Angels Know Time Is Not on Their Side

The clock is ticking. Can you hear it, Chuck Finley? How about you, J.T. Snow?

They both answered a resounding, “Yes,” after leading the Angels to a 7-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers before 17,497 Saturday at Anaheim Stadium.

Now, the question is: What are they going to do next?

If the last three games are any indication, the wake-up call has sounded and the Angels are at last stirring after a 3 1/2-month slumber.

Saturday’s victory was their third in a row, their longest streak since winning four June 17-20. It also was their widest margin of victory since defeating the Brewers, 10-3, June 20 at Milwaukee.

Finley, consistently inconsistent this season, threw his first shutout since May 23, 1995 and extended his streak of scoreless innings to 16 2/3. Finley (11-8) won his second start in a row, striking out nine and giving up six hits and one walk.

“I don’t care who we beat,” Finley said. “We need to beat just about everybody we play to get back in this thing.”

Snow, batting 20 points below his .289 average of 1995, hit his second home run in the last three games. Snow’s second-inning grand slam gave Finley a quick, 4-0, lead and helped the Angels defeat Milwaukee starter Ben McDonald (10-4) for the first time at Anaheim Stadium.

“The next two months are going to be the toughest two months of the season,” Snow said. “We’ve got to suck it up and grind it out.”

Of course, the Angels believed they had turned their season around many times already this year. But today, they are still in last place in the American League West, eight games behind the first-place Texas Rangers.

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Finley, who pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings in defeating Detroit, 1-0, Monday, believes the Angels can still catch Texas. If not, there is always the wild-card berth.

“We haven’t really shown the type of team we really are yet, so maybe it’s time to turn it on,” said Finley, who had four losses and a no-decision in five starts before defeating the Tigers.

He said he felt no carryover from Monday’s performance, however.

“Just because you throw great in your last start doesn’t mean you’re going to do it again,” Finley said.

Plus, the Angels had to deal with McDonald if they were to win their fourth in five games.

McDonald went into Saturday’s game with an 11-3 record and 2.21 earned-run average in 16 career games against the Angels. He also was 6-0 with a 1.04 ERA in seven starts at AnaheimStadium.

But Finley, Snow and Garret Anderson, who had a run-scoring single and a run-scoring double, halted McDonald’s streak.

“We didn’t exactly blow him out of the water,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “We got the four runs off him early, but he still pitched a pretty good game.”

McDonald pitched a complete game, striking out six and walking one. But he also gave up more than two earned runs for the first time since June 16.

“One bad pitch was the difference today,” McDonald said of the 1-and-0 fastball he threw to Snow in the second inning. “I was trying for a quality strike and left the ball over the plate.”

Snow, batting .120 (3 for 25) lifetime against McDonald, slammed the pitch over the right-field wall for his third career grand slam.

Finley didn’t need much help after that. His nine strikeouts were one short of his season high. He walked only one batter and retired 14 in a row during an impressive streak between the third and eighth.

“I really wasn’t struggling at any time during the game,” said Finley, who stuck out the side in the fifth.

Shortstop Gary DiSarcina’s diving stop on Mike Matheny’s hard-hit grounder to get a force play at second helped Finley out of a jam in the eighth.

“He almost turned two,” Finley said. “That would have been the end of my day if a run had scored there.”