Murray, Morris Help Indians Beat Angels

These guys aren’t supposed to be doing this any more. They already have had their World Series moments and All-Star games, and enough memories to last their grandchildren’s lives.

Eddie Murray should be staying home in Los Angeles working on his Hall of Fame speech, while Jack Morris should be retired on his farm in Montana. Neither should be involved in helping the Cleveland Indians to beat the Angels, 5-4, before 22,118 at Anaheim Stadium on Tuesday night.

While the two are only seven years shy of collecting their pension, they would like nothing more than to end their careers by putting a stop to Cleveland’s 40-year pennant drought.

There’s still a long way to go in the season, but there are the Cleveland Indians, sitting atop the American League Central Division.

The Indians, 5-1, are off to their best start since 1966, and the entire city of Cleveland believes that this indeed could be something special.

“This is the most explosive ballclub I’ve ever been on,” Murray said. “I knew nothing about this team when I got here, but these guys can play, and they know that.”

Murray, 38, an eight-time All-Star whom the New York Mets couldn’t trade to a contender last season, provided the decisive blow in the ninth-inning.

Angel reliever Joe Grahe, brought in to start the ninth, yielded a two-out single to left field by Carlos Baerga. Albert Belle popped up to shallow center, the ball falling in front of center fielder Chad Curtis.

That brought up Murray, who had already given Cleveland a 4-3 lead with his run-scoring single in the seventh. This time, he slapped a single up the middle, scoring Baerga, and it was all Cleveland needed.

Matt Turner, who reliever Morris at the start of the seventh, got the victory and Jose Mesa struck out pinch-hitter Greg Myers for the save.

The Angels overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first inning with a run-scoring double by Eduardo Perez in the second inning, and back-to-back run-scoring singles by Gary DiSarcina and Curtis in the fourth inning, but couldn’t get to Morris again.

Morris, 38, who needs surgery on the ligament in his right elbow, retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings. He left the game with a no-decision, yielding seven hits and three runs in six innings.

“He’s going to battle, borrow, cheat and steal to win a ballgame,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said of Morris. “I don’t agree with everything he’s ever said, but I’ll always respect him.

“He’s just going to keep throwing until his arm drops off. He’ll go until he needs an operation just so he can comb his hair the rest of his life.”

Said Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove: “I don’t like taking Jack out of a game anymore than he likes coming out. It just comes down to how much pain he can pitch with.”

Angel starter Chuck Finley barely warmed up before Cleveland had three runs and loaded the bases with Mark Lewis was at the plate. A hard grounder to shortstop DiSarcina averted a catastrophe and Finley was fine thereafter, yielding only four hits and one run over the next six innings until Murray disrupted his life.

Murray’s run-scoring single in the seventh gave the Indians a 4-3 lead that lasted until Angel designated hitter Chili Davis caught them trying to be a bit too fancy.

The Indians made a dramatic defensive shift to the right when he batted. But Davis, who is off to one of the finest starts of his big league career, made the Indians look foolish. He ripped a slicing drive into left field on Matt Turner’s first pitch. Edmonds scored easily to tie the score, and Davis had a double.

Davis, who is batting .469 with seven runs batted in, already has six multiple-hit games this season, one more than he produced all of last season.

“Maybe it’s an omen,” Davis said. “The last time I had a start like this was in ‘91, we won the World Series (with the Minnesota Twins).”

The Indians, of course, are thinking fast start, too.