Angels’ Ace Wins the Hand

There was a message to this madness, and it was found in the sheer dominance of pitcher Chuck Finley, who threw a four-hitter with a season-high 13 strikeouts Sunday to lead the Angels to an 8-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners before 22,916 in Anaheim Stadium.

And in the fourth-inning grand slam that Angel third baseman Dave Hollins poked off the right-field foul pole, turning a four-run game--hardly an insurmountable deficit for Seattle--into a blowout.

And in the monster of a 424-foot home run that Darin Erstad mashed off Seattle left-hander Jeff Fassero in the third, the first homer by a left-handed batter off Fassero in more than three years.

And in the perfectly executed relay from left fielder Tony Phillips to shortstop Gary DiSarcina to catcher Todd Greene to cut down Jay Buhner at the plate in the second.

“We had to send these guys a message that we’re not going anywhere,” Erstad said after the Angels took two of three games from Seattle. “We’re not going to hide. We’re going to be in this thing to the end.”

And to think, on Saturday the Angels were trailing the Mariners, 4-1, in the eighth inning. Then Tim Salmon hit a game-tying, three-run homer and Gary DiSarcina won it with an RBI single in the ninth.

Then Finley throws his best game of the season in the twilight Sunday, and instead of being 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Mariners, the Angels are 4 1/2 back entering the second half.

“I can’t think of a better way to go into the [All-Star] break,” Manager Terry Collins said. “We got an absolutely tremendous performance from Chuck. If we’re going to contend we need our horse to get after it in the second half. Against that kind of team, that is some kind of outing.”

Finley trudged through most of the first half, mixing an occasional outstanding start with mostly awful outings. The 6-foot-6 left-hander and supposed ace of the staff was 3-6 with a 5.71 earned-run average entering last week.

But a slight adjustment in his delivery--he cut his stride down so his pitches would have more of a downhill angle--and a pep talk from DiSarcina last weekend helped snap him out of his funk.

Finley pitched 7 1/3 innings of five-hit, one-run ball to beat Colorado on Tuesday in the hitter’s haven that is Coors Field, and he followed with Sunday’s 133-pitch gem, his 13th shutout and Seattle’s first at the hands of a lefty since Finley’s 9-0 victory on Sept. 15, 1992.

“I had everything going,” said Finley, who improved to 5-6, lowered his ERA to 4.89 and received a standing ovation afterward, “and I got them to swing at my pitches.”

Those would be his fastball, which Finley moved around in the strike zone; and his forkball, which started about waist-level but darted into the dirt before hitters could check their swings.

Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez entered Sunday’s game with a .315 average, 12 homers and 42 RBIs. Finley struck him out three times.

Ken Griffey Jr. (.309, 30 homers, 84 RBIs) and Edgar Martinez (.346, 16 homers, 66 RBIs) are two of baseball’s best hitters. Both struck out twice.

“I don’t think he threw one pitch above the knees,” Rodriguez said. “When his split-finger is working like that, he’s tough to deal with.”

The Angels scored in the first inning on Hollins’ RBI fielder’s choice and added two runs in the third on home runs by Erstad and Salmon--his third in as many games--to take a 3-0 lead off Fassero, who hadn’t given up a homer to a lefty since Barry Bonds’ shot in San Francisco on June 30, 1994, a span covering 86 starts and 571 2/3 innings.

Fassero then suffered a mild sprain of his right ankle when his spikes got caught on the infield turf while he was fielding Craig Grebeck’s bunt single, which loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning.

Josias Manzanillo replaced Fassero and got DiSarcina to pop to second and struck out Tony Phillips, and there was a sinking feeling in the Angel dugout. They had failed to score after loading the bases in the top of the ninth inning June 29 and lost to Seattle, 3-2.

But Erstad walked on a full-count pitch to force in a run, and Hollins hit the second grand slam of his career on Manzanillo’s next pitch, and the Angels were breathing a lot easier.