Finley Handles Traffic to Maneuver Past Twins

Chuck Finley’s 20-minute commute from Newport Beach to Anaheim Stadium turned nasty Tuesday afternoon, so Finley took to surface streets, picking his way toward work.

He didn’t arrive for the Angels’ 7:30 p.m. game until about 6:15, nearly an hour later than he likes to get to the park when he’s pitching.

Once on the mound, Finley quickly found more jams. He gave up a leadoff double to Al Newman, then saw Newman score when Greg Gagne followed with a double. After Brian Harper’s two-out single drove in Gagne, Finley was down, 2-0.

“It was one of those days where you go out there and the batters let you know what kind of stuff you have,” Finley said.

It wasn’t his best. His fans in right field hung only six Ks--Finley allowed 10 hits in 7 1/3 innings. With the help of Bryan Harvey, who got him out of a bind after coming on with one out and runners on first and third in the eighth, Finley earned his 14th victory in 22 decisions with the Angels’ 3-2 triumph over the Minnesota Twins.

Harvey, naturally, made it interesting, walking the first batter he faced to load the bases before finishing off the inning.

Finley wasn’t at his finest Tuesday, but he stayed with it, improvising much as he did on the afternoon commute.

“I felt pretty good coming out of the pen,” he said. “In the first inning, they hit two pretty good pitches down the line. I settled down from then on.”

In the third, after putting runners on second and third with one out, Finley came up with two strikeouts to get out of the inning, getting Dan Gladden and Tim Laudner.

In the sixth, he allowed two runners as far as third but escaped when John Moses flied to right.

“I didn’t have dominant stuff tonight,” Finley said. “It was a night where you have to decide to pitch. That’s basically what I did.”

To Manager Doug Rader’s thinking, that was what he did as well.

Minnesota is a team Rader called “a good fastball-hitting club,’ which could mean trouble for Finley.

“Chuck throws fastballs to get ahead in the count, then breaking balls or forkballs to strike them out,” Rader said. “Give them credit, he wasn’t getting past the fastballs because they were hitting them. But he persevered.”

Finley was just thankful the rest of the team did, particularly rookie Bobby Rose.

“Can’t be enough said about Harvey and Bobby Rose,” he said. “It was nice to hold a lead like that.”

Another day at the park--nasty commute and all--left Finley with another W, if only a few more Ks.

“We have another month and a half to play,” he said. “Hopefully there are a lot more wins in it for me and the team.”

As for the traffic, Finley said it would never have kept him from his start.

“I’d have got out and took off on my own,” he said.