They Will Need Closers for Strong Finish

Troy Percival usually delivers his messages via an intimidating fastball and knee-buckling curve.

About two weeks ago, however, the Angel closer delivered a message of another kind.

Percival phoned a friend who works for the Dodgers and asked him to congratulate Eric Gagne on his success and tell him he hoped he could keep it going.

“I think he must know what I had been through the last couple years and how I had been struggling,” Gagne said. “I was really pleased to get his message. It was an awesome, really professional thing to do.

“I’m only in my first year at this and still have a lot to prove and a lot to learn. Guys like Percival, [Robb] Nen and [Mariano] Rivera are my role models. They’re the closers I look up to if I’m going to become the real deal at this.”

If there is something of a mutual admiration society in the high-wire world of closers, the Freeway Chapter convened in the bullpens at Dodger Stadium on Friday night with evidence that Gagne, leading the major leagues in saves, is already at Percival’s real-deal level.

Evidence also suggests that if the Dodgers and Angels are going to continue on their promising and parallel courses, Gagne and Percival are pivotal.

“I think it’s evident that any championship-caliber club needs the one guy or a combination of people who can come in and consistently nail down wins in the ninth inning,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s also evident that these are two of the best.”

Beyond that, said the respected Harry Minor, a longtime New York Met scout, Gagne and Percival have probably “moved into a class by themselves” when it comes to consistently blowing hitters away with fastballs of 95 mph or more--fastballs that make it impossible for a hitter to look for Percival’s 70- to 75-mph curve (“he’s absolutely wicked when he’s throwing the curve for strikes,” Minor said) or Gagne’s tantalizing changeup, which is complemented by a slider and curve.

Nen, Billy Wagner, John Smoltz, Armando Benitez and Billy Koch are closers who can light up a speed gun at 95 mph plus.

But the consensus of scouts seems to be that none sustain it like Percival and Gagne, and none can vary speeds so dramatically.

Percival has been doing it for eight years in the major leagues and four in the minors. The Angels only needed to see part of his rookie season at Boise, Idaho, in 1990 to decide that if the live-arm, dead-bat catcher had a baseball future, it was on the mound.

If he hadn’t made the transition, “I’d probably be a backup catcher at double A or stocking shelves at Home Depot,” Percival said.

Instead, at 32, he entered the weekend with 225 career saves. He had 39 last year and is 15 for 16 in save opportunities this year, having sat out the first three weeks because of a strained back muscle. He had 28 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings through Thursday, and by restricting batters to a .181 average entering the season, he ranked first among major league pitchers with 200 or more innings.

It is no wonder that during the off-season, attracted by Percival’s resume when they had no clear-cut successor to Jeff Shaw, the Dodgers reportedly offered Matt Herges, Marquis Grissom and Chin-Feng Chen for Percival.

The timing seemed right, because it appeared unlikely the Angels could re-sign Percival given his anger at club management--specifically then-president Tony Tavares--for leaking salary information.

Dodger sources say top Angel management rejected the offer. Angel sources say the offer was never made.

It doesn’t matter now where the truth rests.

Tavares resigned, a happy Percival gave up free agency next winter to sign a two-year, $16-million extension, and the Dodgers, operating off what they had seen in the spring, traded Herges to Montreal, clearing the way for Gagne to become the closer.

“No one would ever have believed he could do what he’s done,” said Minor, the Mets’ scout. “That’s not to say we haven’t all liked his arm for quite a while.

“A couple years ago my club got interested and had me fly into Colorado Springs [when Gagne was pitching in the Pacific Coast League] to take a look at him.

“We kept throwing his name out [in trade talks], but we couldn’t put it together. The Dodgers wanted a lot for him, and justifiably so.

“They might not have known just how good he was going to be then, or how they would eventually use him, but we all know how good he is now.”

Gagne has converted 22 of 23 save opportunities, burying concern about his control. Before Friday, he had walked only four and struck out 46 in 33 1/3 innings, fashioning a 1.35 earned-run average and restricting batters to a major league-best .147 average.

“He relies on his heater to set up everything,” said Minor, and the thing about that, the most eye-popping part of his adjustment to the closer role, is that his velocity has increased about two or three miles per hour, consistently registering in the 97-98 mph range.

That increase has generated speculation about steroid use, which Gagne has strongly denied, insisting he simply got bigger and stronger through a more rigorous training regimen in the off-season.

In addition, said Scioscia, it is not unusual for a starting pitcher who is moved into a situation where he knows he only has to throw his best stuff over a short span to display a sudden increase in velocity.

“There’s a consistent pattern of that,” said Scioscia, who never managed Gagne in the Dodger farm system but knew “he had a tremendous arm and potential and you have to be impressed the way he’s overcome some setbacks [including reconstructive elbow surgery in 1997] to take advantage of this opportunity and become one of the premier closers.”

Percival agreed, which is why he sent that congratulatory message to Gagne.

“I’m not into professional jealousy,” Percival said. “I don’t have to prove anything or impress anyone. I know what I’ve done and what I can do. I also know how difficult it is, what it feels like to go out and blow a save, so I don’t root for anybody to blow a save unless they’re in our division or pitching against us.

“I enjoy watching other closers, and while I only know about Gagne from what I’ve read and seen on TV, you have to be impressed.

“It’s not a common thing and it’s not an easy thing to step into that role at this level without any experience at it, but he’s got great stuff from what I’ve seen.

“When you can throw 95 plus with his competitiveness and off-speed pitches, I’m surprised he hadn’t been tried in that role before.”