Two Finley Pitches Double the Trouble in Angel Loss

If there is a new strike zone this season, Angel left-hander Chuck Finley and catcher Charlie O’Brien are still waiting to see it.

A borderline call that didn’t go Finley’s way may have been the difference in the Angels’ 5-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays before 23,775 in SkyDome Tuesday night. Finley was one pitch away from escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth when his two-out, full-count fastball to Carlos Delgado was called a ball by umpire Larry Young, even though it appeared to catch the inside corner just above Delgado’s waist, the kind of pitch umpires were told to call strikes this season.

That forced in the go-ahead run, making it 2-1, and Tony Fernandez gave Toronto a 5-1 lead when he smacked a 1-2 Finley fastball into the gap in left-center for a three-run double. The Blue Jays were well on their way to their sixth consecutive victory, while the Angels dropped their third in a row.

“There’s no such thing as a new strike zone--if there was, that pitch might have been a strike,” O’Brien said. “But there’s no use talking about it. It was a ball.”

Finley wasn’t so much upset at the umpire as he was at himself. Despite having what he called “great stuff,” Finley threw 100 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, and he caught far too much of the plate with his pitch to Fernandez, considering he was ahead in the count.

“To throw that many pitches in 4 2/3 innings is ridiculous,” Finley (1-2) said. “I’m going 2-2 on everyone, and they’re seeing way too many pitches. . . . What’s so frustrating is I felt great. I had everything working, my curve and splitter, and to have 100 pitches in the fifth inning, that’s stupid.”

Finley, who gave up a bases-empty home run to Mike Matheny in the third, created his fifth-inning predicament when he hit Matheny with a pitch, failed to field Pat Kelly’s bunt single and walked Shannon Stewart to load the bases with no outs.

Finley almost extricated himself from the mess by getting Jose Cruz to pop to second and striking out Shawn Green. Then came the walk to Delgado and Fernandez’s three-run double.

“In a tough game like this, you know it’s going to come down to a few pitches, and tonight it came down to two,” Finley said. “That pitch to Delgado, OK, I walked him, but then I had to bear down and get Fernandez. I was trying to go inside because I’ve had some success against him there, but I didn’t get it in enough.”

Finley had little room for error because the Angel offense, which had been averaging six runs a game, was stifled by starter Kelvim Escobar and relievers Dan Plesac and Tom Davey.

Escobar, the hard-throwing 23-year-old right-hander, gave up one run on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings and struck out five.

The Angels scored once in the first when Darin Erstad walked with two outs, stole second and came home on Tim Salmon’s single to center. But Escobar worked out of tight spots in the second and third, striking out Randy Velarde with two on to end the second and striking out Troy Glaus and getting Todd Greene to fly to right with runners on second and third to end the third.

The Blue Jay defense kept Escobar out of harm’s way in the fifth, as Fernandez made a nice, barehanded catch and throw on Velarde’s chopper to third, and Green scaled the right-field wall to snag Erstad’s drive.

After Orlando Palmeiro doubled and Velarde blooped a single with one out in the seventh, Velarde taking second on a throw, Plesac relieved Escobar and got Erstad to pop to shallow left and struck out Salmon. Davey did not allow a hit in the final 1 2/3 innings.

“They made some nice plays, but you’re supposed to do those things,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “We had opportunities to get back into the game and didn’t do it. . . .

“At certain times, when the situation calls for a ground ball or a fly ball and they’re giving you a run for an out, you don’t even need a hit [to score]. Escobar stepped up and got the strikeout when he needed it and Plesac got the shallow fly ball. Sometimes you have to tip your hat.”