Bullpen Gets Its Job Done for the Angels

Life after Lee Smith in the Angel bullpen went pretty smoothly Friday night. Knuckleballer Dennis Springer, who replaced the injured Smith on the roster Thursday, threw two scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox in his Angel debut.

Mark Holzemer, the team’s only left-hander, did his job, striking out left-handed batting Robin Ventura to end the seventh, Mark Eichhorn pitched a scoreless eighth and new closer Troy Percival struck out two in a scoreless ninth.

There was only one little problem: The game was tied after five innings and the Angels failed to dent the White Sox bullpen, the score remaining 6-6 through 10 innings.

The Angels threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with one out on singles by J.T. Snow and Garret Anderson and a walk to pinch-hitter Jack Howell.

But White Sox reliever Bill Simas, a former Angel who was one of four players acquired in July’s Jim Abbott trade, got Jorge Fabregas to pop to shortstop and Gary DiSarcina to ground out to end the inning.

Of all the strong relief outings--including a scoreless 10th by Mike James--Springer’s may have been the most impressive.

Called up from triple-A Vancouver on Thursday, Springer completely baffled the White Sox with his knuckleball, retiring six of the seven batters he faced--two on strikeouts--after relieving starter Shawn Boskie in the fifth inning of a 6-6 game.

After fouling off four of Springer’s dancing, darting deliveries, Chicago shortstop Ozzie Guillen looked at Fabregas, the Angel catcher, and began laughing. He popped to center on the next pitch.

After striking out in the seventh inning, White Sox designated hitter Danny Tartabull, who earlier homered and doubled, walked to the dugout shaking his head, wondering what he had missed.

Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann then summoned Holzemer to face Ventura, who homered in his previous at-bat. But Ventura struck out to end the inning. Eichhorn then pitched a scoreless eighth before giving way to Percival to start the ninth.

Percival recorded two quick outs but ran into some trouble when he hit Harold Baines in the leg and walked Tartabull. A quick visit to the mound by pitching coach Chuck Hernandez settled Percival, who appeared to be overthrowing, and the right-hander struck out Ventura on three pitches.

Neither starter, Chicago’s Jason Bere nor Boskie, were involved in the decision, which seemed fitting--neither really deserved to be.

Bere, trying to rebound from a dismal 8-15 season after going 12-5 in 1993 and 12-2 in ‘94, lasted only 3 1/3 innings in his first ’96 start. The Angels knocked the right-hander around for six runs on eight hits, including successive home runs by Jim Edmonds and Tim Salmon in the fourth.

But Boskie did little with the support, giving up six runs on 10 hits, including home runs by Ray Durham, Tartabull and Ventura, in 4 2/3 innings.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the second on Fabregas’ RBI single and DiSarcina’s RBI double, but Durham’s bases-empty blast to right field in the third and Tartabull’s two-run shot to center in the fourth put the White Sox ahead, 3-2.

Chicago went on to load the bases in the fourth on singles by Ron Karkovice and Guillen, and Tony Phillips’ walk. Darren Lewis singled to center for one run and a 4-2 lead, but center fielder Edmonds cut down Guillen with a strong throw to the plate to end the inning.

Fabregas walked to start the Angels’ fourth-inning rally, which included Randy Velarde’s single, Edmonds’ three-run homer that landed deep in the White Sox’s right-field bullpen, and Salmon’s homer to center, and gave the Angels a 6-4 lead--which slipped through Boskie’s hands again on Ventura’s home run in the fifth.

* CAREW TAKES LEAVE

Rod Carew left the Angels to be with his daughter Michelle, who is experiencing complications in her battle with leukemia. C5