Angels Fall Just Short to Chicago : Reuss Keeps Hitters Off Balance to Spoil Finley’s Outing, 3-2

The Angel hitters have discovered a formula for success so often in recent weeks, it seemed that no one could stop them from coming up with just enough offense to pull out another victory.

Ten of the Angels’ last 13 games have been decided by one run, and on eight of those occasions, they have been one run better. But Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, the Angels ran into an old friend who managed to throw them a curve and foul up their latest plan for victory.

Jerry Reuss is five years younger than Angel Manager Doug Rader, who turned 45 Sunday, but the 40-year-old left-hander had his pitches making all the right moves in this game. He gave up only four hits in seven innings as the White Sox beat the Angels, 3-2, before a crowd of 29,363.

Reuss, appearing in his 616th game, inspired no awe, but he changed speeds, moved the ball around the strike zone and, more importantly, had the Angels chasing a lot of breaking pitches that were well out of the strike zone.

“He’s got the kind of stuff that occasionally gives us trouble,” Rader said. “He ran the fastball inside and got the breaking ball over. He keeps your timing just a little bit screwed up. The guy can beat you.

“It’s not an easy job to be patient. It’s not an easy job to be selective. I used to hit a lot of three-hoppers to short against him, too.”

Actually, Angel starter Chuck Finley, who got the loss and dropped to 12-7, was much more impressive through the first six innings, but he faltered in the seventh and eighth as Chicago rallied to win.

Through six innings, Finley gave up only one hit, a bunt single by catcher Ron Karkovice, who caught third baseman Jack Howell playing in short left field. But Finley surrendered two hits and two runs in the seventh and two hits and one run in the eighth.

“I got behind on a couple of hitters, and anytime you work behind on major league hitters, you’re going to get burned,” Finley said. “I guess I wasn’t concentrating as well (in the seventh and eighth). I was trying to throw the ball down the middle and make them put it in play, but I couldn’t seem to throw a strike.

“They say walks will haunt you and they sure did today.”

The Angels gave Finley a 1-0 advantage in the fourth inning on singles by Dick Schofield and Johnny Ray, and Devon White’s grounder that scored Schofield and forced Ray.

But things unraveled quickly in the seventh when Finley opened the inning with seven consecutive balls.

He walked leadoff batter Scott Fletcher, who arrived in Anaheim Saturday after the White Sox sent Harold Baines to Texas in a five-player deal.

Then Finley fell behind right fielder Ivan Calderon, who eventually doubled into the gap in left-center to tie the game, 1-1. Next, Carlton Fisk sent White up against the wall in left-center to move Calderon over to third. And Carlos Martinez followed with a double down the left-field line to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.

The Angels got the run back in the bottom of the inning on Wally Joyner’s home run to right field. Finley said the home run gave him a “second wind,” but that wind was knocked out of him in the eighth.

He yielded a single to Karkovice, got Ozzie Guillen when Tony Armas made a nice catch while crashing into the right-field wall, then yielded a single to Dave Gallagher. Rader summoned Willie Fraser, who gave up the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Fletcher before getting out of the inning.

“Finley got into that one situation where he couldn’t throw a strike for a while, but the bottom line is he pitched well enough to win,” Rader said. “We’re supposed to generate more offense than that.”

But Reuss, with help from Bobby Thigpen, who pitched the final two innings and earned his 22nd save of the season, frustrated the Angels.

“Reuss beat us on opening day and he was throwing a little better, velocity-wise,” White said. “But he was really hitting spots today. You have to give him credit. He pitched a good game.”

For Reuss, who was with the Dodgers for nine seasons, with the Angels for one and still lives in La Canada, it was a happy homecoming.

“I’ve always enjoyed pitching in Southern California,” he said. “And I had a better curveball today than I’ve had all year. It was really biting.”

The one-run decision could have been a biting defeat for the Angels, but this was, after all, only their second loss in 12 games.

“Since the (All-Star) break, we have not competed in a ballgame that we didn’t have a chance to win,” Rader said. “That stuff about losing 10-1 is better than losing 2-1 is a bunch of malarkey.

“You can’t ask more from these guys. They just keep plugging and every day they’re in the area. Sure, we lost today. But by the same token, we were in it again.”

And, lately, when they’re in it, they usually win it.

“We would have loved to win this one, but we can’t afford to look back,” Chili Davis said. “When you’re out in front of the pack, everyone, even the teams that are out of it, are looking to knock you down.”

Angel Notes

With the way things have been falling into place for the Angels lately, one might figure that General Manager Mike Port has been doing little more than applauding the team’s performance and listening politely before declining trade offers. But he says he has been as busy as ever. “I think what we would look for right now would be in terms of depth,” Port said. “But collectively, no one in baseball is better than this team right now. We still would be interested in finding the right guy to have at (triple-A) Edmonton, someone to fill in for an injury, someone who is not overly expensive in terms of personnel.” Port, however, says that the performances of the Angel reserves and a few players at Edmonton have removed any sense of urgency. “We still have (spot starter) Dan Petry here,” he said, “and proven players in (pitcher) Terry Clark, (outfielders) Dante Bichette and Max Venable and (second baseman) Mark McLemore there (in Edmonton).”

Reliever Bryan Harvey, who has a victory and three saves in his last four appearances, says he thinks he has finally found the mechanical flaw in his delivery that has been the cause of his control problems. “I was walking everyone high,” said Harvey, who has struck out 48 while walking 29 this season. “I was just kicking my leg up too high. Since we discovered that, I’ve been keeping the ball down.” Harvey has walked only two batters in his last four outings.

Sunday’s game was only the Angels’ third loss at home this month. “For years, people would love to come here,” Manager Doug Rader said. “Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to come here? It’s a nice environment and a nice facility. But hopefully, with the type of baseball we’re playing, they won’t feel so comfortable here anymore.”