Patience a Virtue For Boskie

There was no eruption of obscenities, no questioning of anyone’s intelligence, not even a snarl. Only a hint of sarcasm was layered beneath the soft-spoken reply.

Shawn Boskie had allowed seven runs in managing to get only four outs, and the Angels had lost to Seattle, 15-3. Already showered and dressed, Boskie could have been halfway home. Instead, he was sitting in front of his locker, prepared to face the media music. So a radio reporter pushed a microphone under Boskie’s nose and asked, “Are you frustrated by the lack of offensive support?”

Somehow, Boskie managed a smile. “I think it might be asking for a lot to ask for 16 runs,” he said evenly.

The next day, sitting in the same spot, Boskie was smiling again, and shaking his head in amazement.

“I would just give the credit to God for that response,” he said. “It’s about humility. After a really tough game, anyone can be bitter and act like a jerk and supposedly it’s OK. But it’s times like those that really test your character.

“So when I get a lame-o question like that, I just think, ‘I guess he doesn’t know the right question to ask.’ It’s not like I have anything to be proud of or arrogant about. Any ability I have is a gift from God; you might as well be bragging about the color of your hair.”

Boskie’s turn-the-other-cheek approach has served him well lately, in the clubhouse and on the mound. His ability to take a whack without losing his poise has made him the most resilient of Angel starters.

He’s among the major league leaders in home runs allowed (23), and he has been knocked around in the early innings a number of times this season. But often he perseveres and sometimes wins games after surviving situations that would have sent most pitchers kicking and screaming to the showers.

He has allowed three or fewer runs in 11 of 17 starts and his earned-run average (4.68) is the lowest of any Angel starter. Boskie, who had never won more than seven games in a major league career that includes parts of seven seasons, leads the Angels with a 10-4 record.

“I wouldn’t say he’s been a surprise,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “He proved what he could do for this team last year. But this year, he’s carried it through, so in terms of consistency, yeah, he’s been a very pleasant surprise.”

Three key factors--other than his humility--have contributed to his success this season: A new aggressiveness, a new breaking ball and shark cartilage.

OK, let’s explore these in reverse order.

Shark cartilage?

Boskie has been ingesting it through a product he was introduced to by--here’s a surprise--Rex Hudler. Hudler, who used to wow teammates by eating bugs in the dugout, gave Boskie a diet supplement and Boskie says his once-aching right elbow hurts no more.

“Rex got me hooked,” Boskie said. “For the last three years, after 70 or 80 innings, my elbow would start feeling rusty and achy. This season, I’ve already thrown more than 120 innings, and my career high is only 130 in a season, and it doesn’t hurt at all, so you can’t argue with success.”

Loose joints are nice, but Boskie’s new curveball has probably played an even bigger role in his ability to hang around the mound longer. He has been basically a one-pitch pitcher--a 91-mph fastball--that bore little resemblance to anything Nolan Ryan used to unleash.

“I have an average to above-average major league fastball that I have above-average command of,” he said, “but I didn’t have an off-speed pitch and without something else in hitters’ minds, I didn’t really have much chance unless I was perfect.”

So Boskie went home to Scottsdale, Ariz., after the 1995 season carrying videotapes of some of baseball’s best curveballs and the men who threw them. Nights in front of the TV. Days at the Angels’ Arizona training facility.

“I watched David Cone and Roger Clemens, a whole bunch of guys with good curveballs, in slow motion, checking their arm angles and stuff,” he said. “Then I’d go to the instructional league three times a week and throw nothing but curveballs, experimenting with different grips and arm angles.

“After six weeks, I didn’t feel like there was any great revelation really, but I had started throwing this curveball that seemed to have a tighter spin and a better break.”

Boskie wasn’t ready to call the Angels and demand a long-term contract, but he continued to gain confidence after a pre-spring training workout with neighbors Tim Salmon and Damion Easley.

“I was throwing some [batting practice] to Salmon and Easley and I started getting some misses,” he said. “Then it was like, ‘Wow, maybe I’ve really got something.’ ”

Salmon has seen his share of curveballs, many of them considerably nastier than the ones Boskie was throwing that day, but he knew immediately that his buddy had increased his chances of extending his career.

“I told Shawn, ‘Hey, that’s a really decent breaking ball,’ ” Salmon said. “It had some snap. I had been telling him all along that he really needed something to keep hitters off his fastball, something he could throw for strikes, something to keep them guessing.”

Then spring training began and Boskie’s new curveball was a success. His strikeouts were up, his ERA was down and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Boskie was in his second spring with the Angels after signing a second minor-league contract.

“That first spring, I was ahead of a lot of guys because of the strike,” he said. “I had already been pitching and was ready when big league camp started.

“This spring was a little different. Over the winter, they had basically said, ‘Here’s who we’ve got, so if you have a job with another team, go ahead.’ My wife and I prayed about it and we felt like this is where we’re supposed to be, even if it didn’t make sense.”

Injuries to Steve Ontiveros and Phil Leftwich and Boskie’s spring flings--including that new curveball--earned him a starting job.

“That was the best spring of my life,” he said. “I really threw well, I struck out a lot of guys and felt like I was in command. I didn’t feel like I had to be on that razor’s edge, like I had to make every pitch a great pitch.”

The euphoria didn’t last too long, however. On April 15, he failed to protect a 9-1 lead over Seattle, the Angels lost, 11-10, and he was demoted to the bullpen.

“Even when I went to the bullpen, I felt like, ‘OK, this is a new chapter, but I can still contribute to this team and have success.’ ”

Boskie had pitched in relief before--with the Cubs in 1993 when he made 39 appearances and was 5-3 with a 3.43 ERA--but this latest journey to the hinterlands of middle relief earned him new respect for what he calls the “reliever mind-set.” And four victories to boot.

“There’s an immediacy to relieving,” Lachemann said, “and it obviously was good for Shawn.”

Lachemann was reluctant to move Boskie out of the bullpen, but injuries forced his hand. Boskie has pitched into the seventh inning in nine of his 13 starts since returning to the starting rotation May 21.

“Going to the bullpen helped me maintain that mentality of aggressiveness,” Boskie said. “Now, that’s not to say I want to be thrown to the bullpen every time I struggle . . . “

Given the state of the Angels’ starting pitching these days, that doesn’t seem likely. But it wouldn’t be the end of Boskie’s world, either.

“The most impressive thing about Shawn,” Salmon said, “is his ability to see himself realistically. He knows his limitations.

“There’s this sense of selflessness about him. Success and failure always seemed to be measured in numbers, but this guy has always given everything he has for the team.”

The Angels have yet to return the favor--Boskie makes $200,000 a year. A raise would be nice, he says, but he would rather see the Angels’ numbers improve. And you believe him.

“The most important thing for me is help the team win,” he said. “That really makes you feel so good about yourself.”