From A’s to Zito, Angels’ Cooper Learns a Lesson

The Angels have been bullish on former USC pitchers this season--Seth Etherton and Brian Cooper entered 2000 with few big league expectations, and their value has gone up considerably this summer--but they have not cornered the market on ex-Trojan arms.

The Oakland Athletics, who signed USC left-hander Barry Zito for $2 million in 1999, got an immediate return on their investment, as Zito stifled the Angels for five innings in his major league debut Saturday, leading the A’s to a 10-3 victory before 20,111 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Zito, the No. 9 pick in last year’s draft, gave up one run on two hits, and though he walked six, he also struck out six, including the heart of the Angel order with the bases loaded to end the fifth.

The A’s broke open a 1-1 tie with six runs in the fourth, an outburst that was highlighted by Ben Grieve’s grand slam off Cooper, who was rocked for seven runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

But Cooper’s problems didn’t start in the fourth inning Saturday. He may have lost this game on June 30 with postgame comments that irked and inspired the A’s.

After throwing a three-hit shutout against the perennially patient A’s that night, Cooper said he is “a better pitcher when I know guys are looking for walks. . . . I knew if I went right at them, if I was aggressive, I’d have them right where I wanted.”

A little cocky for a rookie, the A’s thought. They began heckling Cooper during warmups, challenging the right-hander to “throw it down the middle,” and warning him to “get ready to back up third base.”

This wasn’t so much American League as it was American Legion, the kind of sophomoric psychology that few big leaguers would acknowledge buying into. But the old bulletin-board-material ploy motivated the A’s, and they lashed at Cooper afterward.

“He can say anything he wants, but next time he should check the schedule to see when he’s pitching against us again,” said Oakland right fielder Matt Stairs, who had three of the A’s 18 hits and took credit for whipping his teammates into a frenzy. “What he said pumped us up and ticked us off.”

Added Grieve: “He said all he had to do was throw strikes against us. . . . Maybe that was his problem today, throwing strikes.”

Cooper didn’t even know he had offended the A’s until Oakland reporters brought it to his attention after the game.

“That will play in my favor nine out of 10 times,” Cooper said. “If you can make them think about something else, that could get them out of their game plan. It’s no secret they like to walk. If you don’t get ahead of them, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Cooper ran into big trouble in the fourth, when Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez opened with singles and advanced on Ramon Hernandez’s bunt. Terrence Long’s two-run single gave Oakland a 3-1 lead, Randy Velarde singled, and Jason Giambi walked to load the bases.

Grieve then smacked the ball over the wall in center for Oakland’s ninth grand slam, which broke the franchise record of eight, set by the Philadelphia A’s in 1932. That put Oakland ahead, 7-1, and brought an end to Cooper’s day.

The Angels, resilient bunch that they are, rallied in the fifth, loading the bases with no outs on Adam Kennedy’s walk, Darin Erstad’s single and Benji Gil’s walk.

Zito then struck out No. 3 batter Mo Vaughn looking at a slow curve. Cleanup batter Tim Salmon couldn’t check his swing on a fastball and struck out. Garret Anderson waved at a curve in the dirt for strike three.

It wasn’t exactly Carl Hubbell striking out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in order during the 1934 All-Star game, but it was impressive nonetheless.

“I went out to the mound to try to calm him down a bit, reassure him he doesn’t have to strike out guys, that he should used his defense,” said Velarde, Oakland’s second baseman. “That shows you how much weight I carry, because he went out and struck out the side. He had good stuff.”

Good enough to impress Cooper too.

“It’s great for him to keep this lineup down and keep hitters off balance,” Cooper said. “But even though he’s a fellow Trojan, I wanted him to lose bad. You don’t feel for the other team.”