Scioscia’s Message Finds an Audience of Believers

What Mike Scioscia said to Jarrod Washburn about the police investigation into an alleged sexual assault by the Angel pitching ace will stay private. What Scioscia said to his team, in a meeting about Washburn and the investigation, also will stay private.

But it’s a good bet that whatever Scioscia said was absolutely the right thing. In three years as Angel manager, Scioscia just about always says the right things.

Do you know how hard that is? Always saying the right things to 25 different men? These are men of different talent levels. Some are outgoing, some are private, and some have fragile psyches. Some of them love criticism and are motivated by it, and others hate it and crawl into a hole because of it.

No matter how hard Scioscia is poked, prodded, stuck with a sharp stick, no matter what the questions are after tough losses or good wins, after long losing streaks or big winning streaks, no matter the postgame second guessing--”Why did you bring Percival in?” or “Why did you leave Percival on the bench?”--Scioscia just folds his hands, looks you in the eye and gives the answer. “Because that’s what I thought was the right thing to do.”

The Orange County district attorney’s office said no charges would be filed against Washburn, the anchor of Anaheim’s stalwart pitching staff. An investigation that started 10 days ago apparently did not offer enough evidence against Washburn for a criminal case to be pursued.

Asked how he felt, Scioscia said: “Relieved.” Asked how Washburn felt after receiving the news, while in Scioscia’s office, Scioscia said: “Relieved.” Asked if Washburn gave evidence of any emotions, Scioscia said, “Relief is an emotion, isn’t it?” And that was the end of the questions about Washburn and the law.

Whenever there is bad news--reliever Troy Percival going on the disabled list for a few weeks; Tim Salmon getting hit on the hand and turning a day-to-day injury into an 18-day episode in the dugout; a team that finished 2001 in a pathetic nose dive starting the 2002 season the same way--Scioscia says not to worry.

“We’re a good team and we’ll play better,” he said over and over when the team started 6-14 and his name was being mentioned as the manager most likely to be fired by June.

And darned if Scioscia wasn’t right. This is a good team. The Angels are 35 games over .500 with only one 2002 All-Star, Garret Anderson. If it’s not the players, which seems to be what voting fans and American League All-Star Manager Joe Torre said, then Scioscia must be doing many things very well.

“It’s been obviously difficult for Jarrod,” Scioscia said of the last 10 days. “It’s difficult when things are out of your control.”

In that last sentence, Scioscia was talking as much about himself as he was about Washburn.

This time, Scioscia had no control over what happened to his star pitcher. He had control only over what happened to his team. Tuesday, when the news broke, Scioscia gathered the Angels, told them the little he knew and the Angels defeated Oakland, 5-2. No one in the clubhouse was angry or disappointed or anguished. There was no hint of anxiety, no mention of bad Angel happenings in past Septembers.

Remember last month when the Angels blew a four-run, ninth-inning lead and lost to the Red Sox, 10-9, in 10 innings? It was the last game of a four-game series and the loss could have been devastating, coming against a team chasing the Angels for the wild-card playoff spot.

“Why would you think that?” was Scioscia’s answer to the possibility that this loss was worse than any other loss. “It’s no different than any other game. We just move on and win the next one.”

The Angels did. They won the next one.

There is never any panic here and Scioscia is the reason why. Down 4-0 to the A’s on Wednesday night, the Angels kept looking for the right pitches, took the right swings, took the smart chances. They advanced runners with sacrifices. They scored on a squeeze play. They got back in the game, not with big, flamboyant plays but with small, smart ones.

Now, instead of being voted most likely to be fired, Scioscia is a front-runner to be manager of the year.

Angel fans were on their feet Wednesday night, wildly waving the giveaway T-shirts, unprompted by scoreboard pleadings or Rally Monkey histrionics. They are beginning to understand the Scioscia way. Be patient. Be positive. There is nothing so bad that it can’t be overcome. Not even in an Angel September.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com