Once Mauch Restores Order, Downing Leads Angels to 6-1 Victory

Angel Manager Gene Mauch dug out an old lineup card, the one with Brian Downing’s name on top, and pasted it on the dugout wall before Wednesday night’s game.

Memories, memories.

“He and we got off to a great start like that,” said Mauch, almost wistful at the recollection. And after a month of floundering with Gary Pettis and a handful of others at the leadoff position, Mauch decided it was high time to make Downing No. 1 once again.

“He’s the best we have,” Mauch said, “and I’m gonna hit him there.”

So, Downing was back as Angel leadoff hitter, where he spent all of April and the first half of May, winning American player of the month honors while the Angels won more games than they lost. And, not entirely by coincidence, the Angels won again Wednesday--beating the Texas Rangers, 6-1, at Anaheim Stadium as Downing reached base in each of his first three at-bats.

Downing opened the game by getting hit by a Greg Harris pitch.

Then, in the third inning, Downing executed a perfect hit-and-run single with Mark McLemore on first base, paving the way to a four-run inning.

And in the fourth, Downing led off with a walk and scored in front of Devon White’s ensuing double into the gap in right-center field.

That’s the type of production Mauch had grown accustomed to during the Angels’ first 35 games. Downing batted leadoff in 33 of them, hitting .344, scoring 29 runs and reaching base 47% of the time.

“He was in a great frame of mind back then,” Mauch said. “He was going like hell. But then George (Hendrick) got hurt and Doug (DeCinces) started struggling and that changed.”

Hendrick’s broken finger and DeCinces’ prolonged batting slump stripped the Angel lineup of two power hitters, and Mauch figured he could no longer afford the luxury of another slugger at the top of the order. He said he needed Downing’s RBI potential in the middle of the lineup--and hoped the replacements would get on base often enough for Downing to drive them home.

The Angels are 20-17 with Downing as their leadoff hitter. The last time he batted in the top spot, May 23, the Angels were tied for second in the AL West.

After Downing, Mauch tried Pettis as leadoff man. The Angels went 6-13 in those games, with Pettis batting .250 and scoring just 10 runs.

Ruppert Jones, Dick Schofield, White and McLemore also received tryouts. They were a combined 4-5.

If the writing wasn’t on the wall, it could at least be discerned by a glance at the AL West standings. The Angels began Wednesday evening six games below .500 and eight games out of first place.

With Hendrick back on the active roster and DeCinces beginning to show signs of a revival with the bat, Mauch decided to move Downing back to leadoff.

“We ain’t been doing so good the other way,” Mauch admitted.

Mauch got results right away. After Angel starter Mike Witt (8-5) fell behind, 1-0, by surrendering a second-inning home run to Pete O’Brien, Downing helped set the stage for four Angel runs in the bottom of the third.

McLemore had opened the inning with a single and, with Downing at bat, broke for second. Texas second baseman Jerry Browne was forced to cover second on a potential stolen-base try, but Downing lashed a grounder through the right side of the infield--precisely where Browne had originally positioned himself.

But Browne wasn’t there any more, enabling McLemore to advance all the way to third on the single. McLemore scored on a single by White, and Downing scored on a single by DeCinces.

White and DeCinces eventually scored, giving the Angels a 4-1 lead, which Witt and reliever Greg Minton made stand up with a combined four-hitter.

Witt worked eight innings, allowing four hits and five walks. He struck out six.

Minton preserved the victory by pitching a perfect ninth.

Angel Notes

The Angels and the Texas Rangers paused for a moment of silence before Wednesday’s game in remembrance of former Kansas City Royal manager Dick Howser, who died earlier in the day. Gene Mauch had considered Howser one of his better friends among the major league managerial fraternity. “We had been pretty close for a long time,” Mauch said. “You don’t get to know too many people where the words ‘tenacious’ and ‘gentle’ fit the same person. His tenacity was never abrasive. The sincerity was always there.” Mauch said he braced himself for word once he heard Howser had re-entered the hospital last week. “The bad news took place the other day, when he was re-admitted,” Mauch said. “That’s when I got all knotted up. I knew what that meant.”

Donnie Moore’s return to the active roster was placed on hold when he experienced arm soreness after Tuesday’s workout in the bullpen. Moore claimed it was “natural soreness after you throw, nothing abnormal,” but Mauch and Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann aren’t so sure. “He’s a little stiff today and we want to see how he comes out of it,” Lachemann said. “We want to make sure (before re-activating Moore). We’ve waited this long.” Added Mauch: “I think that makes sense, don’t you?” Mauch was asked if he expected Moore to be available for any of the four upcoming games against Kansas City. “If the soreness takes a long time going away, I doubt it.”

Butch Wynegar, recovering from foot surgery, underwent a strenuous workout Wednesday afternoon--running from foul line to foul line 10 times, throwing off the foot and swinging the bat 100 times from both sides of the plate.