Angels Win but Lose a Little Time : Abbott Pitches a 9-1 Victory That Doesn’t Close Gap on Oakland

MINNEAPOLIS — So you think the Angels cleaned up at the Metrodome the last three days?

Well, let’s see . . .

They swept the Minnesota Twins, Wednesday’s 9-1 victory their third in as many nights under the Teflon sky.

They also outscored the Twins, 22-7. Outhit them, too, 37-22.

So why did the Angels leave the Twin Cities in worse shape than when they arrived last Sunday night?

Time.

It’s on the side of the Oakland Athletics, and as long the A’s keeping matching the Angels victory for victory and sweep for sweep, winning can be tantamount to losing for the Angels the rest of the way.

“No question, the calendar’s against us,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “We knew a week, 10 days ago that we’d have to play .750 ball and Oakland .500 ball if we were going to catch them.

“We closed to within 2 1/2 (games), but then they started winning again. We’re not getting closer because they’re playing better.

“Every day that goes by like that certainly doesn’t work in our favor.”

The Angels left Minnesota with the same 2 1/2-game deficit in the American League West standings that they lugged with them from Chicago. One difference, though: They now have three fewer days in which to make up the difference.

By winning three consecutive games in Cleveland, Oakland sliced its magic number from 12 to nine, regardless of the heavy Angel damage done inside the Dome.

And now, the A’s and Angels swap opponents, with the Angels traveling to Cleveland hoping the Twins can succeed against Oakland where they failed these past three nights.

“I already had a talk with Kirby (Puckett),” Angel center fielder Devon White said with a grin. “I told him they’ve got to sweep those guys for us.”

Puckett assured White the Twins would do their best.

But considering the current state of Minnesota pitching, the Angels ought not to expect much. Mark Guthrie, the third rookie to start against the Angels this series, fared better than those who went before him, David West and Kevin Tapani. But all that meant was delaying the pounding this time until the seventh inning.

Guthrie and that better-known rookie named Jim Abbott were stalemated at 1-1 through six innings before the top of the seventh saw Guthrie pitch to five batters and fail to get any of them out.

Wally Joyner led off with a single.

Chili Davis reached base on an error by Terry Jorgensen, the Twins’ rookie third baseman.

Tony Armas, disdaining the apparent sacrifice bunt, singled to left field to score Joyner.

Lance Parrish walked, loading the bases.

Jack Howell was hit by a pitch, this time for certain, to force home Davis and force Guthrie out of the game.

By the time former Angel Mike Cook could close out the inning for Minnesota, Kent Anderson had singled in Armas, Brian Downing had scored Parrish with a sacrifice fly and the Angels led, 5-1.

Run-scoring singles by Armas and Parrish made in 7-1 in the eighth and a two-run home run by Joyner, his 16th, made it 9-1 in the top of the ninth.

Three outs later, Abbott (12-11) had his fourth complete game of the year and his first victory in September.

At last, a contribution to the Angel stretch drive. Abbott was asked how it felt.

“Actually, I thought there’d be a little more pressure than this,” Abbott said. “I’m not saying there’s no pressure. I’m not downplaying it. I guess I thought every game would feel like it’s do or die.”

Pitching with 9-1 leads can do that for a 22-year-old.

So can pitching for a team that occupied itself during Wednesday’s game by watching Bert Blyleven quietly squirt shaving cream atop the cap of an unsuspecting Chuck Finley, mug for the scoreboard camera that caught him in the act and finally turn the aerosol can on himself.

“It’s just a loose team,” Abbott said. “Doug’s made it that way. There’s no intense pressure either in the clubhouse or on the field, so it’s easy not to be tight. All I do is concentrate on my own pitching.”

In the visiting manager’s office, Rader threw a few good words of his own in Abbott’s direction.

“A pennant race doesn’t make a person,” Rader said. “The person’s already prepared for it, or unprepared for it, from an emotional standpoint. You either have it or you don’t.

“Abbie’s had it from day one. If he didn’t, he would not have made the club this spring.”

Besides, Abbott has been through worse before. This time last year, he was representing an entire country while pitching the United States to an Olympic gold medal in Seoul, South Korea.

“I felt more pressure there, in the gold-medal game,” Abbott said. “That game was do or die. That was it.

“Right now, although each of these games are vital, we’d still have a chance by 7 o’clock tomorrow night if we lost this one tonight.”

Not necessarily a good one, but, yes, still a chance. And although that chance didn’t improve any despite a sweep in Minnesota, it’s all the Angels have as they move on to Cleveland.

Angel Notes

Before Wednesday, Jim Abbott was 1-4 in seven starts since Aug. 6, clearly fading under the fatigue of his first big-league season. “We weren’t concerned this would happen this year,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “It was reality. Inevitable. It was going to happen. And it did.” Convincing Abbott of the fact, however, took some doing. “Some of the older guys came up to me and asked, ‘Are you tired?’ ” Abbott said. “I’d always tell them, no, that I was just trying too hard. But that’s a part of being tired. You have to admit when you are tired and realize you can’t do the same things as you did in April. You just have to concentrate more and adjust.”

Add Abbott: He concedes that the losing was beginning to eat away at him. “There have been some times when I’d go back to my apartment or my hotel room and think, ‘What am I doing? I’m doing my best and I’m not even coming close.’ ” Part of the remedy, Abbott said, came when Rader began granting him extra days here and there between starts. Abbott went a week between starts in late August and was given five days off between his second and third starts of September. Wednesday was his fourth start of the month. “The rest has really helped,” Abbott said.

The best deliveries Minnesota starter Mark Guthrie (2-2) made all night were to first base. Guthrie tied a club record by picking off two runners Wednesday, erasing Mark McLemore in the fourth inning and Jack Howell in the fifth. The last Twin pitcher to pickoff off two runners in a game was Steve Carlton on Sept. 6, 1987. . . . A 10-year-old boy was taken from the Metrodome stands on a stretcher after being hit in the head by a foul ball off the bat off Minnesota’s John Moses. Nicholas Johnson of Stillwater, Minn., was taken to nearby Hennepin Medical Center, where he received several stitches in his forehead and underwent neurological testing. Johnson wound up with a bad bruise and was later released.

* OAKLAND WINS

The Oakland Athletics maintain their 2 1/2-game lead over the Angels with an 8-6 win over Cleveland. Story, Page 4.