Angels Lost in a Mays
MINNEAPOLIS — Somewhere in New York this morning, a phone rings. Brian Cashman, the general manager of the Yankees, answers. The caller is George Steinbrenner, and the conversation is not pleasant. Explain, Steinbrenner bellows, why I paid $33 million for starting pitchers that could not do to the Angels what somebody named Joe Mays did to them Tuesday.
After the Angels treated Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and David Wells like so many batting practice pitchers in the first round of the playoffs, Mays put the Angel bats to sleep Tuesday.
In what he called the "game of my career," Mays handcuffed the Angels on four hits over eight innings, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 victory in the first game of the best-of-seven American League championship series.
The Angels hit .129 Tuesday. They hit .376 against the Yankees and their decorated--and highly compensated--starters.
"It doesn't matter what the names are," Angel first baseman Scott Spiezio said. "It matters where they throw the ball. Those guys were giving us pitches to hit."
The next pitch Mays gives the Angels to hit will be the first. If he never wins another game, he can tell the grandkids about this one.
He did not walk anyone. He did not give up an extra-base hit. The Angels managed four singles, three hit to the opposite field and one off the glove of the second baseman.
He got 13 of his 21 outs on ground balls. The only hit after the third inning was a ground ball, that infield single. The Angels scored their only run on a ground ball, an unearned run on a ball that rolled through the legs of Minnesota shortstop Cristian Guzman.
Who is this Mays guy? He got shellacked by the Oakland Athletics in the division series, and he sat out much of this season because of an elbow injury. But the Angels remember him well from last season, when he pitched a five-hit shutout in Anaheim and made the All-Star team.
"It's not like he's an anonymous guy," Angel designated hitter Brad Fullmer said. "He was their best pitcher for a lot of last season."
He was the best pitcher on the field Tuesday, despite a valiant effort from Angel starter Kevin Appier. He dodged a flurry of bullets in his five innings, giving up five hits and three walks but only two runs.
But for one unfortunate pitch by Appier, the teams might still be playing, and Mays might have been a footnote to the game.
