Schoeneweis All Angels Need

When you’re not pitching well, everyone has a word of advice. Your manager has a couple ideas. Your pitching coach wants to help. Your teammates chime in. The talk shows and chat-room forums overflow with suggestions, even if most of those involve your removal from the starting rotation.

Scott Schoeneweis even imagined his son pointing out his faults. His son turns 30 today--30 days old, that is.

“I can tell,” he said with a chuckle. “Some of his grunts and groans are like, hey, get your act together and start pitching, Dad.”

Schoeneweis could afford to smile Tuesday, after a brilliant performance that left his manager, pitching coach and teammates smiling too. He got all but one out of the Angels’ 3-0 victory over the Texas Rangers, stifling a potent lineup on four hits and never allowing a runner past second base.

The Angels climbed within two games of first place in the American League West and climbed 11 games over .500 for the first time in four years.

After eight innings, Schoeneweis returned to the mound in search of a shutout, serenaded by a warm ovation. He got Alex Rodriguez. He got Rafael Palmeiro. On a full count, he walked Juan Gonzalez.

And, after a season-high 125 pitches, he was done. As closer Troy Percival jogged in from the bullpen, television cameras captured Schoeneweis visibly annoyed on the bench. He was upset, he said later, not with Manager Mike Scioscia for removing him, but with himself.

“The worst thing you can do in that ninth inning is walk a guy,” Schoeneweis said.

Percival got the final out, retiring Todd Greene for his third save in three days and 11th of the season. Percival nudged himself into the record book as well, tying Chuck Finley for the most appearances (436) in Angel history.

But the game belonged to Schoeneweis, who beat the powerful Rangers for the second time this season.

“You can’t overstate how dangerous that lineup is,” Scioscia said.

“He has good pitches,” Greene said. “When he has command of them, he can beat any team, not just us.”

He threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of 32 batters. He pounded his fastball inside. He used his sinker and change-up effectively, getting 11 outs on ground balls and another four on pop flies.

In short, he did everything the Angels have asked him to do, this season and in the preceding two. The Angels’ home-grown starters--Schoeneweis, Jarrod Washburn and Ramon Ortriz--are in their third full season.

“Washburn and Ramon have improved by leaps and bounds. I’ve been bringing up the caboose,” Schoeneweis said. “I need to pick up the slack and keep up my end of the bargain.”

If it doesn’t happen in three years, perhaps it won’t.

The Angels offered long-term contracts this spring to Washburn and Ortiz, but not to Schoeneweis. After four starts, he had three losses and a 7.33 earned-run average.

But he has reached the seventh inning in eight of 11 starts. He has not lost in his last five starts. His record is 4-4, his ERA a respectable 4.77.

And, for all the hollering about replacing him in the rotation, he is a fifth starter. The Angels are in no hurry to replace him.

After all, even the teams perceived to have the best rotations in the league struggle to find five top starters.

The Oakland A’s sent their fifth starter, Erik Hiljus, to the minor leagues. The New York Yankees use Ted Lilly as their fifth starter; he has reached the seventh inning four times in eight starts.

The Angels did not crush the ball in this game, but they were opportunistic.

They had a modest seven hits, but four were for extra bases, and they were three for six with runners in scoring position. Garret Anderson doubled twice; he leads the league in doubles.

But the most impressive statistic may be this: Schoeneweis is 3-0 since the birth of his son.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep it going, and he’ll be proud of the old man,” he said.