That’s a Playoff Birth

No matter how much this year’s Angels might enjoy the thrill of clinching a playoff berth, the thrill may not be as wonderful for them as it was for the team’s play-by-play man last time around. In 1986, as announcer Al Conin broadcast from the celebration that followed the clinching of the American League West championship, the phone rang. His wife was in labor. He had to leave for the hospital immediately, drenched in champagne.

“I was just reeking,” Conin said. “The nurses looked at each other as if to say, ‘This poor baby’s got a drunk for a father.’ ”

Little did Conin suspect that his newborn daughter, Alexandra, would be old enough to get her driver’s license the next time the Angels made the playoffs.

Conin, the play-by-play man from 1983 to ‘92, still lives in Orange County. He helped coach--and son Adam played for--the 1997 South Mission Viejo Little League team that played for the world championship in Williamsport, Pa.

As a youth baseball coach in the era of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and “Chicks dig the long ball” ads, Conin said he appreciates this year’s Angels for showing kids that sacrifice bunts, squeeze plays and stolen bases still win games.

“That’s why I’m rooting so hard for them this year,” he said. “They play the kind of baseball I love the most.”

*

Ramon Ortiz lamented that the Angels had given up a future major leaguer last week, when they sent right-hander Pedro Liriano to the Milwaukee Brewers as the final player to be named in the July 31 trade for outfielder Alex Ochoa. Ortiz and Liriano are cousins, and the two Dominicans had talked about some day pitching together in Anaheim.

“He wanted to stay here and be on the team with me,” Ortiz said. “He’s a good pitcher. In every league he’s been in, he’s pitched well, just like me. I don’t know why they chose him.”

Liriano, 21, has a live fastball and could develop into a prospect in time. He went 10-14 with a 3.60 earned-run average at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, with 74 walks and 176 strikeouts in 167 innings.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

RAMON ORTIZ

(15-9, 3.79 ERA)

vs.

RANGERS’

KENNY ROGERS

(13-8, 3.89 ERA)

The Ballpark in Arlington,

5 PDT

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--Ortiz is the probable starter, although he had a cut on the little finger of his pitching hand Tuesday and could be replaced by Mickey Callaway if necessary. In his last five starts, Ortiz is 5-0 with a 2.00 ERA. In his career, he is 9-1 against the Rangers. The Angels had considered giving Aaron Sele a start this weekend--he has not pitched since Aug. 20 while rehabilitating a partially torn rotator cuff--but now plan to use Ortiz and Kevin Appier to keep them sharp for the playoffs.