Cooper Gives the Angels a New Look and Style

Brian Cooper should have known better than to walk into the Angel clubhouse Tuesday with a jet-black, slicked-back hairdo that sent a wave of shock--and laughter--through a team that remembered the young right-hander’s reddish-brown locks from spring training.

Manager Mike Scioscia took a gander at Cooper and said, “Is that the worst, or what? He looks like Dracula.” Reliever Al Levine was the first of many Angels to see Cooper and say: “Hey Elvis.”

Cooper, who joined the Angels on Tuesday from triple-A Edmonton, chuckled at the remarks, acknowledging each with a nod and a smile. Then he took the Metrodome mound and showed he can dish it out as well as he takes it.

Providing a significant boost to an injury ravaged rotation, Cooper threw six solid innings, giving up four runs and five hits, to lead the Angels to a 7-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the opener of a nine-game trip.

Staked to a seven-run lead, a cushion built in part by Tim Salmon’s two-run single in the first and home runs by Mo Vaughn (in the second) and Darin Erstad (in the fourth), Cooper pitched with poise and aggression, striking out four and walking three.

It’s not the kind of performance that will vault Cooper into the rookie-of-the-year race, but compared to the 1-4 record and 8.59 earned-run average Angel starters combined to post on their last home stand, this was Cy Young-caliber stuff.

“It’s definitely encouraging when guys come up and pitch the way Coop did tonight,” Vaughn said of Cooper, the 18th pitcher the Angels have used this season, 11 shy of the franchise record of 29, set in 1996.

“We know the situation with our starting pitchers, guys who are hurt, but these guys have to come up and do the job. We can’t lay down or look back. We’ve got to look ahead. . . .

“Regardless of who is hurt, we’re in a race, and guys have got to be ready for it.”

Before Cooper joined the race, he had to get out of the pits. Disappointed he didn’t make the opening-day rotation, Cooper was 0-3 with a 12.50 ERA at Edmonton in April. He had trouble throwing strikes even in the bullpen and was worried he might get demoted to double-A.

But with help from triple-A pitching coach Greg Minton, who tweaked Cooper’s windup and simplified his mental approach, Cooper began to turn things around. Then 10 days ago, Cooper opted for more drastic measures.

“I was struggling, I needed something new, so I dyed my hair jet black,” said Cooper, who was 3-4 with a 5.74 ERA at Edmonton. “Now I’ve got some new clothes and a new hairdo, and that’s the key, the hair. I’m 3-0 with it. . . . You can’t mess with a winning streak.”

Nor do you want to mess with a seven-run lead by pitching defensively. Cooper attacked both corners with his fastball and mixed his breaking pitches and off-speed pitches effectively. Though he gave up two runs in the fourth on David Ortiz’s two-run double and two more in the sixth on Brian Buchanan’s first homer, he appeared confident throughout.

“Makeup is a big plus for him,” Scioscia said. “He’s not going to scare off or be intimidated.”

Starting five games for the Angels last September certainly helped.

“I expected to come here and be real nervous, but I wasn’t,” Cooper said. “Last year was huge. None of that big-league aura affected me. If this was my first major league start, it would have been a lot different.”

A four-run lead before you take the mound can have a calming effect, as well. The Angels pounded Twin starter Joe Mays in the first with Salmon’s two-run single and bases-loaded walks to Scott Spiezio and Bengie Molina.

Vaughn, who hit .408 with eight homers and 18 RBIs during the Angel homestand, blasted his team-leading 16th home run into the fourth row of the upper deck in right for a 5-0 lead in the second, and Erstad’s homer and Garret Anderson’s RBI double in the fourth made the score 7-0.

The Twins made it interesting with four runs, but Angel reliever Mike Holtz retired all four batters he faced in the seventh and eighth, Shigetoshi Hasegawa got out of an eighth-inning jam with a double play, and Troy Percival pitched a one-two-three ninth for his 13th save.