INSIDE BASEBALL

Battered Halos

Burdened by a frightful legacy, the Angels are battling for the playoffs

by Mark Bechtel and Jeff Pearlman

Posted: Wed August 26, 1998

Long-suffering Angel DiSarcina now may be able to exorcise the past.    (V. J. Lovero)

All of this—or something like it—is bound to happen, because the Angels, who were 12 games over .500 through Sunday despite an array of injuries and only modest talent, are hexed. "I'd like to think that other teams go through what we do," says shortstop Gary DiSarcina, "but they don't."

DiSarcina, an Angel for parts of 10 seasons, is all too familiar with his team's sad history. It started with outfielder Lyman Bostock, who was shot to death in September 1978. Then came the '86 club, which was within one strike of reaching the World Series before reliever Donnie Moore, who would commit suicide three years later, surrendered a homer to the Red Sox' Dave Henderson. "We had the bus accident in '92," says DiSarcina, alluding to the crash that sidelined manager Buck Rodgers for three months. In '95 the Angels led the Mariners by 11 games with 48 to play, only to miss the postseason by losing a one-game playoff with Seattle. "We also had the death of Rod Carew's daughter [from leukemia] a few years ago, and [three years] before that, our [former] bench coach, Deron Johnson, died too."

This season has been a trying one as well. Through Sunday the Angels had used the disabled list a major league-high 19 times. Anaheim's best hitter, first baseman-outfielder Darin Erstad, landed on the 15-day DL when he strained his left hamstring while beating out an infield single. Just four days after the Angels released Cecil Fielder, their slumping RBI leader, because they had too many infielders, third baseman Dave Hollins was placed on the DL with an inflamed right shoulder. ("Would I have let Cecil go if I had known what would happen to Hollins?" says general manager Bill Bavasi. "Probably not.")

Finley hasn't been on the disabled list, but he has suffered all the same. While pitching against the White Sox on May 2, he was struck on his throwing arm by a line drive off the bat of catcher Chad Kreuter and left the game with a bruised elbow. On July 15 against the Devil Rays, Finley was covering first when he slid across the base path and opened a gash in his right knee that required eight stitches. At Baltimore on July 18, he was sitting in the dugout when he was nailed on his right forearm by a foul. Finally, on July 24 at Kansas City, he was forced out of the game when a Jeff King liner hit his pitching elbow. "If we could hide Chuck somewhere, we would," says reliever Troy Percival.

Don't bring up the subject of a hex with Bavasi, though. "There's no such thing as a curse," he says. "Curses are just excuses for not winning."

Anaheim embarked this week on a brutal 10-game road trip against the Yankees, Red Sox and Indians, and if the Angels are eventually outdistanced by the Rangers, it will be understandable. While Texas picked up shortstop Royce Clayton, righty Todd Stottlemyre and third baseman Todd Zeile at the trading deadline, Anaheim did virtually nothing. "We weren't going to deal just for the sake of dealing," says Bavasi. "Randy Johnson was never coming to us. There wasn't much we were interested in."

That Anaheim is in contention is a marvel. Through Sunday it ranked eighth in runs scored and ninth in homers in the American League. Yet it had won 11 of its last 15 games at week's end and is getting healthy again. Manager Terry Collins recently welcomed back from the DL Erstad and righthander Jack McDowell, who pitched seven shutout innings in a win over the Tigers last week after missing nearly four months with an elbow injury. Collins is hopeful that righthanded ace Ken Hill, who's been out since June 10 with bone spurs in his elbow, will make it back soon, too. "It feels like we've acquired some big-time players," Collins says.

Issue date: August 31, 1998