Angels’ Battery Is Now Charged

Former Philadelphia star Steve Carlton had Tim McCarver. Yankee left-hander Andy Pettitte had Jim Leyritz. Atlanta ace Greg Maddux has Eddie Perez. And now Angel pitcher Allen Watson has Chad Kreuter, his own personal catcher.

Angel Manager Terry Collins isn’t exactly sure why Watson and Kreuter have hit it off, but after Thursday’s 8-4 victory over the Oakland A’s before 10,827 in the Oakland Coliseum, he wasn’t about to mess with the combination.

Watson gave up four runs--three in the seventh--and only four hits in six-plus innings and struck out a career-high eight to improve to 8-5, including seven wins in his last nine starts.

And apparently, it’s no coincidence Watson’s surge began right around the time Kreuter was acquired in a trade May 18 with the Chicago White Sox. Watson is 6-1 with a 2.20 earned-run average with Kreuter catching, and 2-4 with a 7.76 ERA with non-Kreuters behind the plate.

“Sometimes stats are overrated, but there’s something about having a comfort zone when you’re pitching, and having confidence in a guy catching,” Collins said. “For some reason, the first time Chad caught him, they clicked. They have confidence in each other, so we’ll stay with it.”

Watson gave up a double and a single and walked Jose Canseco with the bases loaded in the first inning, but from then until the seventh he was almost untouchable, retiring 15 of 16 batters.

The Angels, meanwhile, gave him a seven-run cushion, with center fielder Jim Edmonds observing his first start in a week with a home run, a double and his first three-RBI game since May 18. Jack Howell and Kreuter homered in the sixth, and Tony Phillips had two doubles, a single and scored two runs.

Watson walked Canseco to start the seventh and gave up consecutive homers to Jason Giambi and Scott Spiezio before being pulled for Rich DeLucia, who pitched three hitless innings for his third save.

Watson relied on the same formula he has used in all of his successful starts, throwing most of his fastballs inside and his breaking pitches and change-ups away. Twice, he caught Mark McGwire, baseball’s home run leader, looking at called third strikes.

“I love catching a guy with his kind of stuff,” said Kreuter, who also had an RBI single in the second. “Left-handers make it fun because they can go at guys in a variety of ways, with soft or hard stuff. And he can spot his pitches inside or outside.”

Watson only hoped the Angels’ other catchers, Leyritz and Todd Greene, weren’t offended by his success with Kreuter.

“Nothing against Jim or Todd, but every pitch I want to throw Chad puts down the sign for,” Watson said. “That’s why we’ve been so good together. He knows what I want to do.”

This isn’t the first time Kreuter has been a personal catcher. As a rookie at Texas in 1989 he caught almost all of Nolan Ryan’s starts. And he was James Baldwin’s exclusive catcher in Chicago in 1996 before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

“A lot of managers frown on it because the pitcher starts relying on one catcher and then that catcher can get hurt,” Kreuter said. “But I look at it as a teaching tool. I know the league, so follow my lead.”

The Angels are 7-0 against the A’s this season, and Thursday’s victory assured them of their first season series edge over the A’s since 1986.

“We’ve been real lucky to have gotten some big hits off this club, and we’ve stayed away from letting the middle of their lineup hurt us,” Collins said. “You’ve got to pitch Canseco and McGwire inside. You can’t let them get their arms extended or they can do some damage.”