Angel V-Team Means Victory

The Southern California Chapter of Underachievers Not-So-Anonymous gathered for its monthly meeting Thursday night, the Dodgers and Angels pulling up chairs for a baseball game/group therapy session in Edison Field.

Any volunteers to begin? “Uh, hi, I’m Chuck Finley, and I can’t get anyone out.” “Hi, I’m Raul Mondesi, and I can’t hit a home run . . . “

Some three hours later, at least the Angels were feeling better about themselves after a 7-6 come-from-behind interleague victory over the Dodgers before a sellout crowd of 43,911.

Randy Velarde, whose seventh-inning homer off reliever Pedro Borbon tied the game, opened the 10th with a double off the right-center field wall. With the left-handed Mo Vaughn coming up, Dodger Manager Davey Johnson pulled Alan Mills for left-hander Onan Masaoka.

Vaughn then slapped a one-hopper right where the shortstop usually plays, but the Dodgers had Mark Grudzielanek shifted toward the second-base bag, and the ball skipped into left field, scoring Velarde and lifting the Angels, basement dwellers since May 25, into third place in the American League West.

After blowing leads of 4-0 and 5-3, Velarde got the Angels back in it by banging a Borbon hanging slider into the left-field bullpen with two out in the seventh for his eighth homer of the season and a 6-6 tie.

That took Finley off the hook, but the Angels may want to send the left-hander for further counseling. Finley was staked to a 4-0 lead but coughed it up by giving up three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, prolonging the worst slump of his 14-year career.

In his last five starts, Finley has been pummeled for 32 earned runs in 22 innings (13.09 ERA), with 17 walks and 16 strikeouts. It may be only coincidence, but Finley’s funk began after telling reporters June 19 that he would consider waiving his trade-veto rights for a deal to a contender.

His opponent Thursday night, Dodger ace Kevin Brown, wasn’t much better, giving up five runs on five hits--the vaunted Orlando Palmeiro and Jeff Huson combining for four of the hits and four of the RBIs--but once Brown got the lead, he struck out the side--Velarde, Vaughn and Garret Anderson--in the fifth and got the first out in the sixth before being pulled for Borbon.

Right-hander Al Levine replaced Finley to start the sixth and pitched three scoreless innings to keep the Angels in the game.

Until Velarde’s homer, it appeared the Angels might be haunted by ex-Angels in two stadiums on the same night. In Texas, former Angel Lee Stevens walked to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth, and former Angel Mark McLemore hit a three-run double, lifting the Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In Anaheim, Dodger center fielder Devon White, another former Angel, blasted a three-run homer off Finley in the fifth, giving the Dodgers a 6-5 lead.

Trenidad Hubbard opened the fifth with a single and took third on Finley’s wild pickoff attempt. Gary Sheffield walked, and Finley, who got out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the second, looked as if he might again slip out of trouble when he struck out Eric Karros.

But White, whose grand slam lifted the Dodgers to a 7-4 victory over the Angels on June 5, slammed his eighth homer of the season to put the Dodgers ahead.

The Angels proved in the second that execution isn’t everything. After Anderson reached on an infield single to open the inning and Troy Glaus walked, Palmeiro fouled off two sacrifice attempts. Palmeiro then grounded an RBI double down the right-field line, Glaus stopping at third.

Huson followed with a ground-ball single through the second-base hole, and Angel third-base coach Larry Bowa, showing little regard for the arm of Mondesi, waved Palmeiro around with no outs.

Mondesi’s throw was on the mark, but Palmeiro slid in just ahead of Angel Pena’s tag for a 3-0 lead. Gary DiSarcina’s fly ball to right advanced Huson to third, and Darin Erstad beat out a fielder’s choice grounder to short, Huson scoring to make it 4-0.

The Dodgers countered with three in the fourth, Pena getting a two-run single.

ANGELS vs. DODGERS

at Edison Field

GAME 1, THURSDAY

Angels 7, Dodgers 6 (10 innings)

GAME 2, 7 TONIGHT, CH. 5

Omar Olivares (8-6, 3.28) vs. Ismael Valdes (7-7, 3.36)

GAME 3, 1 SATURDAY, CH. 11

Steve Sparks (4-5, 4.68) vs. Chan Ho Park (5-7, 6.52)

****

FREEWAY SERIES

Interleague history:

* 1997: Dodgers win series, 4-0

* 1998: Angels win series, 3-1

* 1999: Series tied, 2-2

* Total: Dodgers lead, 7-5