Creative tension, not exactly an everyday philosophy around baseball anymore, might be applicable just this one time. Whereas too many players in the grand old game take the money and then forget how to run, the California Angels got this far by scratching like the kids they aren`t.
It`s not that singing for your supper is what`s at stake here. Veterans of the free agent democracy can pick up any check in any restaurant without feeling financial pain; they can, in fact, pick up any check for any restaurant without blinking. No, what matters more is being wanted, apparently a yearning need even for millionaires closing in on middle age.
As Don Sutton, the 41-year-old right-hander, says, ”We all know it`s going to end soon, we`d just rather not have it be real soon.”
That`s pretty much the situation for these Angels. They don`t know where they stand, but at least they don`t do it standing still. While pondering their major league futures, if any, Gene Autry`s posse of graying
thoroughbreds won the American League West, by plenty. Their next extended lease on life commences Tuesday night in a best-of-seven championship series versus the Boston Red Sox.
Club policy being club policy, nine veteran Angels whose contracts expire with the final out of 1986 have been told that 1987 is presently non-negotiable. This group includes such holding companies as Reggie Jackson, Doug DeCinces, Bobby Grich and Bob Boone. Sutton exists in a similar version of limbo; he can return if his bosses choose to renew the option year on his contract. Management, then, has conspired to exercise one of the few motivational spurs still available against labor.
”The opinion is divided on whether it`s helped us try harder,” said Brian Downing at Monday`s workout at Fenway Park. ”I`m 35, I`m in the same boat as the rest of them, and I`ve been through the free agent thing before. Not once have I thought about it. Whether they wanted to discuss contract or not, and they haven`t, all I`ve concerned myself with since the first day of spring training is getting to the World Series, and winning it. I can`t imagine worrying about anything else.
”With some of the other guys, I guess they have thought about it. Where they`ll be playing next year, if they`ll be playing next year. The game`s tough enough for me without that to think about. Besides, I don`t need any added incentives. Those of us who were here in 1982, that really hurt. Winning the first two playoff games, then losing the last three at Milwaukee and getting knocked out. Last year hurt, too. Going to Kansas City a game up in the final series, losing three of four, and finishing a game out. Money doesn`t drive you, not the money of World Series shares or another contract. It`s thinking about those hurts that drives you.”
But, as Downing said, some of his fellow relics might beg to differ. The fear of not being asked to stay could gnaw at the subconscious, or conscious, and evoke special devotion to duty. Or, it could increase awareness for that ultimate last hurrah, to exit stage left with champagne sticking to the bald spot. Whatever, Angel hierarchy, in this case primarily general manager Mike Port, has the deck stacked with pressure points. The farm system is estimable, southern California is deemed the best place to perform, and last but not least, if the current players believe it can`t happen to them, they need only recall the graceless erasure of Rod Carew from this season`s roster.
”It`s not my department,” manager Gene Mauch was saying about who goes and who stays. ”I`ll just tell you this: This is a unique group of players we have here. I can stand here until game time tomorrow night and talk about what a 38-year-old catcher like Bob Boone has meant to our pitching staff and I still wouldn`t do him justice. These guys hung together through some injuries, through some tough times.
”You know, that`s one thing about players, veteran players in particular. The manager can talk all he wants to about how much he thinks we can win it, but it doesn`t matter what I think. It matters what they think, and in the end, what they do. And with veterans, because they`ve been around, sometimes they`ll decide early and on their own what the chances of a club might be. And if they decide the chances aren`t all that good, well. . . . This group really hung tough. I can`t say enough about them and their attitudes.”
Though the Red Sox are the popular choice to prevail because of home-field advantage and that one dominant pitcher, Roger Clemens, it should be noted that the Angels won 7 of 12 in the season series, outscoring Boston 32 runs to 19 here. And despite Clemens` 3-0 mark against California, there is reason to suspect that Tuesday night`s Angel starter, Mike Witt, could himself be a dominant force in a coast-to-coast-to-coast situation. Also, the longer the series, the more Boston`s second tier of arms could be exposed. After Clemens, Oil Can Boyd, Bruce Hurst and Calvin Schiraldi, the Red Sox`s earned run average is an inelegant 4.96.
Gene Autry creates little sentiment to these eyes, because the Lone Ranger did it better, and did it without singing Christmas carols. But Gene Mauch deserves a Fall Classic, at last. Take the Angels in seven, and the New York Mets over the Houston Astros in seven in the National League starting Wednesday. The Cubs and White Sox, by the way, are idle this week.
