Molina Gets a Chance to Be the Answer

There is a consensus among Angel executives, coaches and players that the team needs a stronger presence behind the plate, someone who can provide more offense and defense than Matt Walbeck, a backup for much of his career before being thrust into a starting role in Anaheim.

Could Ben Molina be the answer? The Angels will have a better idea after Molina catches most of their games over the last six weeks, but the early returns have been good.

“He’s got real soft hands, and he has a real good idea of what he wants to do,” said Chuck Finley, who gave up two runs and struck out 12 in 6 2/3 innings against Detroit Sunday with Molina behind the plate. “He’s willing to learn.”

By soft hands, Finley means Molina isn’t stabbing at the ball. His hands are relaxed as the ball hits his mitt.

“That makes a big difference,” Finley said. “When the umpire sees you snatching at the ball all the time, if makes him wonder if it’s a strike. Benny frames the ball well.”

This comes as no surprise to closer Troy Percival. Because Percival made most of his spring training appearances in the eighth or ninth innings, after the front-line players had departed, he threw to Molina five or six times in Arizona.

“I’ve said it all year, he has good hands, a good arm and he swings a good bat,” Percival said of Molina, batting .233 with four RBIs in 30 at-bats. “He also has a lot of energy, like our little Australian cat [second baseman Trent Durrington]. You feed off that.”

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General Manager Bill Bavasi, who joined the Angels in Chicago on Monday and will go on to watch the double-A Erie and Class A Cedar Rapids clubs on his trip, has said he places more emphasis on production than character in evaluating personnel.

Asked if character and chemistry would be bigger factors in the decision-making this off-season, in light of some of the clubhouse problems the Angels have encountered this year, Bavasi said:

“The thing about character with this club is, we have one or two guys who should shut their mouths. We’ve had a bad year. We’ve had a bad year with health, and we haven’t played well on the field. I have my own evaluation of character, and quite frankly it’s none of your business how I evaluate it.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’ STEVE SPARKS (5-9, 4.90 ERA) vs. WHITE SOX’S JAMIE NAVARRO (7-10, 6.02 ERA)

Comiskey Park, Chicago, 5

TV--Channel 9.

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Sparks has given up 13 earned runs in 29 innings over his last five starts, and all the knuckleballer has to show for it is one win, three losses and a no-decision. Navarro, the White Sox right-hander, has given up 18 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings of his last three starts. White Sox center fielder Chris Singleton, a rookie-of-the-year candidate batting .315 with 11 homers, 25 doubles and 62 RBIs, should be back in the lineup against the right-handed Sparks.