BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Langston Hasn’t Forgotten Mariners

Pitcher Mark Langston lost the most important game of his life--the one-game playoff against Seattle to determine the 1995 American League West title--but he hasn’t lost his sense of humor about it.

When Seattle’s Luis Sojo came up against Langston in the first inning of Tuesday’s Angel-Mariner exhibition in Peoria, Ariz., Langston turned to first baseman J.T. Snow and said, “Watch the line.”

It was Sojo’s seventh-inning, broken-bat, bases-loaded double that took a quirky bounce past Snow and down the line Oct. 2, breaking open a 1-0 game and propelling the Mariners to a 9-1 victory.

That play ended with a dejected Langston flat on his back at home plate, staring at the Kingdome ceiling after four runs scored, but Langston could joke about it Tuesday.

“I got a good laugh out of it,” Snow said of Langston’s remark. “It was like deja vu.”

Langston looked sharp against Seattle, pitching three hitless innings in a 14-8 victory. The Angels hit six home runs, including two by left fielder Garret Anderson, to remain undefeated (5-0-1) in Cactus League play. Jim Edmonds, Tim Salmon, George Arias and Ricky Jordan added homers.

Langston says he is not haunted by the playoff loss, but Manager Marcel Lachemann admitted having flashbacks Tuesday.

“What do you think, I live in a vacuum?” Lachemann said. “It’s spring training, but seeing a Mariner uniform reminds you they’re the team we have to beat. Texas should be good, but Seattle is defending the title, and they have a very good team.”

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The only Angel to win a Cy Young Award and the pitcher who had the best season in team history was in camp Tuesday. Nolan Ryan? Frank Tanana? Nope.

It was Dean Chance, a right-hander who went 20-9 with a 1.65 earned-run average, 207 strikeouts, 11 shutouts and 15 complete games in 1964. Chance was scored upon in only 35 of 278 innings and shut out the Mickey Mantle-led New York Yankees three times.

“Everything went right that year,” said Chance, who will work with Angel pitchers for two weeks. “We had a great defense that year, with Bobby Knoop at second and Jim Fregosi at shortstop. I got a lot of breaks.”

Chance, who is retired and living in Wooster, Ohio, was an iron man, averaging 243 innings and 10 complete games a year in his final five Angel seasons (1962-66).

He can’t understand why today’s pitchers, with advanced training techniques and conditioning programs, have so much trouble completing games.

“I never lifted weights, I never put ice on my shoulder, we never heard of that stuff,” said Chance, 55. “To me, the only way to get in shape was by pitching. I played basketball in the off-season.”

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In Nike’s Ken Griffey for President commercials, Griffey says America needs a president “who can hit a Mark Langston overhand curveball.” Langston threw an overhand curve to Griffey Tuesday. “He popped it up,” Langston said. . . . Third baseman Tim Wallach was a last-minute scratch because of a strained left hamstring. The injury is not believed to be serious. . . . Infielder Damion Easley has yet to appear in a Cactus League game because of a shoulder injury. He is throwing regularly but doesn’t have the arm strength to throw with much velocity. . . . The Angels roughed up former teammate Mike Butcher, with four runs on five hits off the Mariner right-hander Tuesday.