Angels, Short of Pitching, Get Little Hitting and Lose

The 5 p.m. interleague trading deadline came and went Saturday, and the Angels were unable to make a trade for the starting pitcher they sought.

If Angel General Manager Mike Port had any time to watch Saturday’s game against the Chicago White Sox between frantic phone calls in his private box, he might have changed his mind about the team’s real needs, anyway.

The Angels’ pitching hasn’t been that bad lately, but the hitting . . . well, a .232 team batting average that ranks last in the American League pretty much speaks for itself.

Rookie right-hander Kirk McCaskill went 6 innings Saturday and allowed just three runs, but the Angels’ offense produced only five hits as the White Sox pulled out a 3-2 win before 27,206 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

The Angels have scored just six runs in three games against Chicago and trail the White Sox by 1 1/2 games in the American League West, with the series finale today.

Angel Manager Gene Mauch fielded a lineup Saturday that had just one player with an average higher than .260 (Juan Beniquez at .291), but then, it’s not as if Mauch is benching all his hot bats.

“Every day we go to the post, I think we’re gonna score five runs . . . every day,” Mauch said. “It has to bust loose sometime. If we were talking about fringe players or kids, you might have reason for concern, but we’re talking about proven veterans.”

Maybe. But, if Saturday’s performance is any kind of indication, it looks as if the time for concern is upon Mauch. While the veterans were haplessly flailing away at the pitches of Floyd Bannister, Dan Spillner, Juan Agosto and Bob James, McCaskill was fashioning one of the best outings of his rookie season.

Chicago pitcher Tom Seaver said Friday night that his goal in each start is to go seven innings, allow three or fewer runs and “give us a chance to win.”

McCaskill, whose record dropped to 1-5, met Seaver’s standards, and Mauch said he was “outstanding, just outstanding,” but he was less than satisfied anyway.

“It was a pretty good outing, I guess,” McCaskill conceded, “but it wasn’t good enough to win and that’s the bottom line. I imagine that tomorrow I’ll be able to look back and get something positive out of it.”

McCaskill gave up eight hits and allowed solo runs in the second, sixth and seventh before yielding to reliever Pat Clements, who held the White Sox hitless the rest of the way.

Chicago went ahead, 1-0, in the second inning when Ozzie Guillen lined a two-out double off the glove of first baseman Beniquez (who mistimed his leap) and scored on Rudy Law’s single to center.

The Angels gave McCaskill a short-lived lead in the fifth when they got a pair of RBIs from No. 8 hitter Dick Schofield and No. 9 hitter Gary Pettis.

Bob Boone led off the inning with a single to left, and Reggie Jackson followed with a double high off the fence in left-center. Schofield’s fly to deep center scored Boone and advanced Jackson to third. It was Schofield’s second sacrifice fly of the season. Pettis brought home Jackson with a medium-deep drive to left, his first sacrifice fly of 1985.

The White Sox tied the game in the sixth when Greg Walker singled and Oscar Gamble doubled, and they won it for Spillner (1-1) in the seventh when Harold Baines doubled home Law from first base with two outs.

Baines was the last batter McCaskill faced.

“I guess I left him in one batter too long,” Mauch lamented, “but he’d handled Baines so well before that (two strikeouts and a ground out). Of course, that was before he’d thrown 100 pitches.”

McCaskill said he made the pitch he wanted to Baines, but “he’s a good hitter and he just went out and got it.”

Mauch said: “If we’d have scored four runs today, all you guys would be saying, ‘God Almighty, McCaskill pitched a great game today.”’

But the Angels haven’t been scoring four runs too often lately.

“It was like the first two games of the series,” Chicago Manager Tony LaRussa said. “It could’ve gone either way.”

Mauch was asked if he was disappointed that a trade for a pitcher had not been accomplished.

“I’m not looking for anything,” he said, “except scoring some more runs . . . that’s all I’m looking for now.”

Angel Notes

The Cleveland Indians announced Saturday that “for the time being” Bert Blyleven would remain in Cleveland. “The need factor for Blyleven by other clubs may become more acute because of injuries or pennant races,” Indian General Manager Joe Klein said, indicating a trade may still be in order. Klein said he had continuing discussions with the Angels, St. Louis, Toronto and Minnesota Saturday, but no one could come up with a trade to his liking. . . . Angel General Manager Mike Port said he had a Yogi Berra-ism that would describe the Angels’ situation. “We’ve got 75% of these deals done,” he said. “Fifty percent was deciding who we wanted, and 25% was deciding who we were willing to give up. The final 25% is convincing the other club to make the trade. And that 25%, of course, is 95% of the deal.”. . . Dodger General Manager Al Campanis was in the press box Saturday, fueling a number of rumors, the most prevalent of which was a Doug DeCinces-Jerry Reuss deal that never materialized. . . . When Gary Pettis struck out in the third inning Saturday, he took over the team leadership in that department with 60. Pettis already had struck out 16 times more than any other Angel hitter, but the center fielder has also recorded more strikeouts than any Angel pitcher. Mike Witt has struck out 59 this season. . . . Pettis was dropped from the leadoff spot to No. 9 in the Angels’ order Saturday with left-hander Floyd Bannister starting for Chicago. Bannister worked five innings before being forced out because of a blister on his pitcher hand. Brian Downing replaced Pettis in the leadoff position and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. Downing has just three hits in his last 51 at-bats. . . . DeCinces’ first-inning double extended his hitting streak to 11 games. . . . Bob James pitched the final two innings for his league-leading 16th save.