Percival Answers a Loaded Question

Troy Percival had done little to contribute to the Angels’ winning streak, through no fault of his own. In blowouts, closers are strictly optional.

But as the Angels won their eighth consecutive game Friday, Percival got an assist and a save. He tipped starter Aaron Sele to a flaw in his delivery, helping Sele survive a rocky start. And he ended the game with a flourish, retiring Carlos Delgado and Raul Mondesi with the bases loaded to preserve a 6-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Percival had not pitched in four days and had not earned a save in a week, with the Angels outscoring opponents, 75-23, during the winning streak. He has four saves, three fewer than neophyte closer Hideki Irabu of the Texas Rangers.

“If we end the season and I have four saves and pitch 22 innings, I’ll be a happy man,” Percival said. “I’d be fresh for the playoffs.”

Nothing wrong with a little optimism from the closer, not with the Angels closing in on the club-record winning streak of 11 games, set in 1964. Darin Erstad provided the game-winning home run as the Angels (14-14) scrambled to .500 for the first time since April 2.

“We’re not going to be a .500 team,” Erstad said. “That’s not a goal of ours. We plan on being much better than that.”

Erstad plans on being much better than the .258 hitter he was last year and the .242 hitter he was two weeks ago. He missed seven games after sustaining a concussion, then went hitless in his first game back. Since then, he is hitting .450 (nine for 20), with his first two home runs of the season.

“When you can see that mano-a-mano look in his eyes, you know he’s right,” Percival said. “You can see it now.”

The Blue Jays led, 4-1, after five innings. Erstad started the sixth with a single, stole second and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Tim Salmon. In the seventh, after Jorge Fabregas drove in his first run of the season with a single, the Angels put runners on second and third with one out.

Fabregas, on third base, represented the tying run. Adam Kennedy, on second base, represented the go-ahead run. And that left Toronto Manager Buck Martinez with an open base and a question: Pitch to Erstad, or pitch around him to set up a potential inning-ending double play?

Martinez opted to pitch to Erstad. The Toronto manager played his trump card--Pedro Borbon, an undistinguished left-handed reliever but one who had faced Erstad eight times and retired him every time.

“He’s pretty much abused me,” Erstad said.

Not this time, not this streak.

Erstad hit Borbon’s first pitch for a three-run homer. The Angels thank Borbon for his contribution to their winning streak. He also gave up their game-winning home run last Sunday, the 14th-inning grand slam hit by David Eckstein.

The good teams dispose of the bad ones. The Angels arrived here after sweeping the Cleveland Indians, losers of 15 of 17. The Blue Jays, with the worst record in the league, have lost nine in a row.

But for the second time in six days, Toronto scored three runs off Sele in the first inning. Sele gave up four hits in the inning, two more in the second and did not appear long for the game.

Percival, watching video in the clubhouse, noticed Sele’s shoulder was out of sync with the rest of his delivery. Jarrod Washburn saw it too. With the kind advice of his teammates, Sele held Toronto to one run over the next four innings.

“If I hadn’t made those adjustments, it would have been a real short day,” Sele said.

Sele gritted out six innings on a season-high 120 pitches, picking up the victory for hanging in there until he could hand a lead to the bullpen. Mark Lukasiewicz, Al Levine and Percival took care of the final nine outs.

The final two did not come easily. After Dave Berg struck out to start the ninth inning, the Jays loaded the bases on a bloop single, an error by third baseman Troy Glaus and a walk.

With the tying run on second base and the winning run on first, Percival shrugged and struck out Delgado. On a check swing, Mondesi grounded out. The Angels were a .500 team once again.

“It means a ton to me,” Percival said. “Now you can start chipping away at the boys on top.”