Byrd Has Real Eye for Plate

Paul Byrd didn’t tip his cap to the Kauffman Stadium crowd after throwing what he called “the best game I’ve ever pitched,” a two-hit shutout to lead the Angels to a 5-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

But the veteran right-hander did flap his arms twice to salute five or six college-age kids in the left field upper deck, former Byrd’s Nest fans who used to come to the stadium wearing feathers on their arms, rubber bird beaks, and hats that looked like nests on the nights Byrd pitched for the Royals, a team he won 17 games for in 2002.

“They were undercover, they left their wings and beaks at home, but they were here -- I saw three of them before the game,” said Byrd, who faced only 28 hitters, one over the minimum, in throwing his second complete game in three starts.

“I wanted to make sure I acknowledged them, and I did that as a sign of respect. I haven’t had a Roger Clemens type of career, so when someone is putting on some gear and pulling for you, it feels nice.”

Byrd (8-5) doesn’t have Roger Clemens stuff, either -- he features a wide variety of breaking balls and off-speed pitches out of an old-school delivery, and his fastball rarely tops 88 mph -- but on nights like Friday, it’s as if Byrd discovers his inner-Clemens.

Byrd, who has 14 walks in 16 starts this season, threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of 28 batters. Outside of his one walk, to Mark Teahen to lead off the third, he had only four other three-ball counts. Of his 105 pitches, 73 were strikes. He didn’t nibble at corners. He attacked the strike zone, got ahead of hitters and put them away.

“That was precision,” Angel pitching coach Bud Black said. “I think that was vintage Paul Byrd. He throws strikes, and he pitches aggressively for a guy you wouldn’t classify as a power pitcher. It seems contradictory. Usually, guys like him try to tantalize batters with a variety of pitches, but he goes right at them, and it’s great.”

Of the three batters who reached base against Byrd, two were erased on double plays. The only two hits Byrd gave up were Matt Stairs’ single in the fifth and Mike Sweeney’s double in the seventh. Center fielder Chone Figgins chased down two fly balls on the warning track in the sixth to help preserve the shutout.

It was Byrd’s first shutout since July 13, 2002, when he blanked the Angels on three hits in the Royals’ 4-0 win, and it was the Angels’ first two-hitter since Ramon Ortiz’s 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 8, 2000.

It was also the lowest-hit game of Byrd’s career, but if not for a gaffe by Royal Manager Buddy Bell, it would have been a three-hitter.

Center fielder David DeJesus led off the bottom of the first with a single for Kansas City, but Angel Manager Mike Scioscia caught the Royals batting out of order. The lineup card the Royals sent to the Angel clubhouse before the game had DeJesus leading off and shortstop Angel Berroa batting second.

But the lineup card Bell sent with Royal bench coach Bob Schaefer to the plate just before the first pitch had Berroa leading off and DeJesus batting second. Had DeJesus made an out, Scioscia might have waited for an opportune time later in the game to inform plate umpire Jerry Crawford of the mistake, but after DeJesus’ hit, Scioscia brought it to Crawford’s attention.

Berroa was ruled out, DeJesus had to bat again, and DeJesus flied out to center field. Byrd went on to hold Kansas City hitless through four innings.

“Mike did a good job recognizing that,” Byrd said. “Once that happened, and I got a few double plays, I figured things were going my way.”

Bengie Molina, starting for the first time since last Saturday after a case of food poisoning knocked him out for most of the week, had three hits, including a clutch, two-out, run-scoring single in the second inning.

Consecutive doubles by Garret Anderson, Juan Rivera and Maicer Izturis resulted in two runs in the sixth, Vladimir Guerrero’s two-run single in the seventh made it 5-0, and Byrd completed a shutout that went a long way toward erasing the sour taste of Thursday’s 18-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.