Finley Does His Part, but Angels Commit 5 Errors and Lose, 4-2

Chuck Finley says he’s finally getting acclimated to life as an Angel starting pitcher, which means the callouses are coming along just fine.

Besides a strong arm, it takes a thick skin to survive in this rotation. And Finley, after just four starts in 1988, is already tempered to the point where he can stare at five Angel errors and another round of bullpen ineffectiveness without lofting a clubhouse chair in anger.

“You’re going to get some easy wins and you’re going to have some games when you’ll have to stay out and battle,” said Finley, who lost Sunday’s battle, 4-2, to Mark Langston and the Seattle Mariners in front of 42,725 at Anaheim Stadium.

“If I go out there in the state of mind where I’m thinking, ‘I better strike out this guy here and that guy there,’ I’m going to be in trouble. Besides, there were a few things I could have done to help myself today.

“But I’m not at all discouraged, because I’m pitching well. I’m sure it will come together.”

Sunday, it all fell apart for the Angels. Finley, isolated as he is on the pitching mound, must have felt like the eye of a hurricane, with chaos erupting all around him. Anarchy in the Big A.

The Angels committed five errors--two on one play--in the first seven innings, which is one shy of the club single-game record. There was also a lost pop foul down the right-field line that should have been caught, but when it wasn’t, it set the stage for two Seattle runs.

Remarkably, Finley (1-3) kept it a one-run game until the ninth inning, when he allowed the first two Mariners hitters to reach base and was then forced to turn the ball over to Donnie Moore.

Not surprisingly, it immediately became a two-run game. Moore surrendered a run-scoring single to the first man he faced, Dave Valle, and the Angels were that much closer to their sixth defeat in their last seven games.

Last Sunday, after the Angels had beaten the Mariners for the second time in three games in Seattle, they owned a 6-5 record and a share of first place in the American League West.

Today, they are 7-11 and in sole possession of sixth place.

“We’ve got to get out of the damn rut somehow,” Angel Manager Cookie Rojas said. “When you’re at home, you should win some games against a team like Seattle. But we didn’t play good baseball.

“Today, we make five errors and then we let a fly ball fall in that should have been caught. That got everything started. After that, we started throwing the ball all over the place.”

Actually, the Angels had already made two errors before Seattle’s Glenn Wilson hit the foul pop fly in question. Second baseman Mark McLemore dropped a throw from first baseman George Hendrick in the third inning and Johnny Ray turned a fourth-inning double by Henry Cotto into three bases by misplaying the carom in the left-field corner.

But the Angels withstood those lapses and actually led, 2-1, before Wilson led off the fifth inning. And when neither McLemore nor Hendrick nor right fielder Tony Armas could run down Wilson’s catchable foul ball, Wilson was presented a second chance.

With it, Wilson singled to center. Then, Finley walked Jim Presley and Scott Bradley sacrificed.

The fun for the Mariners was about to begin.

Harold Reynolds singled to right, Wilson scored and Presley attempted to do the same. Armas’ throw home would have made the play close except for one thing: Catcher Butch Wynegar never caught it.

The ball kicked away from Wynegar for one error, enabling Presley to score the go-ahead run. Then, Finley, backing up the play, stumbled around as he tried to pick up the loose ball. By the time he did, Reynolds was sliding into third base and Finley was being charged with an error.

Just like that, a 2-1 Angel lead is mutated into a 3-2 Angel deficit.

McLemore, who had the best shot at catching Wilson’s foul, blamed himself.

“I saw it, I called it,” McLemore said. “And everyone did what they’re supposed to do. It just went into the sun and didn’t come out in time for me to get to it.”

There would be another Angel error, this by third baseman Jack Howell, in the seventh inning and, just to balance things, back-to-back, back-to-the-wall catches by Devon White and Ray in the eighth inning. But the score remained the same until Moore entered the game.

The RBI single Moore yielded to Valle closed out Finley’s line thusly: 8-plus innings, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, 3 strikeouts . . . and one loss.

Rojas felt Finley deserved better.

“He had an outstanding performance,” Rojas said. “You pitch like that, you’re supposed to win the damn game. He couldn’t have done a better job against that ballclub.”

Not with the Angels’ defense, anyway. And not against Langston (1-2), who earned his long-awaited first victory of the season by striking out 10 for the third time in five starts.

In front of his locker stall, Wynegar pondered the afternoon’s proceedings and simply shook his head. “We get a good pitching performance like Chuck’s and we don’t take advantage,” he said.

Finley, however, accepted his fate about as graciously as one could. After all, he’s a Angel starting pitcher now. Disappointment is to be expected.

Angel Notes

Today, the Angels will learn whether designated hitter Brian Downing will accompany the club on its upcoming eight-game trip or remain behind to join Greg Minton on the disabled list. Downing had his sore rib cage examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum Sunday and although a fracture has been ruled out, a cartilage separation or muscle damage remain possibilities. Downing took several hard swings off a batting tee to test the ribs and now must wait to see how he feels this morning. “It all depends on what happens (today),” Downing said. “I’m going to hit at my house in the morning and I’ll make a final decision then. It’s a matter of me being able to contribute--or at least more than I was (Downing is batting .111). The team can’t afford to carry me (on the roster) without me being able to do anything. And if it comes down to me trying to play and then really hurting myself so I’ll miss a considerable length of time, I won’t do it. With this being my possible last year, I don’t want to go out on the DL.”

Add Downing: As he spoke with reporters, he was greeted by hitting instructor Rick Down, who stuck out a hand and said, “Hope to see you in Detroit, but if I don’t . . . “ Downing shook his hand and grinned. “Oh, I’ll be there,” he told Down. “You know I’m nuts.” . . . Yocum also examined Minton’s right elbow and gave the pitcher the OK to accompany the team to Detroit. There, Minton will resume his every-other-day throwing routine, with a twist: He’ll try again to throw curveballs. “There’s no tenderness in the elbow anymore,” Minton said. “We’re going to give the arm two more outings and see what the curveball does.”

Wally Joyner missed his first start Sunday, with Manager Cookie Rojas revamping his lineup to bat Tony Armas in Joyner’s accustomed cleanup position and stationing George Hendrick at first base. Joyner has 2 hits in his last 18 at-bats, his average dropping to .258, and has managed just 6 RBIs in his first 17 games. Last April, Joyner drove in 19 runs in 23 games. “I wanted to give Wally a day off here and he’ll have another (today),” Rojas said. “That should help his frame of mind. And the man I put in there for him didn’t do too badly.” Making his first start of the season, Hendrick had two hits, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning.

Johnny Ray had three more hits to raise his average to .400. In the last week, Ray is batting .593 (16 for 27) with 5 runs, 5 doubles and 13 RBIs. Against Seattle pitching this year, Ray is already 13 for 22 (.591). . . . The Angels completed the game without committing a balk, a feat Chuck Finley attributed to a new incentive provided by pitching coach Marcel Lachemann. “Lach says that from now on, you have to pay $50 for every balk plus he’ll have to match it with $50 of his own,” Finley said. “He talked to me a little bit during the second inning, saying, ‘Hold your glove still a little longer.’ I think he was going for his wallet while he said it.” . . . Seattle pitcher Mark Langston’s 10-strikeout performance was the 24th of his career. He wouldn’t have gotten there Sunday without the help of Jack Howell, who struck out four times in four at-bats.