No Relief in Role Reversal

Angel pitchers Jarrod Washburn and Troy Percival had been through this so many times before. The game on the line, one out needed to get through a late inning.

Only this time, Washburn was doing the pitching and Percival was doing the watching.

Washburn was on the mound, staring in at Boston’s David Ortiz. Percival squinting in from the bullpen. This was a “Freaky Friday” night in Fenway Park, where the role reversal turned into a wrap on the Angels’ season.

Washburn served a slider, plump and succulent, on a silver platter. Burly Ortiz feasted, clobbering the ball into the seats above the Green Monster. And Percival trudged in from the bullpen, maybe for the last time as an Angel because his contract is up, not to save the Angels, but to answer questions why he was not in the game at that crucial moment.

Ortiz’s two-run homer with two out in the 10th inning broke a 6-6 tie and sent the Red Sox, and their fans, deliriously into the New England night, celebrating a sweep.

And Washburn and Percival? They were left to do a postgame postmortem on the Angels’ exit from the postseason.

Both delivered the appropriate speeches.

“I was ready to go in there, I wanted to go in there,” said Percival, whose late-inning performances have translated into 316 career saves. “But I am never going to question a manager’s decision.”

Washburn, who was making his first relief appearance since 1999, said he talked to pitching coach Bud Black before the game and said he was ready.

The Angels have gone without a left-handed reliever this season, so Washburn was drafted after Francisco Rodriquez tired following a 2 2/3 -inning stint, his longest this season. Percival had been warming up, but the call came for Washburn.

Which, in the end, left Angel Manager Mike Scioscia trying to describe the logic of his decision.

“We had good matchups with Wash,” Scioscia said. “A left matchup with Ortiz, if he got on, then we would see what they would do with Trot Nixon. If they were going to counter [with a right-handed batter], we had Percy ready.”

The lefty-righty matchup means little to Percival. Left-handed batters hit only .218 against him this season; Ortiz had one hit in 10 at-bats. As it was, Percival didn’t get a chance, as had been the case the entire series. Percival had not pitched since Oct. 2, when he rolled through a 1-2-3 ninth to clinch the West Division title.

But Scioscia seemed concerned about Percival being tired, even with a week’s rest.

“If Percy needs eight-to-10 pitches to get out of the inning, who knows how much he would have left for the next inning?” Scioscia said.

A question that will remain rhetorical.

“I’m not going to second-guess anything when you send in Jarrod with the heart he has,” Percival said.

But this went against both of their job descriptions.

Washburn has been a solid starter, winning 50 games the past four seasons. He has watched Percival’s handiwork from the dugout.

Percival, meanwhile, has been one of the game’s top closers, with his squat (behind the mound) and squint (until the batter quakes) style that has been getting the Angels out of late-inning trouble since he took over the closer role in 1996.

“I have relieved earlier in my career, but was I wasn’t very good at it then either,” said Washburn, who had an 8.53 earned-run average in 10 previous relief appearances. “I tried to put it down and away and hung it. He hit it.”

That was not an unusual occurrence in games Washburn has pitched against the Red Sox this season. He gave up seven runs in 3 1/3 innings in a regular-season start. He was then battered in Game 1 of the series, giving up seven runs, four of which were unearned, in a 9-3 loss.

“I wanted to redeem myself,” Washburn said.

Percival just wanted to pitch.

“It was hard not pitching this series because it meant we never had a lead late in the game,” Percival said. “I wanted to be out there. But in this game, you can’t be selfish.”