Indians’ Finley Gives Angels a Look at the Old Scrapbook

No matter how well Chuck Finley pitches for the Cleveland Indians this season, no matter how many Jacobs Field sellout crowds he performs in front of, there will always be a part of him that yearns for Orange County, his home for 14 years.

“Hey, when you get back home, go down to Newport Beach, fill a jar with some sand and bring it back to me, will you?” Finley asked an Angel beat writer before facing his ex-teammates Wednesday night.

Just what Finley needs, something else to kick in the Angels’ face.

The veteran left-hander stuck it to his former team Wednesday night, providing a stark reminder of exactly what the Angels are missing this season--an ace--with a gutsy 6 2/3-inning effort to lead the Indians to a 7-3 victory before a crowd of 41,637.

Finley, who signed a three-year, $27-million contract with Cleveland last winter after the Angels made virtually no attempt to re-sign him, gave up three runs--two earned--on nine hits and struck out eight for his first victory since April 29.

Tim Salmon tagged Finley for a two-run homer in the first, but the rest of the outing was vintage Finley: He threw lots of pitches (105), he got himself in and out of trouble, leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and two on in the sixth, and he dominated left-handed batters.

Darin Erstad, Mo Vaughn and Garret Anderson combined for one single in 12 at-bats against Finley, and Vaughn, who said one reason he signed with the Angels before the 1999 season was because he hated facing Finley, struck out three times, twice on curveballs and once on a fastball. The Angels left 14 men on base.

“I didn’t have a chance to have many flashbacks [of playing with the Angels] because they had men on base every inning, and a lot of them were close to home,” Finley (4-4) said. “I don’t like to practice that. That’s just the way I was born. God gave the easy games to someone else, I guess.”

The Indians, who averaged 4.3 runs in Finley’s 10 previous starts, backed Finley with a season-high five home runs, including two by rookie designated hitter Russell Branyan. The Angels had 14 hits, but 13 were singles.

“We’ve been on the other side of that game so many times,” Salmon said. “A team gets a rally going against Chuck, and it always stalls out. That was a typical Fin performance. He teases you and then shuts you down.”

Vaughn wasn’t feeling so much teased as he was shut down. For three at-bats, Finley fed the Angel slugger breaking balls and off-speed pitches, and Vaughn popped out and struck out twice. Then in the seventh, Finley blew a fastball by Vaughn for strike three.

“That was the whole purpose I came to Anaheim, so I wouldn’t have to face him,” Vaughn said. “He threw as well as I’ve ever seen him. He had a good forkball, a great curve, and he didn’t stay in the strike zone for long. He was sharp, like I always remembered him when I was with Boston.”

Finley figured the Angels would remember everything about him, so he had to take a different approach.

“When you’re facing your old team, you think they know how you pitch, but you’ve got to remember to stay with your strengths,” Finley said. “We switched some sequences around and pitched backward sometimes. I threw more curveballs. It was a chess game, really.”

His opponent was a rook. Angel right-hander Seth Etherton made his second big league start and endured his second rain delay, a 57-minute wait on the heels of the 1-hour 11-minute delay he endured Friday in Kansas City.

Etherton gave up three runs on four hits in five innings, striking out five and walking three. Branyan’s two-run homer in the second tied the score, 2-2, and Roberto Alomar’s homer to lead off the sixth chased Etherton and gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead.

Jim Thome’s infield single and David Justice’s two-run homer off Angel reliever Mike Holtz made it 5-2, and Branyan capped the four-run sixth with a solo blast off Al Levine. Finley did the rest.

“You can see why he’s one of the premier pitchers in the game,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We had him on the ropes a couple times, and he turned it up a notch to get out of the jams.”

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Halo Effect

Cleveland’s Chuck Finley won his first game Wednesday since April 29. A look at his last six outings:

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Date Hits Inn. ER Result May 31 9 6 2/3 2 Win May 26 6 8 5 Loss May 20 8 6 2/3 2 ND May 14 6 7 3 Loss May 9 5 7 4 Loss May 4 6 5 7 Loss

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