Finley Goes Down, Angels Knocked Out

Buck Rodgers thought he had figured out the key to Chuck Finley’s early season struggles and it didn’t take all his years of expertise or hours of studying videotape to reach the diagnosis.

“When Chuck gets behind, they sit on his fastball,” the Angel manager said, “and when you’re always 2-0 and 3-1 in the count, I don’t care if you’re Sandy Koufax, it’s pretty hard to pitch.

“And so far, he’s just had one bad inning that’s hurt him.”

Wednesday night, Rodgers’ theory proved half right. Baltimore got to Finley for four runs in the sixth inning en route to a 13-1 victory in front of 20,569 at Anaheim Stadium.

But it wasn’t because Finley couldn’t find the strike zone.

Finley, making his 200th career start in a light misting rain, struck out seven and walked only one, but he gave up three home runs, the most homers he’s allowed in exactly a year. The Yankees hit four homers against Finley last April 27.

“Anyone who doesn’t understand what the count means to hitters, doesn’t understand this game,” Rodgers said.

On this evening, the Orioles either didn’t quite get it or didn’t much care. Mike Devereaux hit a bases-empty homer in the fourth inning on a 1-2 pitch. Rafael Palmiero had a slight advantage in the count (2-1) when he led off the sixth with a prodigious homer over the 386 sign in right-center. Chris Hoiles’ two-run shot to left two batters later came off Finley’s first pitch.

“I thought we had a pretty good ballgame going through five,” Rodgers said. “How mistaken I was.”

Making light of the heavy air, Baltimore pounded out a club-record 11 extra-base hits. In Finley’s previous three starts, the Angels lost by one run. This time, that sort of disappointment wasn’t much of a prospect after the sixth inning.

“I felt pretty good about the way he was pitching,” Rodgers said. “He was getting ahead of guys and had made 20 or 25 fewer pitches in the early innings than he had been. He was going along good and then the . . . hit the fan.”

Is Rodgers concerned?

“I think it’s time to sit down and talk about some things, to look at some film,” he said. “We need to talk about how he feels, go over the thought process involved.”

The game became out of reach--and nearly out of control--in the seventh inning when Scott Lewis came out of the Angel bullpen and gave up a single to Jeff Hammonds, a double to Palmiero and a a three-run homer by Cal Ripken--on 1-1 pitch--that hit the top of the short fence in the left-field corner.

Lewis was gone before he recorded an out . . . and before Rodgers had a chance to make a pitching change. Lewis hit Hoiles in the helmet with an 0-2 fastball and was ejected. Hoiles appeared unfazed and jumped immediately to his feet, but both benches and bullpens emptied, even Angel bullpen catcher Mick Billmeyer trotted out with a cast on his left arm.

Maybe the turf was too soggy, but the usually obligatory rugby scrum never materialized and the Angels went quietly into the damp night, still clinging to a share of first place in the American League West with a 9-13 record.

The Orioles put together three consecutive doubles with two outs in the eighth inning and handed Ben McDonald a nice little double-figure advantage going into the eighth. They made it a dozen going into the ninth when Brady Anderson hit his third homer in two games--on a 2-2 Joe Grahe delivery.

McDonald, who became the first pitcher in the American League to earn his fifth victory, allowed the first runner he faced in the game to score and yielded four hits in the first three innings. But he settled down and allowed just two baserunners in the next three innings and retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh innings.

Finley, who apparently was attempting to heed Rodgers’ advice, jumped ahead of each hitter in the first inning, but still managed to prove he’s his worst enemy. He had leadoff hitter Anderson 0-2 before giving up a single to right. Anderson stole second and ended up on third when Finley’s errant pickoff throw went into center field.

Finley, who was the victim when Billy Hatcher stole home Friday night in Boston, was pitching from the stretch this time, but Ripken’s bloop single put the Orioles ahead, 1-0.