Indians Can’t Handle Finley

The flu-like symptoms hit Chuck Finley at dinner Saturday night, and the Angel left-hander was suffering from a cough, stuffy head and body aches when he cut his pregame warmup short Sunday.

“He was in trouble,” bullpen catcher Mick Billmeyer said. “He looked like he was hurting.”

Finley’s assessment was even more harsh. “I was pretty pathetic,” he said. “It seemed like the plate was too far away. When I left the bullpen the guys looked at me and said, ‘Geez, that’s it? That’s all you got?’ ”

A few hours later it was the Cleveland Indians who were feeling sick. Even on an empty tank, Finley blanked one of baseball’s hottest teams for 7 1/3 innings, leading the Angels to a 12-1 victory before 42,555 in Jacobs Field.

The Angels unleashed five games’ worth of frustration against the Indians, their 14-hit attack featuring two bases-empty home runs by Tim Salmon, a three-run homer by Jim Edmonds and a solo shot by Dave Hollins, and they dealt Cleveland its most lopsided loss in the five-year history of Jacobs Field.

The Indians’ five-game winning streak over the Angels ended because they got to right-hander Jaret Wright for seven runs and seven hits in three innings, and because Finley gave up seven hits, walked one and struck out four, improving to 2-0 and lowering his earned-run average to 0.77.

“What a great day to get 12 runs,” Finley said. “Lach [pitching coach Marcel Lacheman] said he hasn’t seen me warm up like that in a long time, but I had to pitch as if I had great stuff. It’s a mental game. You have to make it look like you’ve got things under control.

“I’m sure the Indians would tell you they’ve seen me pitch better, but I had some luck on my side today. I got away with some mistakes that usually get hammered.”

Good pitching and good hitting--their four-run rally in the second inning came with two outs--were the biggest factors in the Angel victory, but good fortune also played a part.

The Angels scored two runs in the first when first baseman Jim Thome threw high and wide to Wright, who was covering first on Garret Anderson’s bases-loaded, two-out grounder.

They turned a double play by accident in the seventh, when Pat Borders’ grounder up the middle hit second baseman Norberto Martin on his throwing hand and caromed directly to shortstop Gary DiSarcina at the bag. Martin turned toward center field to look for the ball, and he didn’t even see DiSarcina scoop it up, step on second and fire to first.

“It was good to see the ball bounce our way against that team,” DiSarcina said. “We finally got some breaks.”

Salmon was glad to get a chance to flex his muscles. He walked and scored in his first three at-bats before homering in the seventh and ninth innings.

He set a club record by scoring five runs, and his 12th multiple-homer game moved him into second place on the Angels’ all-time home run list with 158. Darin Erstad, also suffering from flu, singled and doubled to extend his hitting streak to 11 before being taken out in the sixth.

Martin had three hits, Anderson had two hits, and Cecil Fielder, who was battling a two-for-27 slump, hit a two-run double in the fourth.

“Those guys have been in a coma--everything they did was right,” Fielder said of the Indians. “But we showed that we can do the same thing. It was a good day for us.”

It didn’t end so well for Angel muscle therapist Bill Lesuer, though. The Angels, both exhilarated and relieved by their first victory over the Indians this season, celebrated by pulling what’s known as a “Three-Man Lift” on Lesuer.

The old prank ended with players dousing Lesuer in the shower area with shaving cream, shampoo, salad dressing, catsup, mayonnaise and mustard.

“It’s been hard losing like we’ve been,” catcher Matt Walbeck said. “But it’s fun to let loose once in a while.”