Finley’s Hits Just Keep on Countin’

Even with the two hits that raised his average to .188 Friday night, Steve Finley still ranks 196th among 201 major leaguers who qualify for the batting title, a mark that would hardly seem to justify the two-year, $14-million investment the Angels made in the 40-year-old center fielder in December.

But the Angels are getting considerable bang for those bucks, because there isn’t a more productive .188 hitter in baseball than Finley, whose two-run triple and run-scoring double highlighted the Angels’ 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers before an announced crowd of 44,022 in Angel Stadium on Friday night.

On an evening when Tiger closer Troy Percival, the former Angel reliever and fan favorite, was honored during an emotional first-inning tribute, and his successor, Francisco Rodriguez, recorded the final three outs for his eighth save while his mentor warmed up in the Detroit bullpen, it was Finley who provided the lone booming bat in the Angels’ fifth straight victory.

Finley snapped a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning when he laced a two-out, two-run triple to right field off Detroit left-hander Wilfredo Ledezma. With two outs in the sixth, Finley, who spurned a contract offer from the Tigers last winter, ripped a double into the right-center-field gap, scoring Juan Rivera from first to give the Angels a 4-1 lead.

Finley has only 19 hits this season but has driven in 19 runs, ranking him third on the team behind Garret Anderson (24) and Vladimir Guerrero (22) and 27th in the major leagues. Six of Finley’s hits have been home runs, and he has scored 12 runs.

“We’ve been talking about that all week -- we look at Fin, see his average and wonder how a guy could be hitting so low but be so productive,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “From runs to big hits to RBIs to home runs, every other number he has is terrific.

“That probably highlights the fact that batting average is way down the scale of how you evaluate a player. You look at runs scored and runs knocked in. Not only has he been knocking them in, but at key moments.”

Finley, though, looks at his statistics and sees more of a dark cloud than a silver lining. “I should have a lot more RBIs,” he said. “I should be a lot better. Hopefully, I won’t be hitting .188 all year.”

Anderson, the Angels’ cleanup batter, wouldn’t mind, as long as Finley is driving in runs.

“Average is not an issue for me,” said Anderson, whose fourth-inning single Friday night gave him a franchise-record 2,864 total bases, passing Tim Salmon on the Angels’ all-time list. “He’s driving in runs, and that’s all that matters in that part of the lineup. That’s the most important thing.”

Finley’s extra-base hits helped make a winner of Kelvim Escobar, who gave up three runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings, the Angels’ fifth straight quality start. Over the last nine games, Angel starters are 7-2 with a 2.17 earned-run average.

Escobar left to a standing ovation after giving up back-to-back doubles to Ivan Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen in the eighth, trimming the Angel lead to 4-2. In came Scot Shields, who walked Rondell White and gave up an RBI double to Dmitri Young, only the second of 33 inherited runners to score off the Angel bullpen this season.

That pulled Detroit within 4-3 and put runners at second and third with one out, but Marcus Thames, who had homered in the second inning, struck out looking at a full-count, 94-mph Shields fastball, and first baseman Darin Erstad kept his foot on the bag while lunging to his right for second baseman Adam Kennedy’s wide throw on Ramon Martinez’s grounder, ending the inning.

The Angels honored Percival on the stadium video board in the first inning, splicing highlights of his Angel career with interviews with former teammates, coaches and a team executive, and ending with this message: “Thanks for the Memories.” Percival took a curtain call from the Tiger dugout amid the standing ovation.

“A lot of people love Troy here, he still has a lot of fans,” Rodriguez said. “It was good to see that ovation for him. That was really special.”