For the Love of Mike

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Sept. 1, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CHICAGO —

Hard to believe it was only a year ago that:

* Mo Vaughn didn’t make it to the field for a bench-clearing brawl in Cleveland.

* Several Angels threatened to boycott the next game if Vaughn played.

* Vaughn lashed out at his teammates in an expletive-laced clubhouse tirade.

* Manager Terry Collins, tired of all the finger-pointing and bickering and losing, resigned under pressure during a teary-eyed news conference.

Seems like a decade ago.

That’s how far removed the 2000 Angels are from that broken-down, fume-spewing 1999 model, a remarkable transformation considering most of the parts from the engine that drove Collins and eventually General Manager Bill Bavasi out of town are still under the Angels’ hood.

There is one major difference, of course: the guy behind the wheel.

While the 1999 (Hell’s?) Angels under Collins preferred to rage against the machine, the 2000 Angels have been a model of peace, love and understanding under first-year Manager Mike Scioscia.

“Nothing has happened this year that can even be remotely compared to last year,” Vaughn, the Angel first baseman, said of this team’s harmony. “Whenever there has been a problem, whenever something has come up, Mike has handled it the right way. There’s no chance of something becoming a big problem because he’s going to handle it.”

The players embraced Scioscia on the first day of spring training, and the bearhug imprint remains on the first day of September.

They love that Scioscia spent 13 years as a Dodger catcher and understands the ups and downs, the joys and frustrations players experience through the season.

They love how Scioscia’s demeanor on the bench rarely changes, whether the Angels are winning or losing by five runs, or whether it’s the top of the first inning or the bottom of the ninth.

They love how Scioscia provides large doses of positive reinforcement, almost always opting for a pat on the back instead of the kick in the rear.

“He’s definitely a player’s manager,” right fielder Tim Salmon said. “It’s hard to pinpoint one specific thing, but he has a vision for the big picture that has helped. He’s really made a difference in keeping the atmosphere loose. . . . There’s no doubt this year has been a complete change from everything we experienced last year.”

Bavasi, who resigned about a month after Collins last year, hears such sentiment and can’t help but think it has a familiar ring.

“Those guys have obviously responded to Mike real well, and I’m happy for them,” Bavasi said. “But what I’m hearing about Mike and his coaches now is what I heard about [former Angel manager Marcel] Lachemann and his coaches and Terry [Collins] and his coaches when they first came in. There are honeymoon periods, and they’re striking at the right time.”

Just as Collins did in 1997, his first season in Anaheim. The Angels wanted an intense leader, an aggressive and fiery manager who would stir things up in the clubhouse and on the basepaths, and that’s what Collins did, taking undermanned and injury-riddled Angel teams to the brink of the American League West title his first two seasons.

“During Terry’s first year, I had players walking up to me saying, ‘This guy is perfect for us,’ ” Bavasi said. “Don’t paint me as being negative toward the current regime. I think Mike Scioscia is great. Where I take exception is that the two are linked. I get upset when people say Mike’s great, and that must mean Terry was bad.”

Collins’ luck in 1999 was worse than bad--it was terrible. His veteran shortstop, Gary DiSarcina, was hit by a fungo bat in spring training, broke his forearm and missed the first 2 1/2 months, and his Gold Glove center fielder, Jim Edmonds, sat out four months because of shoulder surgery.

His freshly signed, $80-million first baseman, Vaughn, fell into the dugout in the season opener and suffered a severely sprained ankle that hampered him all season, and his ultra-steady and productive right fielder, Salmon, sprained his wrist and sat out 2 1/2 months.

Left fielder Darin Erstad struggled through an abysmal season, third baseman Troy Glaus suffered the usual growing pains of a youngster in his first full big league season, closer Troy Percival battled injuries all year, and there was little depth in the rotation.

A team many had predicted to win the division title got off to a sluggish start, going 24-27 in April and May, and the first major sign of tension showed in early June, when players staged a mutiny of sorts, complaining to Bavasi about Collins’ imminent contract extension.

But things didn’t get really ugly until after the All-Star break, when the Angels lost 11 straight and fell out of the race.

Players criticized one another for being soft, for not taking losing hard enough, for having a lackadaisical attitude, for being unprofessional, for putting individual goals above team goals.

It all came to a head on Sept 3, when Collins, after the Angels had been swept by Cleveland in a four-game series, returned to Anaheim and resigned.

“I hope nobody else has to go through what I did, but I’m sure somebody will,” said Collins, now an advance scout for the Chicago Cubs. “I see a lot of teams not playing well and managers taking a lot of heat. It comes with the territory.”

Bavasi and Angel President Tony Tavares tried to deflect the heat from Collins.

“I don’t think [the players] quit on Terry, they quit on themselves,” Tavares said. “I’ve never been more disappointed in a team.”

Would Collins have done anything different?

“All I tried to do was make guys realize how important it was to just play through tough times instead of pointing fingers,” Collins said. “Hopefully, that’s what they’ll do when the tough times come back.”

They have so far, but the tough times of 2000 pale in comparison to 1999.

Yes, the Angels lost DiSarcina for the season because of rotator-cuff surgery, and they’ve had their usual share of pitching injuries and disappointments, but none of the key offensive players--Erstad, Vaughn, Salmon, Garret Anderson and Glaus--has been on the disabled list.

They’ve gotten major contributions from their stable of young starting pitchers, the bullpen has excelled all season, and a team most picked to finish last is right in the thick of the division and wild-card races.

In baseball’s great chicken-or-the-egg debate--does good chemistry breed winning or does winning breed good chemistry?--this Angel team has shown that winning does, indeed, foster better chemistry.

That might have happened with or without Scioscia. After Collins’ resignation, many Angels took long, hard looks in the mirror and realized how their actions had hurt the careers of others.

A feeling of remorse permeated the clubhouse last September, and that seemed to begin the healing that continued with the hiring of Scioscia and several new coaches this season.

“We knew we had to police ourselves and be more professional, and Mike let that happen,” Percival said. “You can’t say it was all Terry’s fault last year, because he was in a bad situation. We had bad chemistry that was brought on by losing.

“This year, we all get along, there hasn’t been any finger-pointing, we all know each other and know what you can say or do, and there’s been more harmony. When you play together, you develop friendships. Everyone pulls for each other, whereas last year, people were pulling in different directions.”

If Collins harbors any ill will toward the Angels, he hides it well. He said he’s happy Erstad, Anderson and Glaus are having such good years and praised Ken Forsch, assistant general manager, for showing so much faith in Bengie Molina, who has emerged as one of the league’s top young catchers.

He said he had no doubts that if Vaughn, Salmon and most of the lineup avoided injury, the Angels would have a good year.

“I thought if we could have just gotten through last year with our heads above water, we would be OK,” Collins said. “But some things happened that didn’t allow that.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

On the Rise

Comparing key Angel numbers this season to those of Sept. 1 last season:

RECORD

2000 68-65, 3rd place, 4 games back

1999 51-80, 4th place, 28 games back

BATTING

2000 .281, 704 runs, 204 HRs

1999 .256, 547 runs, 124 HRs

GARRET ANDERSON

2000 .270, 31 home runs, 89 RBIs

1999 .294, 18 home runs, 64 RBIs