Down the Stretch, Percival Knows He Must Persevere

Three of five in New York and two of three in Boston and now the Angels get a day off before returning to work Tuesday night in Cleveland, the final lap of a 10-game trip.

An 8-6 victory over the Red Sox Sunday provided another series win and another statement against another potential playoff rival on this confidence boosting, adrenaline-stoking trip that finds the Angels assured of returning to Anaheim on Thursday with the American League West lead.

“It’s been exciting to play up to the challenge,” shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “We’ve been able to answer the bell. I think in the past we would have been intimidated because we were young and inexperienced. There’s a different feeling now.

“We know we can play with teams of this caliber, but it only gets harder in Cleveland with [Bartolo] Colon and [Jaret] Wright pitching. I mean, these games have demanded so much intensity and concentration that I think the off day comes at a great time. We should be able to draw energy from it, a second wind.”

No one, perhaps, will benefit more from the off day than closer Troy Percival, who has had his own trip within the trip.

He has appeared in four of the eight games, saving three and preserving another victory in the non-save situation Friday night, when he gave up three runs in the ninth before closing out the 7-6 victory.

Frustrated by his performance in that game, and admittedly concerned about being used in a non-save situation at a time in the season when he has only so much ammunition left, Percival threw the game ball into the stands after the third out. He also exchanged words with pitching coach Marcel Lachemann, who was attempting to calm him down as he left the field.

He returned Sunday with more fashionable results.

In an economical 15-pitch performance, he struck out Darren Bragg, yielded a double to Scott Hatteberg, got Orlando Merced to pop up and struck out Darren Lewis. He threw only fastballs, all in the 92-to 95-mph range.

“My arm is really dead right now and I don’t want to waste any bullets,” he said. “I stayed with fastballs because it takes a lot of effort for me to throw breaking balls. I could have if I had needed to, but I didn’t need to.”

The save was his 38th, tying Tom Gordon of the Red Sox and John Wetteland of the Texas Rangers for the league lead. The dead arm? Nothing unusual.

“I go through it five or six times a year,” he said. “I’ve been up a lot and been in a lot of games. I won’t have to pick up a ball [today], and I’ll be fine Tuesday. I mean, we’re in a pennant chase right now and I’m not going to let a tired arm stop me. If it takes 75 appearances to get to the playoffs. . . . well, I don’t know where I’ll end up [appearance-wise], just so I end up in the postseason.”

Percival has pitched 58 2/3 innings in 57 appearances. He is certain to establish a career high for appearances, eclipsing the 62 of 1995 and ‘96, when he pitched 74 innings each year.

Those statistics, of course, don’t reflect the number of times he warmed up or the number of pitches thrown. Percival required 39 in the 1 2/3 innings of Monday’s save in New York, 22 in the one inning of Tuesday’s save in the first game of the doubleheader and 32 in Friday’s erratic effort here.

Manager Terry Collins is confident, however, that Percival is ready for the stretch.

“In June,” he said, “you talk about keeping your closer strong for September. Well, it’s September. We need him. We have to ride him. Right now his emotions are pumped as high as anyone on the team, and that should benefit his velocity, which is what he lives and dies with.”

The velocity was there Friday night but not the location. Collins said he knew Percival would put it behind him and return successfully to the high wire.

“You can’t be a closer if you can’t come back from that occasional bad game,” he said. “The fact is, he still got the job done in that game. I mean, we had a four-run lead and he gave up three. He’s got to be as tough mentally as any position player. He wanted the ball so badly the next day that he wouldn’t have cared if he had thrown 140 pitches.”

Said Percival: “I’m not going to go the whole season without having my butt kicked a few times. Traditionally, I’ve never been very good in non-save situations, which is no excuse for the way I pitched. I didn’t locate, and they took advantage of it, but I didn’t have any problem coming back from it. The team is counting on me in save situations. You can’t have a guy with a weak mind out there.”

Percival and Lachemann spoke privately in the aftermath of their verbal exchange. Neither would disclose what was said. Both insisted that their relationship wasn’t damaged.

On Sunday, Percival followed 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief by Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who has emerged as an unsung but significant factor in the Angels’ success. Hasegawa relies on control and change of speed. Percival, the snorting “Bull,” delivers heat, or as catcher Phil Nevin said, “you just kind of sit back and ask, ‘how hard is he going to throw today, who’s he going to make look bad?’ ”

Said DiSarcina: “He’s understandably tired. He’s been up in the pen a lot and in a lot of games. Even if he’s not at the top health-wise because of all the work, he still doesn’t leave anything on the field. He’ll still do anything it takes to get people out, and playing behind him you feed off that. You’ll do anything you can to help him get people out.”

The Angels are feeding off each other. They are three games ahead of Texas in the West and 5-3 on this demanding trip. The hope in September is that Percival can continue to lift his arm to feed himself.