21-Hour Journey to Euphoria : Baseball: New Angel pitcher Brian Anderson’s only trouble is getting to Milwaukee, where he is brilliant in 8 1/3 innings, beating Brewers, 4-1.

Brian Anderson groggily reached for the telephone, peeked at his alarm clock, and at 5:50 in the morning, listened to that familiar voice on the line.

“Honey, it’s time to get up. It’s time to get ready to pitch.”

It was his mother, Janice Anderson, calling from Geneva, Ohio, telling her son that in seven hours he would be pitching in the major leagues for the California Angels.

“I thought I was back in my Little League days,” Anderson said, understandably forgetting that he was in a strange Minneapolis hotel room. “I was getting flashbacks. It was like, ‘OK, who are we playing today?’ ”

In what turned out to be a zany 21-hour journey that belonged in a John Candy movie--traveling from Vancouver to Seattle to Denver to Minneapolis to Milwaukee--Anderson somehow found himself on the pitcher’s mound at Milwaukee County Stadium.

The next thing he knew, Anderson was pitching the game of his life, mesmerizing the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-1, in front of 11,860 fans wondering where in the world this 21-year-old came from.

Anderson, who was pitching for Wright State University in Ohio at this time a year ago, retired 17 consecutive batters at one point. He came within two outs of a shutout, and left after yielding five hits in 8 1/3 innings, throwing 122 pitches.

“For a guy who only got four hours’ sleep and got snowed in in Denver,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers joked, “he pitched a pretty damn good ballgame, don’t you think?”

Anderson’s first major league victory came in only his sixth professional start and ninth pro appearance of any kind. His teammates celebrated the occasion by drenching him in beer, and the coaching staff presented him with the official lineup sheet.

His last victory?

Eastern Illinois in the Mid-Continent Conference.

Anderson originally was scheduled to be pitching against the Salt Lake Buzz of the Pacific Coast League today, but when Mark Langston was placed on the disabled list, he got the call to come as soon as possible.

He rushed from Nat Bailey Stadium to his apartment in Vancouver to pack his bags, barely made it in time to the airport, and then all the fun began.

He took a flight from Vancouver to Seattle with no problems. But the next leg--from Seattle to Denver--was delayed by a snowstorm in Denver. He arrived in Denver 10 minutes after his connection to Milwaukee left.

There he was, stranded in the crowded terminal at Denver Stapleton Airport, wondering what in the world he was going to do.

The last flight to Milwaukee was gone. The next flight wasn’t leaving until Sunday morning, and it was arriving at 2 p.m.--one hour after game time.

Anderson had no choice but to call Angel traveling secretary Frank Sims. He alerted him of his dilemma. Sims was making sure that Anderson understood the magnitude of the situation.

Replied Sims: “You have to be here tomorrow! You’re pitching!”

Anderson: “What can I do, the last flight already left.”

Sims: “Well, rent a car and drive.”

Anderson: “From Denver?”

“I think I made him a nervous wreck,” Anderson said.

While Anderson scrambled to find alternative plans, the Angels quickly made contingency plans. Rodgers decided that if Anderson couldn’t make it, reliever Scott Lewis would be given the start. Bill Sampen would follow in relief. Then Craig Lefferts. Then, who knows?

Anderson, pleading his case to understanding airline officials, was put on a flight that arrived in Minneapolis at 1 a.m. He was in his hotel room at 2. Asleep at 2:30. Awakened at 5:50. On a plane to Milwaukee at 7:30. And sitting alone in the Angel clubhouse at 9:15, 1 1/2 hours before the arrival of the team bus.

“I was working on pure adrenaline,” said Anderson, who last pitched in a game 10 days ago, against the Colorado Rockies’ triple-A team. “I just kept reading every magazine and newspaper I could find until everyone got here.”

By the time the game ended, Anderson found himself swarmed by reporters, teased by teammates, and wondering if life can get any better than this.

“I couldn’t have been prouder of him today,” said Langston, who will be examined today to determine if he must undergo elbow surgery.

“It was unbelievable the way he went out there and picked us up. I couldn’t have gone out there and done a better job.”

What did Langston tell Anderson after the game?

“Don’t do it again,” Lewis joked.

Said Langston: “I just told him he better keep pitching like that, too, because I’ll be back.”