Finley Closing With Flourish, but Not Percival

Angel pitcher Chuck Finley will spend this October like every one of the last 12 Octobers, tinkering with his golf swing and planning his winter vacation to some exotic locale while baseball’s postseason pitchers experience the thrill of the playoffs and World Series.

And you can bet the thought of an idle Finley will haunt the Cleveland Indians. The Indians couldn’t work out a deal for Finley before the July 31 trading deadline, and their regrets probably have multiplied with every start the left-hander has made since then.

Finley was dominant again Saturday night, giving up two runs on one hit--Edgar Martinez’s fourth-inning homer--in seven innings to lead the Angels to a 7-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners before 44,308 in Safeco Field.

Finley is now 7-1 with a 1.88 earned-run average (15 runs in 72 innings) in his last 10 starts, striking out 74 and walking 31, impressive credentials that surely would have bolstered the Indians’ October rotation.

Finley, who struck out seven and walked five Saturday night, was 5-10 with a 5.76 ERA on July 31. He is now 12-11 with a 4.41 ERA after improving his career record against Seattle to 18-7.

“I said to myself [at the end of July] that I was going to make something out of this year,” Finley said. “My whole goal was to end the season over .500. If I go 13-11, that’s nothing to roll over and jump up and down about . . . but two months ago I was 5-10.”

While Finley will make one more start this season, against Texas Friday night, it appears closer Troy Percival’s season is over. Though X-rays and an MRI test on Percival’s inflamed right shoulder Saturday were negative and the Angels listed him as day to day, they aren’t expected to risk further damage.

Percival looked extremely uncomfortable Friday night, when he blew his eighth save of the season, and interim Manager Joe Maddon pulled him in the 10th inning after detecting a flaw in Percival’s delivery.

“Percy will sometimes vacillate with his mechanics, but he’s always felt good,” Maddon said. “He was missing, and I thought he’d make an adjustment. We’ve seen it before, when he starts out wild and all of a sudden it’s bang-bang-bang, ballgame.

“But you could tell by his body language he wasn’t OK. His arm slot didn’t look right, and he looked like he was favoring something. If there’s any kind of doubt, there’s no reason to push him.”

Mechanical problems contributed to the worst stretch of Finley’s career from June 24-July 31, when he went 1-3 with a 9.29 ERA in eight starts, but he has been as unhittable in his last 10 starts as he was when he won 14 consecutive decisions from late 1997 to early 1998.

“He’s the kind of guy who can get on a roll and stay on a roll,” Maddon said. “Some guys get on a roll and wait for something bad to happen. He gets on a roll and gains confidence and momentum.”

Five early runs helped Saturday night. Matt Walbeck’s two-run single, Mariner starter Jamie Moyer’s throwing error and Darin Erstad’s two-run single keyed a five-run second inning for the Angels.

Martinez’s homer pulled Seattle to within 5-1, but Tim Salmon made it 7-1 when he followed singles by Gary DiSarcina and Erstad with a two-out, two-run double off the wall in left in the fifth.

Maddon pulled Finley after his leadoff walk to Brian Hunter in the eighth, and Hunter scored on Ken Griffey’s double off reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa. The Mariners went on to load the bases with two out, but Mark Petkovsek got Dan Wilson on a comebacker to end the threat.