Stoneman Pitches a Theory

Commissioner Bud Selig has created a task force of general managers that will study baseball’s offensive upsurge, along with its impact on the game and the fans.

Bill Stoneman, the Angels’ general manager, is not a part of the task force. If someone were to ask, however, he does not feel the game requires fixing, though he would tweak the way pitchers are taught to throw.

Despite a drop in sales of season tickets from 16,000 to 13,000, the Angels have benefited from relatively brisk walk-up business, which Stoneman attributes in part to the team’s representative start and in part to the lure of the long ball.

“We’re in this business for the fans,” Stoneman said. “We’ve got to give them what they want.”

One can assume the fans wouldn’t mind some pitching, however. And to that end, Stoneman said, he would develop pitchers differently.

Fewer pitchers, he said, learn to deliver the baseball in the old drop-and-drive move, how Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan and, yes, Bill Stoneman threw. Young pitchers often are taught to deliver the ball from a higher release point, which is supposed to create more difficult angles for hitters.

“Pitching, in general, is extremely thin,” Stoneman said. “Pitching mechanics are different than they were 20 or 30 years ago.”

Stoneman said the drop-and-drive method made pitchers more durable and more consistent.

“It’s easier on the arm and it allows you to throw it harder,” he said.

*

Scott Schoeneweis, 26, hasn’t yet pitched 75 big-league innings, but has impressed his coaches and teammates with his composure.

Schoeneweis is 4-0 and is wearing out hitters with a sinker-slider-fastball combination. He hopes to add a more consistent changeup.

“You can see in his face,” catcher Bengie Molina said, “that he’s not just a young kid.”

According to Molina, who caught Schoeneweis’ dominant victory Wednesday against the Detroit Tigers, the left-hander is effective because he is willing to pitch inside with his four-seam fastball, which occasionally reaches 91 mph.

*

Molina caught his 17th game Thursday night despite suffering from a stomach virus that kept him awake until 5 a.m. He lost six pounds overnight.

*

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia, on the heavy fines and suspensions in the wake of the Chicago-Detroit brawl: “First of all, I think Frank Robinson is right. There’s no room for fighting in baseball. There’s also no place for bean balls and head hunting.

“I’m sure the message is going to be heard. Will it be a deterrent? I don’t know.”

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

JASON DICKSON

(2-1, 2.84)

vs.

DEVIL RAYS’

ESTEBAN YAN

(0-1, 7.89)

Edison Field, 7

TV--Fox Sports Net. Radio--KLAC (570),

XPRS (1090).

* Update--Dickson had a difficult loss Sunday in Tampa Bay, where one unearned run was enough to beat the Angels. He has given up more than two runs in one of his four starts and has walked two in 25 1/3 innings. The Angels scored six runs in 4 2/3 innings against Yan Saturday.

* Tickets--(714) 663-9000.