Finley Continues a Trademark Run

This is how it was in the summer of 1997, when Chuck Finley won the first 10 games of an eventual club-record 14-game winning streak before breaking a bone in his wrist when he slipped and fell while backing up home plate.

The only difference is that in 1997, every one of those victories helped keep the Angels in a pennant race, whereas every one of these 1999 victories merely reinforces a belief that the Angels must sign the veteran left-hander to a contract extension, if not during this season, then very soon after it.

A hot streak that began when the July 31 trading deadline passed without Finley going to Cleveland continued Friday night when he went the distance on a five-hitter to lead the Angels to a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers before 29,910 in Edison Field.

Finley was so dominant that two of Detroit’s hits were infield singles and one was Deivi Cruz’s gift double in the fifth, a routine fly ball that dropped between center fielder Jim Edmonds and right fielder Tim Salmon when neither called for it. Damion Easley homered in the fifth for the Tigers’ only run.

Finley walked two and struck out five in the 57th complete game of his 14-year career but his first since April 17, 1998, a 5-0 victory over Tampa Bay.

“When he gets on a roll, he sure is fun to watch,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “This is the best I’ve seen him pitch inside all year. When he’s on his game, he’s as good as anyone, and we’re always in the game in the seventh or eighth inning. This is the guy we knew we had.”

And it certainly isn’t the guy who suffered the worst eight-game stretch of his career from June 24-July 31, going 1-3 with a 9.29 earned-run average as the Angels fell out of the division race.

There was much speculation that Finley would be dealt to the Indians, but since the teams failed to work out a trade, Finley has gone 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA in four August starts, giving up four earned runs in 30 1/3 innings, striking out 31 and walking 12.

“I know he had a lot on his mind three or four weeks ago,” Collins said. “Ever since that stuff has gone over, he’s been outstanding.”

Finley shrugged off any suggestion that trade rumors had an adverse affect on his performance--mechanical difficulties seemed to be at the root of his problems--but he did admit that his “concentration level is very high right now.”

So were Angel marks for offensive efficiency Friday night. The Angels had only seven hits, but they scored four of their runs on outs, Salmon coming home on Todd Greene’s bases-loaded double play in the second, and Garret Anderson (third inning), Greene (fourth) and Salmon (seventh) hitting sacrifice flies.

Anderson also lined an RBI single to center in the seventh, as the Angels pushed a 3-1 lead to 5-1 and gave Finley a little more breathing room. Not that he needed it. Since the trading deadline passed, it seems Finley has been breathing a lot easier while suffocating opponents.

“My season has been very mixed, I went six or seven starts where I didn’t pitch well, and my last four have been pretty good,” Finley said. “I’d just like to keep pitching well and finish strong, show the organization and the players I’m a lot better pitcher than I showed for one month. That’s all I want to do.”