Hey, Don’t Forget Grimsley

Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann was merely looking for some equal time. The conversation after the Angels’ 1-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night was veering too much toward Yankee pitcher Kenny Rogers, so Lachemann yanked the steering wheel back toward his starter.

“Rogers has been one of the league’s best pitchers in the past few years, but really, we should be talking more about Jason Grimsley,” Lachemann said after Rogers walked Chili Davis with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning for the game’s only run.

“Rogers pitched a helluva game, but I believe Jason was the one with all the zeroes on the board.”

Yes, Jason Grimsley, the same guy who had an 0-3 record and 11.68 earned-run average in his last three starts, who described himself as “boneheaded” after his last loss and appeared ticketed for triple-A Vancouver this week, shut out the American League’s best hitting team on five hits and outdueled Rogers, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

It was the first shutout for Grimsley, who mixed an effective sinker and curveball with his fastball to induce 15 ground-ball outs before 17,284 in Anaheim Stadium.

Grimsley, hampered by control problems for much of his career, walked three, struck out three and allowed only two runners to reach third base only one night after the Yankees hammered the Angels, 16-5.

“It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?” Davis said, marveling at the game’s strange twists.

Grimsley, a free-spirited sort who was so upset after a recent loss in Boston that he shaved his head, didn’t attach much significance to his performance.

Asked what the shutout meant to him, the right-hander replied: “That I didn’t give up arun.”

Pressed to elaborate, Grimsley admitted it was “a good feeling, especially against a team with such an unbelievable offense.”

The Angels didn’t muster much offense against Rogers but used a little hustle and a little luck in the ninth inning to beat him for the first time since June 28, 1991.

Rogers, who has a 9-2 lifetime record against the Angels, took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, but Garret Anderson led off with a soft single to center, just out of shortstop Andy Fox’s reach.

Anderson was eventually erased on an inning-ending double play, keeping Rogers’ shutout intact, but that changed in the ninth.

Rex Hudler sent a one-out grounder to Fox, who was spelling starter Derek Jeter for the evening, but Fox’s throw pulled first baseman Tino Martinez off the bag and Hudler was ruled safe. Replays showed Hudler was out.

“The minute I saw [Tino’s] foot leave the bag, I started to get excited,” Hudler said. “I just said, ‘Stay in the air. Give me a little Michael Jordan hang time.’ It was close, but I run like that on routine outs all the time. Infielders know they’re going to have to make a good throw.”

Randy Velarde then flared a double off the end of his bat to right field, with Hudler stopping at third.

Rogers intentionally walked Tim Salmon to load the bases but didn’t come close to the strike zone on his four pitches to Davis, who drew the game-winning walk.

“I knew he had to throw three perfect pitches or give up the run,” Davis said. “All the pressure was on him. Once it got to 3-0, he figured I was swinging, that there was no way I was going to take a fastball down the middle.”

Did Davis have the green light on the 3-0 pitch?

“I’m not telling,” he said.

Lachemann also wouldn’t say for sure whether Grimsley had saved his job, in jeopardy because of Mark Langston’s scheduled return to the rotation Friday night, but it will be difficult to remove Grimsley after Tuesday night’s performance.

Grimsley finally harnessed command of his curveball and sinker and control of his fastball to shut down the Yankees and improve to 3-4.

It was the Angels’ first shutout of the season and the first 1-0 game between the Angels and Yankees since Nolan Ryan outdueled Ron Guidry on May 2, 1979.

Yankee Manager Joe Torre also did his part to keep Grimsley out of harm’s way. The Yankees had a chance to snap the scoreless tie in the top of the seventh inning, but a questionable decision by Torre probably cost them a run.

Jim Leyritz led off with a double to left field, but Torre inexplicably had Mariano Duncan, the team’s No. 7 hitter, swing away--instead of bunt--on the first pitch.

Duncan grounded to shortstop, forcing Leyritz to hold at second. Ruben Rivera then lined to center field, a drive that probably would have scored Leyritz had he been sacrificed to third. Grimsley then retired Fox on a grounder.