Their New Guy Lifts the Angels to New Heights

It’s hard to fathom the Angels needing a booster shot the way they’ve been playing, but that’s exactly what pitcher Jim Abbott provided Saturday night.

With their potent offense rendered practically punchless by noted Angel slayer Ricky Bones, Abbott countered with six shutout innings to lead the Angels to a 4-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers before a paid crowd of 31,630 in County Stadium.

Abbott, the ex-Angel and now the newest Angel after Thursday’s trade with the Chicago White Sox, gave up only four hits, all two-out singles, walked none and struck out three before leaving because of a blister on his middle finger.

Bones, who has given up four earned runs in his last four starts against the Angels--two this year and two last year--tired in the seventh, and the Angels pulled away with three eighth-inning runs, one on Tim Salmon’s 20th homer, against reliever Angel Miranda.

“We’ve always had a lot of problems scoring off Bones, so it was a big lift for Jim to pitch so well,” said shortstop Gary DiSarcina, whose run-scoring triple gave the Angels a 1-0 lead in the second.

“I think a lot of guys were set on us [trading for] a right-hander, but we’ve got a quality guy in Jim. He’s another guy in the rotation who can keep you in the game, plus he’s been around for six years and knows the league real well. Now, every night, we go out there knowing we have a chance to win.”

The Angels, who can sweep the four-game series from Milwaukee today, improved to 53-33, the first time they’ve been 20 games over .500 since the last day of the 1989 season, when they were 91-71.

They also pushed their lead in the American League West to 10 games, matching the franchise’s high-water mark for games ahead, achieved on Sept. 26, 1986, the day the Angels clinched the AL West title.

The Texas Rangers and Angels were tied for first at the All-Star break, but the Angels have made a mockery of the division race by winning 14 of 17 games while the Rangers have faded.

“But there’s a pennant race as long as there’s enough games to be caught,” Manager Marcel Lachemann warned. “It [the 10-game lead] doesn’t mean nothing right now. It’s fine to have, it’s a hell of a lot better than being 10 games behind, but you don’t go out there thinking you have a cushion.”

Having Abbott (7-4) in the rotation can’t hurt the Angels’ confidence heading into the final two months of the season, though. Abbott, who acknowledged being slightly nervous before the game, was a picture of poise during it.

He spotted his fastball on the corners, changed speeds well on breaking pitches, stayed low in the strike zone and worked ahead of most hitters.

“I wouldn’t label it as a great game,” Abbott said. “I would label it as memorable.”

So would catcher Jorge Fabregas, who has faced Abbott as a hitter and was aware of how the one-handed pitcher shifts his glove from his right arm to his left hand after his release, but was still awed by it Saturday night.

“It’s amazing how quick he puts that glove on his hand,” Fabregas said. “One guy hit a bullet back to the mound and he already had his glove on. He was amazing. He knew the hitters well, threw strikes, kept the ball low.”

DiSarcina believes the 1995 Abbott model is even better than the one who went 47-52 for the Angels from 1989-92.

“He seems to be a little more composed, confident, than he was in ‘92,” DiSarcina said. “If you got a hit off him then you could rattle him a little bit. Before, he’d get really upset at himself and be real hard on himself. But he’s real mature on the mound and made great pitches when he had to.”

The Angels backed Abbott with errorless defense, which included a great running basket catch by center fielder Jim Edmonds of Jeff Cirillo’s eighth-inning drive to the wall in left-center.

Relievers John Habyan, Bob Patterson and Troy Percival held the Brewers over the final three innings. Salmon, who had three hits, gave the Angels some breathing room with his eighth-inning homer, and the Angels added their final two runs on an error and Damion Easley’s RBI single, which scored Garret Anderson, who also had three hits.

“I didn’t want to come out of the game--Lach made the decision,” Abbott said. “But I can see why with this bullpen. They’re dynamite.

“Fabregas called a great game, the defense made some great plays. It’s nice to be on a team that has confidence in all aspects of the game.”

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Breaking Away

The Angels have turned a race into a runaway in the American League West since the All-Star game on July 11. A look at the standings then and now: AL WEST AT THE BREAK

Team W L Pct. GB Angels 39 30 .565 -- Texas 39 30 .565 -- Oakland 36 35 .507 4 Seattle 34 35 .493 5

AL WEST TODAY

Team W L Pct. GB Angels 53 33 .616 -- Texas 43 43 .500 10 Seattle 43 43 .500 10 Oakland 40 48 .455 14