MOUND OF CONCERN

For Rich Gossage, his epiphany occurred during his rookie season in 1972, when the reliever was setting up games for Terry Forster, then the Chicago White Sox closer.

They would be talking before a game, and Forster would tell Gossage how his arm was killing him. Manager Chuck Tanner would come by, ask Forster how he felt, and Forster would say he was fine, good to go.

After averaging 23 saves a season from 1972-74, Forster suffered an arm injury and lost his closer job in 1975. After a 22-save season for the Dodgers in 1978, Forster had only 28 saves in the next eight years, injuries having severely limited him in several of those seasons.

“When your body is screaming, you better listen to it, or you’re going to wind up in Dr. [Lewis] Yocum’s office,” Gossage said, referring to the noted Angel physician who has built a career of reconstructing pitchers’ shoulders and elbows. “That’s why Forster had a lot of problems.”

Could Angel closer Troy Percival be the next Terry Forster? Or will he be like Gossage, who averaged 21 saves during a fruitful and injury-free 22-year career, in which his 97-mph fastball and nasty slider made him one of baseball’s premier relievers?

Percival has been superb through most of his five-year career, averaging 34 saves the last four seasons, but at times he seems as stubborn as Forster--he pitched for several weeks in 1999 with a shoulder that was so sore after he threw that he couldn’t raise his right arm to comb his hair.

Percival admits he “never wants to take a day off,” and he did wind up in Yocum’s office last October, undergoing shoulder surgery to remove a bone chip and repair several minor tears. That operation, combined with Percival’s inability to develop a reliable second pitch to go with his 95-mph fastball, has clouded his future.

It seems for every Rich Gossage there is a Bryan Harvey, the former Angel forkball specialist who averaged 28 saves for six years, and had 45 in 1993, before a major arm injury limited him to six saves the next two years.

For every Rollie Fingers, who averaged 23 saves for 14 years, there is a Bobby Thigpen, who averaged 29 saves for the White Sox from 1987-92--he had a record 57 in 1990--before blowing out his arm and retiring in 1994 at 31, or a Don Aase, who saved 34 games for the Orioles in 1986 and had seven saves in the next five years.

Percival’s future will be determined by how well he recovers from surgery, whether he regains full velocity of his fastball, whether he can revive the overhand curve that made him so effective in 1995 (3-2, 1.95 earned-run average in 62 games), how his manager and pitching coach handle him, and how well he listens to his body.

That last one may be his biggest challenge.

“I’m not good at that at all,” Percival admits. “I don’t have ‘take-it- easy’ in me. . . . I’ve always had guys telling me to take it easy. I know one speed, I go hard every day. Whether I get my butt kicked or not, I’m gonna throw the hardest pitch I can throw to a spot.”

Gossage, who works with New York Yankee relievers in spring training and has watched Percival from afar, believes that mentality can work against power closers.

“It’s very difficult when the ninth inning rolls around and you need a day off,” Gossage said. “Most of us are very aggressive, a different breed. We want the ball and enjoy the pressure. But when you take a day off when you need it, you’re doing the best thing for yourself and the team. There were days I didn’t even pick up a ball.”

Percival has told his manager only once that he shouldn’t pitch. After a four-day, five-game series in New York, in which Percival had pitched three times, the Angels scored three runs in the top of the ninth for a 7-3 lead at Boston on Aug. 28, 1998.

Percival, who had begun warming up during the Angel rally, told then-manager Terry Collins that Pep Harris should stay in the game. Collins went to Percival anyway, and the closer had an awful outing, giving up three runs and throwing 32 pitches before escaping with a 7-6 victory.

“Sometimes the manager has to take the bull by the horns and say, ‘You’re not pitching tonight,’ ” Gossage said. “If your arm is tired and sore and you warm up, come in the game and throw a lot of pitches, you’re inviting disaster. You have to know your body and listen to it--I mean, really listen to it--and not be stupid.”

In Collins’ defense, Percival said the former Angel manager gave him several mandatory days off.

“And I hated them,” Percival said. “I’d rather not be 100% and pitch than watch someone else [close games]. . . . I don’t worry about injury. My feeling is, if there’s a day when I feel, physically, someone else will be better than me, I’ll say something.”

Percival has had lengthy discussions with new Manager Mike Scioscia and pitching coach Bud Black about how often he should be used and for how long. All agree that Percival will enter a game in the eighth inning only if absolutely necessary and Percival is feeling up to the task. Scioscia also plans to strictly enforce mandatory days off.

“Honest communication is going to be the key with Troy,” Black said. “We know he wants the ball and wants to help us win. He doesn’t have to prove that. But in reality, he has to learn that on some days, that’s not going to happen. On some days, he’ll go to the bullpen with his turf shoes on.”

The bullpen--sometimes more than the pitcher’s mound on the field--is where some closers’ careers are broken.

Though he knew of no medical evidence that power closers are more susceptible to major arm injuries than starters, Yocum believes they are “because of the sheer number of pitches they throw and the number of times they warm up.” The up-and-down nature of the job--warming up, stopping, warming up again--can take a toll.

“Go back to Don Aase,” Yocum said. “When his elbow went, he was up four or five times a week and sometimes seven times. His team was in a pennant race, and sometimes the situation demands that you go to your money pitcher. . . . Whether you get into the game or not, you only have so many pitches. It’s an extremely tough position for these guys to be in.”

To compare, most starters need about 50 pitches to warm up, then throw about 100 pitches a game, giving them 150 every five days. Most closers need 20-25 warmup pitches and average about 20 pitches an inning, so if they warm up five times a week and pitch in four games, they can throw around 205 pitches a week.

“Closers don’t have the recovery time of a starter,” Yocum said. “They throw hard, they use brute strength, and they come into games supercharged. Few guys will tell a manager they can’t do it, but I’ve stepped in with certain guys and said they couldn’t pitch tonight. Sometimes it takes hearing it from a higher source.”

Gossage said it’s important for closers not to burn themselves out in the bullpen, and Percival agrees. Percival only wants to warm up if he’s definitely going into the game.

“Rob Dibble [the former Cincinnati closer who flamed out after three good seasons] got up throwing 100 mph out of the chute,” Gossage said. “Take your time, warm up, use your pitches wisely. If you’re loose, back off, stand there, hold the ball. You only have so many bullets.”

Percival hasn’t had much variety among his bullets lately. He has dabbled with a split-fingered pitch, is concentrating more on his changeup and has tried to throw his curve, but he has used his fastball almost exclusively the last three seasons. That won’t cut it, Gossage believes.

“A power closer doesn’t need three pitches, but he needs two--and I’m talking two he can throw in any count at any time--to get hitters off his fastball,” Gossage said. “If [Yankee relief ace] Mariano Rivera didn’t learn the cutter, he might have lost his closer job by now.”

Percival believes his surgery will allow him to use more of an overhead arm angle and regain the snap-hook curve that made him a dominant setup man for Lee Smith in 1995, and he’s gaining confidence in his changeup, which he used only sporadically last season.

But surgery raises some questions about his fastball. With the exception of the Indians, Red Sox and Orioles, few teams have hit Percival when he has been able to locate his 95-mph heater, but if he were to lose 3-4 mph off his fastball, he could go from dominant to ordinary overnight.

“From 92 to 95 is a big difference,” Gossage said. “When you’re in the 95-97 range, that’s serious gas. If it’s 92 and it’s straight, you’re really in trouble.”

Percival rehabilitated the shoulder five days a week during the off-season and has felt strong throwing off the mound in camp, but he won’t test the shoulder in a Cactus League until later next week.

“The velocity could come back next week, next month, or in August,” Percival said. “You never know.”

Angel Notes

Rain washed out the Angels’ Cactus League game against the Cubs on Monday, and it was rescheduled next Monday in Mesa, Ariz. The teams also have scheduled a B game at Tempe this morning in an effort to keep their pitchers on a regular schedule. . . . The Angels reassigned catcher Brian Graves to minor league camp.

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A CLOSE CALL

Troy Percival has averaged 34 saves in his four seasons as Angel closure. Coming off shoulder surgery, he faces a career crossroads not unlike other power closers:

STAYING POWER:

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YEARS SAVES PER CLOSERS EFFECTIVE SEASON Lee Smith 14 33 Rollie Fingers 14 23 Rich Gossage 14 21 Tom Henke 11 28 Dennis Eckersley 10 37 FADED FAST

Mark Davis 2 36 Jim Gott 3 24 Rob Dibble 3 25 Jose Mesa 3 33 Terry Forster 4 23

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Burned Out?

Troy Percival’s earned-run average has risen in each of his five seasons, and his strikeout rate has declined.

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Year IP H SO W-L S ERA HR 1995 74 37 94 3-2 3 1.95 6 1996 74 38 100 0-2 36 2.31 8 1997 52 40 72 5-5 27 3.46 6 1998 66 2/3 45 87 2-7 42 3.65 5 1999 57 38 58 4-6 31 3.79 9 Totals 323 2/3 198 411 14-22 139 2.95 34

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