Home Run by Armas a Winner

Because he owns the most hamstrung hamstring this side of the Laker backcourt, 36-year-old Tony Armas has spent more time this season as couch potato than as Angel outfielder.

But, apparently, it was time well spent.

“I watched a lot of TV,” Armas said. “I watched a lot of innings and I watched a lot of pitchers. I tried to pick up the rotation of the ball.”

Tuesday night, back on his feet, Armas put such new knowledge to practical use. Turning on Kevin Brown’s slider in the bottom of the ninth inning, Armas drove it into the left-field seats for a three-run home run, giving the Angels a dramatic 5-2 victory over the Texas Rangers before 62,390 at Anaheim Stadium, the largest crowd in the major leagues this season.

Brown had been one of Armas’ case studies during his two stints on the disabled list. He knew Brown was a rookie, a new face on American League mounds, so Armas figured it might be smart to brush up a bit on him.

“I watched him pitch against Oakland,” Armas said. “He’s a good pitcher who throws pretty hard. He’s got a good breaking ball, too.”

Good enough to strike Armas out with it twice Tuesday evening . . . but not thrice.

With two out and two runners on base in the ninth inning of a 2-2 tie, Brown (7-5) started Armas off with another breaking ball, which Armas fouled off. Then came another, a slider.

Armas drove it over the left-field wall for his sixth home run of the season--in just 48 at-bats. He has appeared in only 15 games, but in his last seven, he has hit four home runs and driven in eight runs.

“Tony’s definitely a streak hitter,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “He has been his whole career. But he’s the type of hitter who can go on a power streak. He won’t just go one for two, one for three with a blooper.

“He’ll make some hard contact and generate some runs for you.”

Armas generated three important ones this time after Texas Manager Bobby Valentine decided to buck recent trends and intentionally walk Chili Davis to let Brown pitch to Armas. At the time, first base was open with Wally Joyner on third base.

Valentine’s thinking: To play the percentages, get rid of the left-handed-hitting Davis and set up a confrontation between right-handers.

“There was no other choice,” Valentine said. “Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Rader wouldn’t comment on the decision--”I shall remain forever diplomatic,” he said--but Armas did his part to absolve Valentine.

“He was supposed to do that,” Armas said. “The winning run was on third base and Chili was hitting left-handed. He’d rather face a right-hander there and I was 0 for 3 . . . “

Armas also noted that Brown had broken his bat on a seventh-inning pop fly.

“He was throwing great, especially early in the game,” Armas said.

But late in the game, the only thing Armas broke was the tie.

Armas’ home run was the Angels’ 73rd of the season, which leads the American League. Earlier in the night, Jack Howell added another, his 10th, a two-run home run in the third inning.

“The surprising thing is, we don’t have a guy in the top 10 (in home runs),” said Rader, who has six players with at least eight home runs and none with more than 11.

“I think it’s inconsequential that we’re leading the league, except that it’s nice to know we’re hitting some home runs,” he added. “I can’t fathom us winning too many games if we don’t.”

All five of the Angels’ runs Tuesday night were produced by home runs, which particularly benefited Willie Fraser, the relief pitcher working in support of starter Mike Witt. Fraser pitched the final three innings, allowing the Rangers three hits but no runs, which put him position to collect his second victory in six decisions.

Witt left after six innings, having squandered a 2-0 advantage. Texas’ Steve Buechele doubled in one run in the fifth inning and Julio Franco tied the game in the sixth with a run-scoring single.

“He was running out of gas,” Rader said of Witt. “He was about done. The quality of his stuff was decreasing.

“I wanted to give him the chance to work out of (the sixth) inning and he did, so we made the change there. What we were trying to do was protect both people--to give Mike the opportunity to stop the rally and to let Willie come in the next inning without having to face a tough situation.”

Fraser got the Angels to the ninth and in the bottom of the inning, Joyner hit a two-out double and advanced to third base on a ground out, setting the stage for Davis and Valentine--and, eventually, Brown and Armas.

Armas’ hit was a big one, to be sure, but it meant more for him to deliver it before such a big audience.

“That was the best one this year,” he said with a smile. “A lot of people saw that I can still hit. I made a lot of people happy.”

Including Armas. Never mind the streak-hitter label. This season, Armas has been little more than a streak player.

It feels good to get up from the couch again.

Angel Notes

Outfielder Claudell Washington was released from Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital Medical Center Tuesday and placed on antibiotics for the treatment of cellulitis in his left shin. Angel trainers have optimistically targeted Washington’s return to the lineup by this weekend, but a more realistic scenario has Washington sitting out until after the All-Star break. Doctors will re-examine the shin Thursday. . . . Texas left fielder Pete Incaviglia was forced out of Tuesday’s game after being hit on the elbow by a Mike Witt pitch in the sixth inning. Incaviglia, who was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange for precautionary X-rays, was replaced by rookie Sammy Sosa.

Tuesday’s crowd of 62,390 marked the 20th time in club history that the Angels have drawn more than 60,000 spectators to a home game. It was the largest Anaheim Stadium crowd since July 4, 1987 (62,531) and the Angels’ fifth-largest regular-season crowd ever. . . . A week before the All-Star game, the Angels are growing concerned over the apparent proliferation of counterfeit All-Star merchandise being peddled in the area. The team has gone so far as to schedule a news conference today to address the subject, inviting representatives from the City of Anaheim and the Anaheim Police Dept. to discuss the problem.