Promising Ortiz Seeks Consistency

The Angels haven’t had a 15-game winner in five years. They haven’t had a 20-game winner since Nolan Ryan won 22 in 1974. They aren’t promising anything just yet, but Ramon Ortiz continues to display signs of developing into an ace.

Ortiz, 25, pitched four shutout innings in Sunday’s 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners. He has pitched nine scoreless innings this spring, striking out nine and walking two.

Consistency, not talent, is the hurdle facing Ortiz, who led his league in shutouts three times in five minor league seasons. In one start last August, he pitched a two-hitter in beating baseball’s best pitcher, Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox. In his next start, he walked six and lost. In another, he gave up nine runs in two-thirds of an inning.

When the Chicago White Sox traded for David Wells in January, General Manager Ken Williams said he wanted to know who would start the first game of the playoffs if the Sox qualified. While Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said he believes Ortiz can emerge as an ace, Scioscia’s more immediate concern is assembling a quality starting rotation.

“When you’re facing Pedro Martinez or Mike Mussina or Roger Clemens, that tier of starter becomes more important,” Scioscia said. “But, to get to the playoffs, you have to have five solid starters. If that didn’t matter, Boston would be in the playoffs every year.”

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Ichiro Suzuki, the Mariners’ highly touted Japanese import, singled three times in four at-bats. Ichiro, who goes by his first name alone, is hitting .375 in the Cactus League, with no home runs, no walks and one strikeout in 24 at-bats. He won seven batting titles in Japan.

“He can hit. He might hit .300 over here,” said Angel pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa, a teammate of Ichiro on Japan’s Orix Blue Wave. “But we shouldn’t expect power. Don’t expect Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire on Ken Griffey.”

One Japanese reporter asked Scioscia, who had never before seen Ichiro play, how well he thought Ichiro might do in the major leagues.

“He’s on a team in our division,” Scioscia said with a chuckle, “so I hope he doesn’t do too well.”

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One scout said he clocked a Derrick Turnbow fastball at 98 mph Saturday, the fastest pitch he’s timed in the Cactus League this spring, and said Turnbow threw consistently at 95 mph.

Turnbow, 23, won’t make the team. He pitched 38 innings for the Angels last season--as a Rule 5 draft pick, the Angels had to keep him on the major league roster all season or risk losing him--so they want him to pitch every fifth day this season, probably at double-A Arkansas.

“This guy’s got a chance to be special, either as a starter or as a short reliever,” Scioscia said.

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Outfielder Garret Anderson, who had been sidelined because of a strained groin, made his Cactus League debut Sunday and had an RBI single on the first pitch he saw.