Scioscia Loses This Closing Argument

Where was Troy Percival?

The question cracked louder than Bernie Williams’ bat against Brendan Donnelly’s fastball.

The question rang longer than Tim Salmon’s smashed fist against the right-field wall.

For several endless, numbing moments Tuesday night, the question roared even above those ghost-summoning Yankee Stadium cheers.

Where was Troy Percival?

It is a question that could echo through Angel Manager Mike Scioscia’s ears for weeks.

This is not a second guess. This is a first guess, uttered in the press box as it was surely screamed throughout the Southland in the eighth inning of what should have been an Angel victory in the opener of the division series against the New York Yankees.

The final score should have been Angels 5, Yankees 4.

The final score was, instead, Yankees 8, Angels 5.

The final analysis flowed as easy as what should have been Troy Glaus’ game-winning swing.

Where was Troy Percival?

The Angels had them. The Angels had just chased Yankees around the Bronx for more than three hours, and they had them.

The Angels had frustrated them with long at-bats and timely bloops and basepath sprints. They had come back three times against Roger Clemens. They had made Joe Torre look silly and pinstripes look human.

The Yankees were finished. They trailed, 5-4, with two out in the eighth inning and nobody on base and an 0-and-2 count on free-swinging Alfonso Soriano.

Then reliever Ben Weber threw four consecutive balls to a guy who walked only 23 times this season, and Soriano trotted to first base.

“Incredible,” said Jason Giambi.

No, what happened next was incredible.

With Derek Jeter batting and closer Percival ready in the bullpen, Weber stayed in the game.

“I think with where we were, how Web was throwing the ball, we didn’t mind that matchup,” said Scioscia.

On a full-count, Weber also walked Jeter.

But the Angels still led, with Giambi coming to the plate, a guy who was 0 for 5 with five strikeouts against Percival in his career, so here came ...

Scott Schoeneweis?

A guy against whom Giambi had reached base in their last three encounters, with two singles and a hit-by-pitch?

“I don’t mind Schoeny against Giambi, he’s done a good job,” said Scioscia, referring to Giambi’s .250 career average against Schoeneweis, with no homers in 20 at-bats. “He made a good pitch. Jason’s strong. He didn’t get all of it, but he got enough of it to hit it.”

Enough of it to knock it off Scott Spiezio’s glove at first base and score the tying run.

Enough to make many Angel fans, all together now, shout it again.

Where was Troy Percival?

With Williams coming up and the score tied and the Angels desperately needing to salvage what could still have been a sparkling victory, it was yet another good chance for the veteran.

But, instead, Scioscia brought in rookie Donnelly.

“In a tie game ... if we bring in Percy, we’re going to start to, you know, extend him ... running into trouble later in the series,” Scioscia said.

It will be surely no greater trouble, however, than Williams’ three-run, game-winning home run. It was a shot that gave the Yankees not only the victory, but a renewal of that feeling that the Angels had so adeptly stole from them.

It is not something that opponents want the Yankees feeling.

“You always want to say, ‘Well, it can’t be magic, it’s not this, not that, not the mystique,’ ” Giambi said. “But the pinstripes ... they somehow find a way to get the rally going.”

Just as Percival, with 40 saves in 44 chances this year, traditionally stops those rallies.

For eight years as an Angel, the long-suffering star and symbol of this resilient team has stopped those rallies.

We’re not the only ones who know it.

Williams said he was “surprised” that Percival was not pitching to him.

Giambi said simply, “That’s a tough one. That’s gonna be one for Mr. Scioscia.”

Earlier this week, I submitted my American League Manager of the Year ballot.

I voted for Scioscia.

I would do it again.

He’s a splendid communicator, a great baseball man who has turned the Angels into the sort of smart National League team that will have great American League success.

But on this night, failing to bring in Percival to face either Jeter, Giambi or Williams, he struck out.

What has always been his greatest asset became his biggest problem.

He was trying to remain consistent when the situation called for creative.

You see, if this were the regular season, he would not have brought in Percival on any of those three occasions, and nobody would have said a word.

He has only used Percival as early as the eighth inning four times. He has arguably the league’s best set-up men. He trusts them, and that trust has been rewarded.

“Should Mike change his managing style just for the playoffs?” Spiezio said. “Other managers don’t do that, do they?”

Well, yes, they do. And Scioscia, having just completed his first playoff game as a manager, will learn this.

The playoffs are completely different than the regular season. They are more desperate, more daring, more about last gasp than future plans.

The Angels had their cleats on the Yankees’ neck late Tuesday night. They needed Troy Percival to finish the job.

It didn’t matter if he came in and required 30 pitches to do it. It didn’t matter if he would get so tired, he wouldn’t be available until Saturday.

Suddenly, because there was no Percival, there may not be a Saturday.

“I’m not a coach, I’m not a manager, I come in when I am told,” Percival said afterward, shrugging. “Mike knows my capabilities. Whenever he needs me, I’ll be ready.”

It’s official now, OK? They need him.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.