BASEBALL : DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Harvey Nearing a Record for Saves

With two saves in the past two games, Bryan Harvey is five away from breaking Donnie Moore’s season record of 31, set in 1985, and he needs six to reach 100 for his career.

Harvey got his 27th save Wednesday, two more than his previous career high of 25 the past two seasons. Before Tuesday, he hadn’t had a save opportunity since July 30.

It once looked as if he would reach 40 saves for the season. He had 22 at the All-Star game.

He faltered for about a week in July, blowing one save and taking two losses. But other than that, his pace has slowed mostly because the Angels have. “If we play good, (40 saves) is a possibility,” said Harvey, who has converted 27 of 30 opportunities. “Who knows? My job depends on how the team plays.”

Scott Erickson, Minnesota’s starter in the series finale today, lasted only two-thirds of an inning in his most recent start, giving up five runs Saturday in his shortest outing of the season.

Erickson (15-4), who has a 2.65 earned-run average, spent the first two weeks of July on the disabled list with a sore elbow. He is 3-2 with a 7.02 ERA since returning after being 12-2 with a 1.24 ERA before going on the disabled list. The Twins said this week his elbow his fine, though Erickson admitted he is not 100%.

The most recent player before Dave Winfield to reach 400 home runs was Darrell Evans, who hit his 400th on Sept. 20, 1988, off John Farrell in Detroit.

Of the 22 other players who have hit 400 home runs, all but four are in the Hall of Fame. The others--Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Dave Kingman and Evans--are not yet eligible.

Winfield has hit home runs off 12 Cy Young Award winners, three current teammates--Chuck Finley, Mark Langston and Scott Bailes--and two recent Angel teammates--Floyd Bannister and Bert Blyleven. Bannister is one of four pitchers who have given up seven homers to Winfield.