Ortiz Takes Command as Angels Win Again

As a young pitcher --well, OK, a not-so-young pitcher --Ramon Ortiz appears blissfully unaware of the Angels’ postseason history. For the last 15 years, after all, the Angels have no postseason history.

However, should the Angels advance to the playoffs, Ortiz is making his case to start Game 1. He utterly dominated the Toronto Blue Jays in an 8-2 victory Sunday, pitching a five-hitter and tying a career high with 10 strikeouts.

“I want to pitch in the playoffs in Anaheim,” he said. “I want to pitch in the World Series one day in Anaheim. I want to feel like Pedro and Clemens.

“This year? You never know.”

For the ninth time in 10 games, the Angels won. They scored in each of the first five innings, with David Eckstein and Darin Erstad driving in two runs apiece, then sat back and applauded as Ortiz carried his shutout into the ninth inning. He got the first two out, then gave up consecutive home runs to Jose Cruz Jr. and Carlos Delgado.

“With two outs, I said, oh my gosh, a shutout,” Ortiz said. “But you never know in baseball. Two pitches, two home runs. It’s OK. I’m happy. Two runs, nine innings, a complete game? I’m very happy.”

The day was his, from the first inning to the last. He retired 19 of 20 from the third inning into the ninth. He walked none.

His earned-run average of 2.44 ranks fourth in the American League, and opponents are batting .219 against him. In his last three starts, he has given up three runs. But he deflected any talk of a potential All-Star game invitation toward team goals, another indication of maturity evident to all in the Angel clubhouse.

A couple years ago, he was “Little Pedro,” the young Dominican fireballer who once beat his idol, Pedro Martinez. But the “potential” card had worn thin, especially after government visa checks this year revealed him to be 29, not 26.

“It’s amazing,” Jarrod Washburn said.

“He got a little older, and he got a little better.

“All the age jokes aside, he’s definitely gotten older and wiser. He’s always had great stuff, but he’s definitely figuring out how to use it. He’s done it.

“The comparisons to Pedro? He’s finally starting to show he’s worthy of those comparisons.”

The Angels needed all of half an hour to end any suspense about which team would win, knocking out former Dodger prospect Luke Prokopec in the second inning. But Ortiz’s quest for a shutout remained alive, and with it plenty of suspense.

Cruz led off the seventh inning with a triple. The Blue Jays had three outs at their disposal, with Cruz 90 feet away from touching home plate to end the shutout.

He never got there. Ortiz kicked it into overdrive, mixing 94-mph fastballs and 86-mph curves and striking out Delgado, Raul Mondesi and Darrin Fletcher in order.

“Every single pitch, he made it good,” catcher Bengie Molina said. “I don’t remember him missing a pitch or missing a location there.”

In the ninth, after Cruz went deep to end the shutout and Delgado went deep too, Molina visited the mound to remind Ortiz to settle down.

Molina is justifiably proud of his years of work with Ortiz, encouraging his friend not to get rattled during a game, not to let one error get him down or let one hit turn into three. Molina has done that job so well that he, not Ortiz, was the one visibly aggravated about the loss of the shutout.

“I wanted it so bad,” he told one of the Angel coaches in the clubhouse after the game.

“With two outs in the ninth, of course you want to get the shutout,” Molina said later. “One more pitch, and you get the shutout. It’s too bad he didn’t get it. I feel bad.”

Ortiz did not, perhaps the best sign of the day for the Angels. He has pitched the Angels’ last four complete games, two this year and two last year. His first shutout will come someday, and he is not anxious about it.

“He’s so calm out there now,” Molina said, “he calms me down sometimes.”

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*--* Turnaround A look at the Angels’ statistics in their last 10 games and the 10 before that: Last 10 Previous 10 Record 9-1 3-7 Games Behind 61/2 101/2 BATTING At-Bats 343 349 Runs 74 49 Hits 100 102 Doubles 21 22 Home Runs 10 4 Walks 38 25 Strikeouts 38 47 Left on Base 63 73 Stolen Bases 12 5 Batting Avg 292 292 On-Base Pct 381 360 Slugging Pct 463 384 PITCHING Innings 94 86 Runs 34 59 Hits (Per 9 IP) 8.43 10.26 BB (Per 9 IP) 3.64 3.77 SO (Per 9 IP) 5.84 6.70 ERA 2.30 5.55

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