Showdown in the Wild, Wild West

Not since the last week of the 1995 season has Angel ace Chuck Finley embarked on a task as important as the one ahead: two consecutive starts that will go a long way toward determining the American League West championship.

Finley will try to increase the Angels’ one-game lead over Texas when he opens a two-game series against the Rangers tonight at the Ballpark in Arlington. The left-hander also is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game series against the Rangers on Monday night in Anaheim.

If history is any indication, the Angels appear to be in good hands.

They were on the brink of disaster late in 1995, their 13-game lead over Seattle having melted to a three-game deficit with five games left in the season after a loss to the Mariners in Seattle on Sept. 26.

But Finley hushed a raucous Kingdome crowd and silenced baseball’s hottest lineup the next day, throwing 6 1/3 shutout innings, giving up three hits and striking out four, leading the Angels to a 2-0 victory that trimmed Seattle’s lead to two games.

The Angels then closed the regular season with a four-game sweep of Oakland, Finley coming back on three days’ rest for the Oct. 1 finale. He gave up two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings and struck out nine in an 8-2 victory over the A’s.

That forced a one-game playoff for the division title, which the Angels lost to Seattle and ace Randy Johnson, 9-1, but the loss did nothing to diminish Finley’s budding reputation as a big-game pitcher.

Finley, however, doesn’t recall anything big about those games.

“I’ve never been one to sit back and get too built up on the situation,” he said.

“If I pitched Game 7 of the World Series, I’m sure that would put a little jingle in my pants, but I don’t really get up for any one game. I try to do the same thing in those types of games that I’ve done all year--unless I’ve been terrible all year. Then I’d better do it better.”

Finley is 11-7 with a 3.34 earned-run average and ranks fourth in the league with 199 strikeouts. He says he doesn’t have ice water in his veins and is well aware what’s at stake these next eight days, when the Angels and Rangers play five games. When he steps onto the mound tonight, he’ll “feel a little tingle, like you get on opening day.”

But he added, “Sometimes guys get too worked up in these situations. You’ve got to recognize it’s a great situation to be in, but it can’t get to the point where it affects what you do.

“You can’t expect to have a 96-mph fastball when you top out at 92 on your best day.”

That’s what more than 12 years of big league experience will provide--a little perspective, something to fall back on.

Finley has never pitched in a World Series, but he appeared in relief in the 1986 American League championship series against Boston and has pitched in a few division races. He knows he can’t go out tonight and be Randy Johnson.

He just has to be Chuck Finley, spotting his fastball on the corners, getting groundouts and strikeouts with his forkball, keeping batters honest with his curve, not letting Ranger slugger Juan Gonzalez beat him.

And he knows he can’t let the short-term past--in this case, the eight-run, 10-hit pounding he took in Friday’s 8-3 loss at Baltimore, affect him. Or, for that matter, his long-term past--his 3-8 record and 6.86 ERA in his last 11 starts in Texas.

Before Finley reeled off those two big wins in the final week of 1995, he had gone 0-4 with two no-decisions in his previous six starts.

“I know what Chuck can do in big games--he has the ability to step up,” Manager Terry Collins said. “All those games where he’s faced Pedro Martinez, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, the real good pitchers, you always look up [in the late innings] and you’re in the game.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tale of the Tape

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Angels Category Texas .274 Avg .289 4.97 Runs per game 5.77 0.93 HR per game 1.21 4.47 ERA 5.03 4.74 Starters’ ERA 5.51 3.92 Bullpen ERA 4.02 Salmon, 26 HR leader Gonzalez, 42 Salmon, 84 RBI Leader Gonzalez, 152 Edmonds, .309 Avg leader Rodriguez, .325 Finley, 3.34 ERA leader Sele, 4.12 Finley, 11 Win leader Helling, 19 Percival, 40 Save leader Wetteland, 40 Finley, 199 Strikeout leader Sele, 160

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A Grand Old Game

Which team is better? How the Angels and Rangers stack up in all manner of categories

World Series appearances

Angels: None.

Rangers: None.

Edge: Push.

Playoff appearances

Angels: 1979, 1982, 1986.

Rangers: 1996.

Edge: Angels.

Years leading division at all-star break

Angels: 1978, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1995 (tie), 1998.

Rangers: 1983, 1991, 1994, 1995 (tie), 1996.

Edge: Push. Second half hasn’t been kind to either team; Mariners beat them both in ’95.

Nickname

Angels: Honors old Pacific Coast League team.

Rangers: Honors Texas lawmen.

Edge: Angels. They live forever.

Logo

Angels: “Marries an angel’s wing with a speeding ball . . . and gives the feeling of fluidity and motion of the game of baseball,” according to Disney designers.

Rangers: Classic Texas Lone Star.

Edge: Huge to Rangers.

Colors

Angels: Navy, periwinkle, medium blue, light blue, red, gold, bronze, white.

Rangers: Red, blue, white, light gray, dark gray.

Edge: Four shades of blue? Big to Rangers.

Center-field view

Angels: Water cascading over fake boulders.

Rangers: Four-story office building enclosing field.

Edge: Angels. Ballparks should measure home runs, not square footage.

Amusement parks near stadium

Angels: Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm.

Rangers: Six Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor.

Edge: Angels, except on 100-degree days.

Best contract decision

Angels: Chuck Finley telling Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, “Thanks for dinner, but I’ll stay in Anaheim.”

Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez telling his agent, “Thanks for your work, but I’ll negotiate my own deal to stay in Texas.”

Edge: Push.

Ex-Cub factor

Angels: Matt Walbeck.

Rangers: Todd Zeile, Tony Fossas.

Edge: Angels.

Home run derby factor

Angels: Blew chance to trade for Mark McGwire last year.

Rangers: Traded Sammy Sosa and Wilson Alvarez to White Sox in 1989 for Harold Baines.

Edge: Angels. Imagine Sosa and Juan Gonzalez in same lineup!

World Series veterans

Angels: Ken Hill, Jeff Juden, Charlie O’Brien.

Rangers: Greg Cadaret, Will Clark, Todd Stottlemyre, John Wetteland.

Edge: Rangers. Manager Johnny Oates played for Dodgers in 1977 and 1978 World Series, too.

Loyal fans

Angels: Often drowned out by expatriates from New York, Boston, Cleveland and Detroit.

Rangers: Greatly outnumbered by Cowboy fans.

Edge: Rangers. Cowboy fans don’t heckle Rangers.

Most popular player

Angels: Nolan Ryan.

Rangers: Nolan Ryan.

Edge: Rangers. Both teams retired his number, but Nolan Ryan Expressway runs adjacent to Rangers’ stadium.