This Left-Hander Proves He Isn’t Over the Hill

An aging, supposedly over-the-hill left-hander took the mound in Anaheim Stadium and pitched an outstanding game Friday night, but not many in the crowd of 49,977 were happy about it.

Frank Tanana, the 37-year-old ex-Angel who was banished to the bullpen for a month last season, shut down the Angels on four hits over nine innings as Detroit spoiled Fernando Valenzuela’s return with a 5-0 victory over the Angels.

Tanana, who won his 210th game and is one of only five active pitchers, along with Nolan Ryan, Bert Blyleven, Rick Reuschel and Jack Morris, with more than 200 career victories, is only 3-5 this season, but he has timed his two best games for maximum exposure.

Tanana shut out the Chicago White Sox on April 18, the first game in the new Comiskey Park, and Friday night he showed up Fernando.

“We nailed Comiskey and now this,” said Tanana, an 18-year, major-league veteran. “We like being invited to parties. Big games are always a lot of fun. We knew there would be a lot of people in the stands. We needed this win badly.”

The victory ended the Angels’ five-game winning streak and Tanana’s seven-year losing streak in Anaheim Stadium. His most-recent victory here came on June 18, 1984, when as a member of the Texas Rangers, he beat Tommy John, 6-2. In six starts since, he was 0-4, 0-3 as a Tiger.

“I didn’t even realize that--I had no idea it had been that long since I won here,” Tanana said. “I’m glad that streak’s over with.”

Tanana began Friday night’s game with a streak, retiring the first 12 batters until Dave Parker led off the fifth with a double to right-center field.

Detroit right-fielder Rob Deer, who made a diving grab of Jack Howell’s sinking liner in the third inning, made another leap and got his glove on Parker’s drive on the warning track but couldn’t hold on.

Lance Parrish then lined a single to center, putting runners on first and third, but Tanana worked out of the jam by inducing Dave Gallagher to fly to short center field, striking out Howell, and getting Luis Sojo to pop to the catcher.

That was the only scoring threat the Angels were able to mount against Tanana, who struck out three, walked none and needed only 113 pitches to dispose of the Angels.

“That’s the best he’s pitched all year,” Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson said. “He had the shutout at Chicago, but the White Sox weren’t hitting the ball that well at the time.

“We came here and were up against a team that was playing super. They’ve been hitting the ball well and he shut them out. I never expected to shut out the Angels during this series.”

Tanana used only two basic pitches--a fastball and a curve--but he hit the inside and outside corners and changed speeds effectively with both. He retired 15 of the final 17 batters.

“I had good location of my fastball and breaking ball and threw a lot of strikes,” Tanana said. “I threw only four changeups, I didn’t walk anyone and I wasn’t behind many hitters.”

The Tigers, surprisingly, aren’t behind many teams in the American League East Division. The victory, coupled with the Toronto’s 6-4 loss to Baltimore, moved Detroit to within two games of the first-place Blue Jays and 1 1/2 games of the second-place Red Sox.

But Anderson, who recorded his 1,000th career Tiger victory Friday night, doesn’t have any illusions about Detroit’s third-place standing.

“We’re two games out because no one in our division can play,” Anderson said. “I thought the only two teams that had a chance to win the division were Boston and Toronto, but the way they’re playing, if things don’t change, one of these other clubs might fall into it.”