September With Finley Is Special

There will be no major postseason honors for Angel pitcher Chuck Finley. The Cy Young race will be an East Coast affair, with Pedro Martinez, David Wells, Roger Clemens.

So what Finley’s shooting for is another September memory like 1986. Twelve years later he nudged the Angels a small step closer to repeating a playoff berth with eight shutout innings in a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday. It put the Angels 3 1/2 games in front of second-place Texas in the American League West.

Few of the 33,941 at Edison Field may have realized that Finley is the lone remaining link to the Angels’ last playoff team, when he was a rookie relief pitcher.

“I remember the day we clinched the division title like it was yesterday,” said Finley, who allowed only four hits and struck out 10 to improve to 11-6. “I remember the satisfaction of being rewarded for all the hard work, from spring training through the season.”

Satisfaction in September is not a phrase associated with the Angels too often. But for once, they were able to sit back and enjoy a September day.

They made the most of three unearned first-inning runs--one on the daring baserunning of Gregg Jefferies. Royal pitcher Tim Belcher was a puzzle to Angel hitters after that.

They survived another day without Troy Percival (sore shoulder). Shigetoshi Hasegawa, the team’s closer du jour, got the last three outs for his fourth save.

But most of the work was done by Finley.

Finley hadn’t gone beyond the fifth inning in his two starts on the Angels’ last trip.

“We had a great road trip and I felt like I hadn’t done a dang thing to help,” Finley said.

The Angel ace helped a lot Sunday. He stranded runners in scoring position in the sixth--on a double play he started--and seventh and walked away after eight innings and 147 pitches.

“This is the time of the year that you have to have your aces out there and Chuck is our guy,” Manager Terry Collins said.

The Angels know what can happen when Finley isn’t around in September.

Last season, he broke his left wrist backing up home plate on Aug. 20. The Angels faded from the race.

In 1989, he missed three weeks after breaking his foot warming up in Kansas City. The Angels went from being tied for first place to six games out.

“To be in a pennant race in September is what it’s all about,” Finley said. “You don’t want to be on the disabled list. You ask any guy from any team that’s out of it and he’ll trade places with you in a second.

“We have a chance to do the thing right.”

As it plays out now, Finley will start the two series against Texas.

A hint to how effective he can be with so much on the line came in 1995. Finley threw a four-hitter in a victory over Oakland on the last day of the season to force a one-game playoff with Seattle.

Finley gave a similar performance Sunday.

Johnny Damon grounded a single to left to lead off the game. Finley didn’t allow another hit until the sixth. He retired 10 consecutive at one point, four on strikeouts.

The Angels didn’t do a lot to help him. In fact, better play and decision-making by the left side of the Royals’ infield and the game might have gone well into the night.

Randy Velarde was on first with a walk when Tim Salmon hit a grounder to the hole that third baseman Scott Leuis dived to stop. Instead of throwing to first to get Salmon, who has an injured left foot, Leuis went to second and Velarde beat the throw.

Jefferies followed with a ground ball that shortstop Shane Halter booted, loading the bases. It set up a three-run single by Garret Anderson, who bounced a 3-2 pitch past Belcher into center field. Jefferies was off with the pitch, and was at second by the time Anderson’s hit cleared the infield. He scored on the heels of Salmon for a 3-0 lead.

The Angels have been this route before. They scored four first-inning runs off Belcher earlier this season, but lost 6-4. This time, they had Finley chasing memories.

“I’ve been here 13 years,” Finley said, “and I know this is the time to get it done.”