Boskie’s Fight for Respect Gets Him Pain, No Decision

Angel starter Shawn Boskie threw a body-block at the Oakland Athletics Thursday, and chipped two teeth for his trouble.

He threw mostly strikes at the Seattle Mariners Saturday, and watched the Angel bullpen butcher his victory.

Suffice to say, it’s been a tough week for the right-hander, trying to earn respect from his new teammates and a spot in the rotation.

Certainly he got the Angels’ attention by charging into the midst of Thursday’s bench- and bullpen-clearing brawl with the A’s.

And Saturday’s no-decision notwithstanding, he’s pitched better than expected.

After a rocky first inning, he settled into a groove, limiting the Mariners to three runs and six hits with two strikeouts and one walk in six innings.

The Angel offense bailed him out of his early, 3-0, hole, building a 5-3 lead by the time he retired the side in order in the sixth inning. Boskie gave way for reliever Russ Springer to start the seventh.

Two batters later, Springer was gone and so was the Angel lead. Luis Sojo’s two-run homer evened the score, 5-5, and Boskie no longer figured in the decision.

Thursday’s decision was strictly a KO in favor of Oakland pitcher Jim Corsi, whose body Boskie attempted to block just as the rumble began. Sprinting from his seat in the Angel dugout, Boskie crashed into Corsi and the scrum was on.

It was a shocking move for the usually mild-mannered Boskie.

But there was a method to his madness--he wanted to prove his toughness.

“I’ve been on plenty of teams where pitchers were accused of not protecting players and being gutless,” said Boskie, a former Cub, Phillie and Mariner who signed with the Angels as a free agent on March 5.

“I’m not saying that’s how I felt at the time,” he said. “But that was a clear case of a guy getting hit because one of their guys did. I definitely want guys to feel like I’m fighting for them.

“It’s not a selfish thing, but when you keep hearing how bad our division is supposed to be and how we’re supposed to finish last, it adds up. We’re not here to be walked on.”

So far, no one in the Angel clubhouse can question his determination. His wisdom perhaps, but not his determination. His results out on the mound aren’t bad either.

“He did a good job of keeping us in the game,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said of Saturday’s start. “He kind of got shocked in that first inning--bang, bang, bang.”

Ken Griffey Jr. will do that to a pitcher. His two-out opposite-field solo homer started the Mariners’ three-run first. Jay Buhner followed with a double and Edgar Martinez homered.

Boskie didn’t fold, kept cool but didn’t stop fighting.

“The first inning, he wasn’t putting the ball where he wanted,” said catcher Greg Myers, whose two-run homer led the Angels to a 7-5 victory. “But then he started hitting his spots and did real well.”

In the end, Lachemann looked at Boskie’s pitch count, which reached 88, and his velocity, which dropped five m.p.h. by the sixth, and decided the right-hander had had enough.