World Series notebook

Scioscia turns to rookie pitchers in Game 7

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- With all the confidence in the world, Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia chose a rookie pitcher to start Game 7 of the World Series.

Then he brought in another rookie, and still another.

The eclectic bullpen that helped the Angels to their first championship was an odd mix of rookies and veterans, all of whom came through in a big way.

After starter John Lackey held San Francisco to one run through five innings Sunday night, fellow rookies Brendan Donnelly and Francisco Rodriguez came on.

"Our bullpen was great again," said pitching coach Bud Black, whose relief corps had the majors' lowest ERA during the regular season. "If it weren't for them, we wouldn't even be here. Many of them -- Donnelly and Rodriguez included -- weren't even here when the season started."

Donnelly, a 31-year-old right-hander who spent a decade bouncing around the minors with nine teams before the Angels finally saw something in him this year, shut out the Giants for two innings.

Then the wonderkid of the 2002 postseason, the 20-year-old Rodriguez, took over and not only struck out Rich Aurilia, Jeff Kent and Benito Santiago in his one inning of work, he made them look like rookies with his dancing fastball and darting slider.

That from a youngster who was so-so as a starter in the minors and had pitched only 5 2-3 innings of major league ball before the playoffs.

After Donnelly and Rodriguez got the Angels through the eighth, veteran closer Troy Percival took over, pitching a scoreless ninth in a 4-1 victory over the Giants.

Angels ace Jarrod Washburn smiled as he spoke of the "mismatched bunch" down in the bullpen.

"That's a ragtag group. A lot of them are castoffs, players nobody else wanted," he said. "The Angels gave them a chance and, boy, they certainly made the most of it."

Unscripted

Don't hold your breath waiting for a Disney movie about this year's Angels and their unlikely climb to baseball's championship.

Chairman Michael Eisner of the Walt Disney Co., which owns the Angels, noted that the company has already made "Angels in the Outfield" and "The Rookie," and said he just didn't think anyone would believe the story of this year's Angels.

"This script could not happen," said an obviously elated Eisner. "Get real."

AL rules

The American League has won four of the last five World Series, 13 of the last 19, and leads 58-40 all-time.

High scoring

The Angels and Giants combined to score 85 runs, surpassing the previous World Series high of 82 by the Yankees and Pirates in 1960.

The longest season

With 30 spring training games, 162 in the regular season and a three-round postseason that went to Game 7 of the World Series, the pitching staffs of the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants wore thin.

Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia has a suggestion: fewer games.

"I think with three rounds of playoffs, there's a strong case to be made for shortening the season to some extent," Scioscia said. "We went with a 10-man pitching staff (for the postseason) and we've just about gauged it right.

"But we're about at the end of where I think our guys are going to be able to go out there and execute the pitches you need to win games. I don't think it's anything uncommon to most staffs."

San Francisco pitching coach Dave Righetti agreed.

"There's no question, it's a long season for these guys," he said. "It's no longer the starting pitchers that are going on two, three days' rest, now you're having relief pitchers used an awful lot."

Righetti said some relievers probably have had years taken off their careers because they've been involved a lot in the postseason.

"The relievers are taking on the big brunt of all this," he said.

Scioscia believes the postseason takes even more out of pitchers than the grind of the regular season.

"The playoffs are so emotionally draining for pitchers. You have to work harder for every out. There are no breathers through any part of the lineup," he said.

"To say that a pitcher's only pitching five or six innings in the playoffs, what's wrong with him? Probably nothing's wrong with him. The club he's pitching against is a match that makes him work harder and maybe he loses his stuff a little sooner," he said.

Scioscia said that if the playoffs are expanded to add more wild-card teams or more games, "you definitely would have to shorten the season."

The majors went from 154 regular-season games to 162 in 1961.

Big on Bonds

Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher knows what's different about Barry Bonds.

"He's not human," Hatcher said, grinning. "I can't imagine anybody better than him in the game of baseball and I don't care if you say 'Ted Williams.' This guy is scary. I'm just amazed.

"Every time he walks up to the plate, he scares everybody. He scares us on the bench."

When Bonds comes up, Hatcher said, manager Mike Scioscia has to fight a natural reaction -- holding up four fingers to signal an intentional walk.

"Mike's fingers are always wanting to do this; he's trying to hold his fingers down all the time," Hatcher said.

 

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