A.L. West

Sporting News, The, June 28, 1999 by Mike DiGiovanna, Susan Slusser, Larry LaRue, Evan Grant

Big-game pitcher

Chuck Finley's eight shutout innings at Yankee Stadium in the Angels' 1-O victory May 12 left Yankees fans and media expressing disgust about the team's inability to hit tough lefties. Though that theory may prove line, give some credit to Finley.

Finley, arguably the A.L.'s best lefthanded starter with Randy Johnson gone and David Wells not at his best, has owned the Yankees the past four years and solidified his status as a big-game pitcher. Big regular-season game, that is. In his 14th season in the majors, Finley has never started a playoff game, only relieving in three games as a rookie in 1986.

Since becoming a starter in 1988, Finley has pitched consistently well against such teams as the back-to-back World Series champion Blue Jays teams of '92 and '93 and the present-day Indians, who are working on their fifth straight division title (against the mighty A's of the late '80s, he was 1-10 from 1987 to 1992). If the Angels could only get to the playoffs, who knows what might happen? Finley has proved he can stifle the Yankees' and Indians' bats.

But first things first--the Angels must get healthy and catch the Rangers. Can Finley, 36, carry them to the playoffs? Not by getting the fourth-worst run support in the league, as he has the past two years.

Finley's pitching performances against some of the top teams in his career:

Team          Years     W-L    ERA

Yankees(*)    1996-99   6-1    2.03
Blue Jays     1992-93   1-1    2.33
White Sox     1991-93   3-3    2.81
Indians       1995-99   3-3    3.74
Twins         1991      2-1    3.90
Athletics     1987-92   1-10   3.90
Interleague   1997-99   2-1    2.95

(*) Through last Friday.

-Brendan Roberts

Anaheim

29-38: 4th

Angels' offense, Vaughn continue to struggle

Big things are expected from Mo Vaughn, the $80 million man, and Vaughn expects big things from himself. But in 17 games through last Saturday, Vaughn was 13-for-62 (.210) with three RBIs. There are two reasons for Vaughn's struggles: He is not doing enough of what he does best, which is drive the ball to the opposite field, and he is getting very few good pitches to hit. In 22 at-bats last week, Vaughn grounded weakly to the right side nine times. Cleanup batter Garret Anderson also went hitless in 30 consecutive at-bats during that time, so Vaughn hasn't seen many good pitches.... 3B Troy Glaus has been erratic offensively, but he has played Gold Glovecaliber defense all season. Glaus has above-average range, soft hands, a strong and accurate arm and the agility to make every play a third baseman has to make. He can charge a slow miler, make a bare-hand grab and off-balance throw to first, dive to his left and right, range in front of the shortstop for choppers, throw across his body to first and start double plays.

READY TO GO: SS Gary DiSarcina, out since February because of a broken bone in his left forearm, is expected to rejoin the team this week, and though he won't solve the team's offensive woes, he could at least provide it with a spark and give the team someone to rally around. He is a superb defensive player, a steadying force in the infield and a vocal leader in the clubhouse and on the bench. His intensity will be a welcome addition to a deflated team.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: 1B Darin Erstad finally broke a lengthy slump during which his average slid to .227. The reason Erstad's average fell more than 30 points from May to early June is that his hands were too jittery just before his swing. He would quickly pump them, stop and then re-start them, and that threw his timing off. He knew what was wrong, but he finally figured out how to fix it. Now he is keeping his hands smoother through the ball. Erstad had an 11-for-30 surge, lifting his average to .243. --Mike DiGiovanna

GRADING OUT

OFFENSE F

Angels scored two runs or fewer in 10 of 11 games through Saturday.

PITCHING C

Steve Sparks, ken Hill and Chuck Finley give quality starts, but Tim Belcher hit hard.

DEFENSE F

Five errors in first two games of three-game series against Yankees.

ANGELS

                 AVG    G    AB    R    H   HR   RBI    OBP

Decker          .333   10    15    2    5    0     1   .474
Velarde         .282   62   238   35   67    6    26   .369
Vaughn( )       .281   53   196   21   55   14    41   .350
Palmeiro( )     .278   58   162   27   45    1     9   .378
Greene          .274   53   186   20   51   11    28   .310
Anderson( )     .262   67   267   36   70   12    32   .283
Unroe           .255   23    47    4   12    1     5   .300
Luke( )         .250    3     4    0    1    0     0   .250
Walbeck(#)      .248   49   145   12   36    3    10   .297
Glaus           .247   64   231   40   57   11    30   .320
Erstad( )       .240   66   271   33   65    6    17   .296
Huson( )        .237   37    76    6   18    0     3   .275
Sheets          .215   61   191   19   41    3    26   .251
(*)William(#)   .161   14    31    1    5    0     1   .188

                 SLG   SB     K   BB    E

Decker          .467    0     1    3    0
Velarde         .399    9    38   30    6
Vaughn( )       .515    0    44   17    1
Palmeiro( )     .327    1    12   22    1
Greene          .511    1    33    8    2
Anderson( )     .461    0    42    9    3
Unroe           .362    0    15    3    0
Luke( )         .250    0     1    0    0
Walbeck(#)      .331    1    20    8    3
Glaus           .463    4    58   22    7
Erstad( )       .362    4    45   22    1
Huson( )        .276    2     8    4    1
Sheets          .314    1    48   11    9
(*)William(#)   .161    1     9    1    0