Angel Pitching Is No Relief to the Royals, Who Lose, 5-1

We’ve seen Chuck Finley and Kirk McCaskill throw back-to-back shutouts in Fenway Park. We’ve seen Jim Abbott outduel Roger Clemens. But did we ever expect the day when Angel starting pitching might be too good ?

In the aftermath of another near shutout and another Angel victory Sunday afternoon, this by 5-1 over the Kansas City Royals, Manager Doug Rader said it is reaching that point, which is one reason why stopper Bryan Harvey was pitching in the ninth inning with a four-run lead.

“We’re not getting enough people work,” Rader said. “We’re at a point where we’re going to have to start expanding roles, where we have to put people in slightly off-center roles to get them some work, like Harvey.

“Otherwise, we can’t possibly expect him to be ready to do his assigned job.”

Harvey’s assigned job is to save games, to face the potential tying run with two out in the ninth inning and to pump three pressurized strikes past the batter. His territory is close games, his mission is to close them.

Lately, however, Harvey’s right arm has done little more than fill one sleeve in his warmup jacket. And on those rare dates when he does pitch, Harvey has been worse for his lack of wear, blowing his last two save opportunities along with a 2-0 lead May 10 at Detroit.

The inactivity has led to rustiness, Rader said, which is why Harvey has only a total of five saves, a figure on which he has been stuck for a month.

“Absolutely,” Rader said. “Especially when we had that real good run (in early May), when our starters would go into the seventh and eighth innings every game and we’d be working with big leads. Many games, the lead would call for Moonie (set-up reliever Greg Minton) and he did so well, you tend to go with the hot hand.”

Meanwhile, Harvey would remain on the shelf, getting cold.

Sunday figured to be another day of Harvey sitting idly by, watching Bert Blyleven polish off the staff’s latest complete game. Through eight innings, Blyleven (6-2) had a shutout intact, yielding only four hits and striking out Bo Jackson three times.

But Bert-Bo IV saw the other side of all-or-nothing, with Jackson delivering a Blyleven change-up into the right-field seats for his 13th home run of the season.

Then, Blyleven walked Pat Tabler.

Then, Rader decided to call in Harvey, who had pitched only one inning in the previous nine days.

There was no save to nail down, but, Rader thought, three crisp outs would be nice.

Harvey came through, sandwiching strikeouts of Danny Tartabull and Mike Macfarlane around a routine fly-ball out by Bill Buckner.

“Phew,” Harvey said. “That’s the best I’ve thrown probably since the first month. It’s been a long time. Finally, I was getting prepared in my head and getting people out, instead of worrying about everything else.”

Such as?

“Maybe just sitting so long,” he said. “And, having a couple bad outings. After a while, you start worrying.”

And, for a relief pitcher, Harvey notes, worrying is a bad thing.

“This game gets you in trouble if you start thinking about it,” he said, grinning.

Until the ninth inning, Blyleven had turned this one into a no-brainer. Just send the 38-year-old out there and let him throw curveballs until the Royals drop.

Through seven innings, the only solid hit allowed by Blyleven was a line-drive single by Kevin Seitzer in the first inning. Two others never left the infield--a ground ball to third base that Tabler beat out and a high chopper to first by Buckner.

Kurt Stillwell stroked a double with two out in the eighth, but Blyleven came back to retire Seitzer on a ground ball to take the shutout bid into the ninth.

A historic shutout it would have been, too. With it, Blyleven would have moved into a tie for 11th on the all-time list--Pud Galvin also recorded 57 shutouts--and it would have given the Angels their 12th shutout of 1989, tying their single-season high for this decade.

Blyleven was working with a 5-0 lead, courtesy of a few major league debut jitters from Royal starter Kevin Appier, who allowed a run-scoring single to Chili Davis and bases-loaded walk to Brian Downing in the fourth inning, and a two-run home run by Jack Howell in the sixth. Blyleven opened the ninth against Jackson, who had gone 0 for 3--getting caught twice on curveballs and once on a fastball.

So what does Blyleven show him on the first pitch?

A changeup.

All it wound up changing was the final score.

“It was some kind of pitch Bert tried to invent,” Rader quipped.

Professor Blyleven said he thought it wasn’t a bad idea, at least for a few seconds, anyway.

“I’d struck him out three times,” Blyleven reasoned, “and I knew he’d be looking for a curveball. I had a 5-0 lead, why not try something?

“Mentally, I outsmarted myself. I took something off a fastball and he smacked it.”

With the shutout spoiled, Rader moved as quickly as it took Blyleven to walk Tabler, the next batter he faced.

“The guy has pitched I-don’t-know-how-many shutouts and I’m sure every one means something to him,” Rader said. “With a big lead, I’m going to give him a shot.

“When (the shutout) is no longer reality, that’s when you’ve got to go with other people.”

Angel Notes

Jack Howell, hitting .201 entering Sunday’s game, came up with a two-run home run and single in three at-bats. Howell admitted the Angels’ quick start has helped camouflage his own struggles and for that, he said, he is grateful. “Instead of being that real big obvious weak link in the lineup on a mediocre club,” Howell said, “we’re winning and, hopefully, you get overlooked so you can fight through some things. Basically, we’ve had such great pitching and we’ve been winning (so many) games that it’s allowed me to be able to stay in the lineup and fight through it. Thank God for that.”

Kansas City rookie Kevin Appier, making his major league debut as a replacement for the injured Bret Saberhagen, lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and four walks. His opponent, 19-year veteran Bert Blyleven, chalked it up to nerves--and the lineup he had to break in against. “I knew going into the game that he was going to have a lot of adrenaline going,” Blyleven said. “I think he’s got good stuff and he threw pretty well. He just ran into a ballclub that’s hot right now.”

(Orange County Edition) * HOT HOWELL

Jack Howell hits a two-run home run and hopes he’s coming out of an early-season slump. See Chris Dufresne’s story, Page 11.