Washburn and Finley Change for the Better

The Angels had long been fixated on the two television screens in their clubhouse Saturday afternoon when Jarrod Washburn sauntered in, wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Taking advantage of having the run of the room as the day’s starting pitcher, Washburn made a beeline to a TV and switched the channel, mid-play, from the USC-Oregon football game to the Wisconsin-Michigan contest. The move elicited dropped jaws from the catching Molina brothers, Bengie and Jose, and bullpen catcher Steve Soliz.

“Go watch batting practice,” Washburn said with a grin, before going out and beating the Tampa Bay Devils Rays, 7-3, at Angel Stadium.

No doubt the left-handed Washburn, who had been shelved with tendinitis in his pitching forearm, would have wanted to change the channel on the first inning of his first start since Sept. 9.

But it would have been to his benefit to TiVo the rest of his outing, and that of long-suffering center fielder Steve Finley.

Washburn survived a 29-pitch first inning in which he gave up two runs, fell on his backside fielding a bunt and threw the ball away to emerge the victor.

Finley’s timely three-run home run in the second also spurred the Angels to their eighth consecutive win.

And with the Angels (89-65) a season-high 24 games over .500, they also kept their lead in the American League West at four games over the Oakland Athletics with eight to go, including this week’s four-game series in the East Bay.

Plus, the Angels lowered their magic number (any combination of Angel victories and Oakland defeats) to five.

“It’s good to see us playing this way,” said Washburn, who won only his second home game of the season in improving to 8-8 overall. He gave up two runs and six hits in six innings while walking one, striking out one and hitting another in 81 pitches.

“This is how we expected to be playing all along.”

Scot Shields threw two innings of shutout ball and Esteban Yan gave up a run in the ninth.

Doug Waechter fell to 5-11 for the Devil Rays.

Washburn was bum-rushed in the first inning, the Devil Rays building a 2-0 lead three batters into the game.

Told he might have tempted Trojan karma by switching off the USC game, Washburn smiled and said, “Yeah, but the Badgers won.”

And then the Wisconsin native settled down, retiring 12 consecutive batters at one point when he found his release point.

“Physically, I felt good out there,” Washburn said. “I’m glad it didn’t take too long to get the mechanics back.... It only took an inning.”

Vladimir Guerrero led off the second with his team-leading 32nd home run, a rocket that bounded off the top of the fence in right-center.

Consecutive singles by Darin Erstad and Bengie Molina followed. One out later, Finley, batting a career-low .216, hammered Waechter’s 1-and-2 offering into the right-field seats for his 11th homer.

“That was a big lift,” said Angel Manager Mike Scioscia, who said Finley would play only against right-handed pitchers for the time being. “We’ve been waiting for some of those nights and tonight he gave it to us.

“Fin could be big for us.”

Finley also scored the Angels’ fifth run.

Leading off the fifth with a double into the right-field corner, Finley went to third on Adam Kennedy’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Chone Figgins’ groundout to short.

Finley departed the Angel clubhouse before the media could speak with him but Erstad said he is not surprised by Finley’s hitting.

“He’s been doing it a long time,” Erstad said. “It’s just a matter of time; he’s working hard, staying positive.”

The Angels added another run in the sixth on back-to-back, two-out doubles by Erstad and Molina and then pushed one more across in the eighth on Garret Anderson’s two-out ground-rule double.

An impending free agent, it could have been Washburn’s final regular season start at Angel Stadium, the only home he has known since making his 1998 debut.

Asked if there were any melancholy feelings on the topic, Washburn’s smile returned.

“No,” he said.