It Will Take Mightier ‘Pen to Win

Never before has the American League West been able to boast of such star power and firepower.

The Seattle Mariners have what many consider the two best position players in baseball, center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. and shortstop Alex Rodriguez, not to mention an explosive offense that includes Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner.

The Angels, who open the season against the Cleveland Indians at Edison Field tonight, feature Mo Vaughn, the 1995 AL most valuable player who has averaged 39 home runs and 120 runs batted in the last four seasons, perennial 30-homer, 100-RBI men Tim Salmon and Jim Edmonds (after he comes off the disabled list) and one of baseball’s most heralded young players, Darin Erstad.

The Texas Rangers have RBI machine Juan Gonzalez, who has won two of the last three AL MVP awards, rocket-armed Ivan Rodriguez, the game’s best defensive catcher, ultra-productive first baseman Rafael Palmeiro and all-star-to-be Rusty Greer.

Even the Oakland Athletics, the consensus pick to finish last in the West, can strike fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers with 1998 rookie-of-the-year Ben Grieve, sluggers Jason Giambi and Matt Stairs, and the heavy favorite for 1999 rookie of the year, Eric Chavez.

But for all the muscle on the marquee, it’s players such as Anaheim’s Mark Petkovsek and Mike Magnante, Texas’ Esteban Loaiza and Danny Patterson, Seattle’s John Halama and Brett Hinchliffe, and Oakland’s Brad Rigby and Tim Worrell who may have as much to do with who wins the West.

These are the middle and long relievers of the division, the players who will be called upon in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings when the starting pitcher falters and the game is getting out of hand.

And with no dominant starter in the division, and all four teams scrambling to fill their fourth and fifth rotation spots with quality pitchers, and all four lineups loaded, you can bet plenty of games will get out of hand early.

“A four-run deficit doesn’t mean anything in this league,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “There are going to be times a starter gets blown out and the bullpen, especially middle relief, becomes big.”

Never was this more apparent than last Sept. 17, when the Angels and Rangers, tied for first place, met in a division showdown at the Ballpark in Arlington.

The Angels scored four runs in the top of the first off Texas ace Rick Helling, and the Rangers countered with four in the bottom of the first. Edmonds’ two-run homer made it 6-4 Anaheim in the top of the second, and Texas Manager Johnny Oates pulled Helling in favor of Al Levine.

Levine, who was claimed off waivers by the Angels on Friday, threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and Tim Crabtree followed with four hitless innings, and the Rangers came back for a 7-6 victory.

“The closers are always going to be big,” Angel third base coach Larry Bowa said. “The question is whether you can get to the closer. You’re going to need guys who can pitch two or three innings two days in a row.”

The AL West lost two of its best starting pitchers from last season, Randy Johnson and Todd Stottlemyre, and with each team’s offense looking even more powerful than 1998, managers are expecting even more high-scoring games in ’99.

And in those kinds of games, “The middle relievers are usually more important than the closers,” Mariner Manager Lou Piniella said.

The key to successful long and middle relief is to have pitchers who are durable and who understand and accept their roles.

“If we’re down by four runs and I hold them, we could get right back in the game,” said Petkovsek, acquired by the Angels from St. Louis during the winter. “The good teams do that. They don’t panic even if they’re down by four or five early.

“But if you say to yourself, ‘We’re out of this game,’ you’re going to pitch accordingly. If you do the job, sometimes the next thing you know you’re handing the ball to the closer with a one-run lead.”

An effective bullpen is usually a well-rested one. Last season, Angel relievers combined to throw 483 2/3 of the 1,444 innings pitched, an average of about three innings a game.

According to Stats Inc., that was the sixth-highest relief-innings total in the American League and the most in the West, ahead of Texas (465 2/3), Oakland (447 2/3) and Seattle (430).

“We were really beat last year,” Angel closer Troy Percival said.

It’s not just the work in games that can wear down a relief corps. Getting up too often in the bullpen can cause fatigue as well.

“Getups are worse because you get up, sit down, get up, sit down, and you haven’t seen a hitter yet, so it’s darn near like throwing two innings,” Percival said. ‘We have to minimize those.”

The Angels believe the addition of Tim Belcher, who has thrown at least 200 innings a season since 1991 (excluding strike-shortened 1994 and ‘95) and the return of a healthy Ken Hill will reduce the burden on their bullpen this season, and Collins and new pitching coach Dick Pole will take additional measures to ensure their relievers are fresh.

“We’ve tried to address cutting down on the number of pitches in the bullpen,” Collins said. “You’ve got to save some bullets. If you warm up too much you’re going to be out of gas.”

And with all the high-octane offenses in this West, teams cannot afford to have their bullpens running on empty.

“This is the strongest I’ve seen the division, top to bottom, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the wild card comes from the West,” Collins said. “But it’s not going to be much fun being a pitcher in this division.”