Uniforms Are Only Change for McLemore and Stevens

Both grew up in the Angel organization. To hear them talk, not much has changed.

“Lee Stevens was large and could hit the ball a long way,” Texas Ranger second baseman Mark McLemore said.

Three cubicles away, Stevens said: “Mark was always enthusiastic.”

They briefly looked back on their younger days, when they were part of the Angels’ future. Then it was back to the present.

They were in Anaheim, fighting for the American League West title.

“It’s kind of ironic because it seems to have come full circle,” Stevens said. “Mark and I talked about this the other day. We figured it was going to come down to the last week of the season. We thought it would be kind of neat to come in here and clinch it in our old stomping grounds.”

Two innings into Monday’s game, the script was writing itself. McLemore and Stevens scored the first two runs in a 9-1 victory that put the Rangers one game ahead of the Angels with six left.

There was no chest pounding, though; no revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold shtick.

“We were the future,” McLemore said. “Just not with that team.”

McLemore was the first to go. He was traded to Cleveland in 1991, then released. He signed with Houston, then was released. Both were last-place teams. That said something.

Stevens was the guy who made Wally Joyner expendable in 1992. He was traded to Montreal after that season, then released by three teams over the next year--including the Angels in November of 1993. He drifted to Japan.

“I think we all have to travel different paths,” Ranger Manager Johnny Oates said. “We all have obstacles to overcome. When we’re able to survive in spite of those obstacles, we’re better for it.”

Well the Rangers are, anyway.

McLemore has been with Oates for seven seasons, three in Baltimore and four in Texas. He drove in 72 runs with Baltimore in 1993. He hit .290 with career highs in runs (84) and hits (150) in helping the Rangers win the division title in 1996.

This season, he is hitting .253 with five home runs and 52 runs batted in despite injuries to his left knee and left hamstring.

“Things clicked for me later on,” McLemore said. “I didn’t have a bad attitude with the Angels, but I wasn’t strong enough to handle failures and the bumps in the road.”

Stevens’ road didn’t have bumps, it had a mountain . . . Fuji. He spent two productive years in Japan, then was signed by the Rangers in 1996.

Last season, he hit .300 with 21 home runs--including three in two days against the Angels--and drove in 74 runs. He is hitting .258 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs this season.

“I had to grow up a lot those two years [in Japan],” Stevens said. “I was forced to make adjustments for myself. I couldn’t rely on my hitting coaches and other people to tell me how to do it.”

Stevens got off to a fast start this season with 13 home runs in his first 63 games, including three in a game against Detroit April 13. He tailed off and was put on the disabled list Aug. 8.

McLemore also has been slowed by injuries. His average dropped from .312 to .253 in the last 64 games.

He didn’t seem to have any problems going from first to third on Rusty Greer’s first-inning single to left Monday. McLemore then scored on Juan Gonzalez’s single for the game’s first run.

In the second inning, Stevens was on first when Todd Zeile doubled up the right-center field alley. Stevens lumbered around the bases, just beating the relay to the plate with a headfirst slide.

“Nothing against the Angels,” Stevens said, “but Mark and I thought it would be extra sweet to do something well here this week.”

For old times’ sake.