inning after Reed’s two-out, two-run single up the middle, and had a 5-1 lead after Reed’s run-scoring single in the sixth. Brewer starter Ricky Bones never allowed the Angels back in the game, yielding six hits and one unearned run in 8 1/3 innings for the victory.

“The key of the game was getting defense from Jody Reed,” Bones said. “I think he makes our middle infield one of the best in the league.”

Reed, of course, thought he was just as valuable for the Dodgers. He figured he could have been their starting second baseman for the next three years, trying to terrorize the Giants. Now, he’s on a rebuilding team that is picked to finish last in the American League Central.

“I feel there’s a reason for everything,” Reed said. “Things will work out for the best. The only thing I ever wanted to do was play baseball, and that’s what I’m doing.

“There was a period of confusion there for a while, but that chapter is over. It’s time to move on. I don’t have anything to prove to anybody. It’s unfortunate a bad picture was created, but I don’t have a recourse.”

Reed will keep in touch with his former teammates, he says, and will harbor no grudges toward the organization. He played for the Dodgers for only a year, but still deeply cares for them.

“I feel sympathetic for Darryl (Strawberry),” he said. “Who cares what brought it on, or whose fault it is? He’s a human being who’s struggling. You don’t want to see anyone go through that.

“I don’t think any of us really knew what was going on with Darryl last year. It was like Darryl was on his own program. He just wasn’t around too much.

“You’ve got to feel for him.”

Reed says he just doesn’t need anyone to feel for him.