Angels Win With Help From a Fan

Had this game been played in mid-October, rather than on the final Sunday before the All-Star break, they’d be writing poetry about it.

Maybe they will, anyway. This one, a 5-3 Angel triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays, will be hard to dislodge from the memory of anyone who witnessed it.

The setting:

Two American League division leaders doing head-to-head combat before a roaring Anaheim Stadium crowd of 35,306. It’s a pitchers’ duel, heavy on managerial chess-playing, resulting in a one-run Toronto lead as the bottom of the ninth inning beckons.

The conclusion:

The Angels tie it on a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a single. With two outs, Brian Downing, struggling through a first half of frustration in the batter’s box, brings a .229 average to the plate and sends a line drive headed for the left-field seats, just inside the foul pole.

The ball is over the fence. So is Toronto left fielder George Bell. Bell gloves the ball as he body-slams the wall, his upper torso disappearing momentarily over the railing.

When Bell emerges, he is without baseball. A souvenir-hunting fan has already absconded with it, stuffing the ball into his pants pocket.

Third-base umpire John Shulock looks at Bell’s empty glove and signals home run. The Angels pour out of their dugout, celebrating their second come-from-behind victory in as many days.

The Blue Jays also pour out of their dugout, in somewhat less of a pleasant mood. They swarm Shulock and his umpiring crew, claiming that Bell had in fact made the catch and was stripped of the ball by a fan’s quick reflexes.

Home run or fan interference? Shulock ruled that Downing’s game-winner would stand, giving the Angels their third straight victory over the winningest team in the major leagues.

But the debate raged on, into the dusk, in both locker rooms. And it could continue for some time.

Did Bell drop the ball or have it stolen? Television replays were inconclusive, with Bell’s glove hidden behind the four-foot-high fence.

The Angels contend it doesn’t matter. The way Manager Gene Mauch put it, Bell went into the stands, and once he did, “he was fair game.”

Mauch: “He was in the out-of-play area when the ball hit his glove. Once you go out of play to go after a ball, you’d better come back with it. It didn’t matter if he had caught it. Once you’re outside the playing field, people (fans) can do whatever they want.”

The Blue Jays had a different interpretation of that rule.

“From my angle,” said right fielder Jesse Barfield, “George caught the ball and a fan took it out of his glove. According to the rules, a fan can’t interfere with a play like that.

“I wasn’t there, but from my vantage point, it looked like he caught the ball.”

An official ruling, please.

According to Rule 3.16 of the Official Baseball Rules Book, “No interference shall be allowed when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk.”

Bell did reach over the fence, beyond the playing field. So, the way the rule book reads, Downing should rightfully be credited with his seventh home run of the season.

And some fan in the left-field box seats will have one heck of a story for his grandchildren some day.

Thus ended a series that invoked memories of ’79 among some of the older Angels, when California, en route to its first AL West title, took on the East-leading New York Yankees and swept three games--three games chock-full of late-inning drama and head-shaking clutch hitting by the Angels.

This four-game series with Toronto had the look of a six-year-old carbon copy. After throwing away the series opener, the Angels won the last three--the first on two Doug DeCinces home runs, the second on three pinch-singles in the ninth inning, and the third on the Shot Heard ‘Round Orange County.

Bobby Grich, who singled just prior to Downing’s home run, was rounding second, watching the descent of the baseball, when the visions of ’79 came rushing back.

“It was a very similar situation to ‘79,” said Grich. “We had a four- or five-game lead, we’re playing the leaders in the East. We won all three games with last-inning heroics. (Don) Baylor hit two home runs to win one game. I had a two-run homer to win another.”

Mauch, who spent 1979 managing the Minnesota Twins, looked back on the past three days and claimed he had no personal experience with which to compare it.

“The drama that’s surrounded all these games . . . I’ve never been around any team like this,” Mauch said. “I’ve never had a team that has delivered in so many come-from-behind situations.

“This one, you couldn’t write a script for. If you wrote one, nobody’d believe it anyway, so why write it?”

The latest Angel comeback, which preserved the team’s six-game lead in the American League West, began in the sixth inning, with Toronto starter Jim Clancy working on a 3-0 lead.

The Angels got a pair of runs when Reggie Jackson and Ruppert Jones, the home run twins, put together a new act--back-to-back RBI singles. Jones’ hit forced Clancy out of the game and brought on the Blue Jay bullpen, which, for the second straight game, failed to hold a lead.

Dennis Lamp, the Blue Jays’ first reliever, wasn’t to blame. He retired each of the six hitters he faced.

However, with two outs and the bases empty in the eighth, Toronto Manager Bobby Cox decided to make a pitching change, bringing on Gary Lavelle, the losing pitcher in Saturday night’s game.

Lavelle wound up a loser again. Opening the ninth, he walked Jackson, whom Mauch replaced with a pinch-runner, Craig Gerber.

Gerber then advanced to second on Jones’ sacrifice bunt. After DeCinces grounded to shortstop for the second out, Grich lined a single to right, scoring Gerber with the tying run.

Then came Downing . . . and Bell’s adventure into the Anaheim Stadium bleacher community.

Why had Cox replaced Lamp, who pitched two hitless innings? And where was Bill Caudill, the Blue Jays’ leader in saves, who did not make one appearance in this series?

“Nobody in the world knows the Blue Jays better than Bobby Cox,” Mauch said.

But Cox wasn’t talking. He avoided reporters’ questions with that time-tested diversionary tactic--a long shower.

And, so, it developed into a memorable, and controversial, finish. Jackson, however, who started the Angels’ rally, saw no justification for the late debate.

“It looked like he caught it and then a fan took it away,” Jackson said of Bell. “But it doesn’t matter. It’s a two-run home run, you lose . . . and you get to sing the barber shop blues.”

Angel Notes

Dramatic offense figured in each of the Angels’ three consecutive victories over the Blue Jays, but Reggie Jackson distributed credit elsewhere for the Angels’ late-inning successes: bullpen and defense. “We’ve beaten them with relief pitching,” Jackson said. “They had us beat, late in the game, but we were able to get into their bullpen. And, I don’t think you win a lot of late-inning games without solid defense. We make the plays that should be made. (Toronto shortstop Tony) Fernandez has thrown a couple games away. Dick Schofield doesn’t make the spectacular play, but he gets all the ones he should make.” . . . Jackson and Brian Downing disagreed on the effect the three-day All-Star break would have on the Angels, who have won seven of their last eight games and 11 of their last 13. “It would be tremendous if we could keep on going,” Downing said. “But now we have to sit back for three days, and it could take the edge off. The exact same thing happened in 1979. We pulled out those games in the ninth inning and then came back from the break a little flat.” Jackson: “Sure, we’re on a roll right now. But if you’re good, it (the break) doesn’t matter.” . . . Stu Cliburn, who allowed one hit in 2 innings of relief, earned the win for the Angels, improving his record to 4-2. . . . Daryl Sconiers is scheduled today to have an arthrogram done on his sore left wrist. “It’s an exploratory thing,” Manager Gene Mauch said. “There might be some ligament damage. The doctors want to be sure.”

ANGELS / All-Star Break Checklist

Year Record At Break GB Season Finish 1961 35-51 10th 21 1/2 8th / 38 1/2 Behind New York 1962 45-37 3rd 2 1/2 3rd / 10 Behind New York 1963 41-46 7th 12 9th / 34 Behind New York 1964 38-44 7th 13 1/2 5th / 17 Behind New York 1965 41-44 6th 13 1/2 7th / 27 Behind Minnesota 1966 46-39 4th 11 6th / 18 Behind Baltimore 1967 45-40 4th 4 1/2 5th / 7 1/2 Behind Boston 1968 39-43 6th 15 1/2 8th / 36 Behind Detroit 1969 36-58 6th 22 3rd / 26 Behind Minnesota 1970 51-35 2nd 5 3rd / 12 Behind Minnesota 1971 42-50 4th 16 1/2 4th / 25 1/2 Behind Oakland 1972 40-52 5th 16 1/2 5th / 18 Behind Oakland 1973 48-48 4th 7 4th / 15 Behind Oakland 1974 39-59 6th 17 6th / 22 Behind Oakland 1975 40-51 6th 17 6th / 25 Behind Oakland 1976 35-52 6th 18 4th (tie) / 18 Behind K.C. 1977 42-46 5th 11 5th / 28 Behind K.C. 1978 46-40 1st +1 2nd (tie) / 5 Behind K.C. 1979 55-38 1st +2 1st / Won by 3 games 1980 29-48 7th 16 1/2 6th / 32 Behind K.C. 1981 xxxx xxxx xxxx Strike year 1982 49-37 1st +1 1st / Won by 3 games 1983 42-36 2nd 2 5th (tie) / 29 Behind Chicago 1984 44-42 3rd 1 2nd (tie) / 3 Behind K.C. 1985 52-35 1st +6