Angels Stumble Out of the Gate

Rookie George Arias will have a nice memento from his first major-league game Tuesday night, the ball he lined to left for a single in his first big league at-bat, which was graciously tossed into the Angel dugout by Milwaukee Brewer pitcher Ricky Bones in the second inning.

As for the rest of the season opener, the Angels would like to throw most of it back.

Milwaukee pounded Angel starter Chuck Finley for eight runs in 2 2/3 innings, and the Brewers cruised to a 15-9 victory before a paid Anaheim Stadium crowd of 27,836, which must have been wondering:

--Where was that Angel team that so many have picked to win the American League West?

--Who is Ken Edenfield, and why was he pitching for the Angels in the third inning of the season opener?

--If Milwaukee supposedly has one of the worst lineups in baseball, how come every Brewer starter had a hit . . . by the fourth inning? And how come Milwaukee had 18 hits through six innings?

--How does Jose Valentin, the No. 9 batter in this supposedly weak lineup, a shortstop who batted .219 last season, get four hits, including a two-run homer, off the Angels?

--The Angels shelled out $18 million this winter to retain Finley for the next four seasons, and this is the thanks they get?

“Everything I got up, they whacked,” Finley said. “And you don’t expect very good results when you leave balls up in the strike zone. I made about seven bad pitches and they were either doubles, home runs or run-scoring hits.”

Finley’s stint Tuesday night was his shortest since he went two innings against the Toronto Blue Jays last July 20, but at least Finley had an excuse that night in the Skydome--an Ed Sprague liner caromed off his right heel and he was unable to continue.

There were no such health problems Tuesday night--just a few too many fastballs that didn’t travel quite fast enough and a few forkballs that didn’t fork.

The Brewers tagged Finley for eight hits and two homers, including Jeff Cirillo’s bases-empty blast to left in the top of the second, which gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.

Chili Davis answered in the bottom of the second, lining a ball into the right-field seats off Bones to make it 1-1, but then things got real ugly for Finley and the Angels.

The Brewers scored eight runs on nine hits and one error in the third inning, batting around and knocking Finley out of the game.

Brewer left fielder Greg Vaughn delivered the key blow, a three-run home run to right off Finley, catcher Mike Matheny added a two-run double, and Valentin greeted Edenfield with his two-run homer to right that gave Milwaukee a 9-1 lead.

The eight runs were the most the Angels had given up in an inning since the New York Yankees bombed Mark Langston for eight runs in the first inning of a game last June 4. But the Angels fell well short of the team record for most runs allowed in an inning--13, by Milwaukee on July 8, 1990.

Edenfield didn’t fare much better than Finley, giving up eight hits in two innings, but he somehow managed to escape with only two more runs allowed, the Brewers scoring in the fourth and fifth to take an 11-1 lead but leaving the bases loaded in the fourth and two on in the fifth.

The Angel offense finally stirred in the fifth when Jorge Fabregas led off with a single, Gary DiSarcina reached on shortstop Valentin’s error and Randy Velarde singled to load the bases.

Jim Edmonds then blasted a Bones pitch into the right-center field seats for his first career grand slam, cutting the Brewer lead to 11-5. Tim Salmon singled, but Davis grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, which prevented an even bigger inning.

J.T. Snow, Garret Anderson and Arias then singled, Arias’ bloop landing in shallow right field for his first major league run batted in to make it 11-6, before Fabregas grounded out to end the inning.

Bones, who gave up six runs on 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings, was relieved in the fifth by Kevin Wickander, who earned the victory for the Brewers, his first decision since June 22, 1993.

Wickander, who retired seven consecutive batters from the fifth through seventh innings, played the 1994 season in Taiwan and had no decisions in 29 appearances for the Brewers and Detroit Tigers in 1995.

* ANGELS AND DISNEY: TOGETHER AGAIN?: Anaheim and Walt Disney Co. apparently have reached an agreement that clears the way for the company to buy the Angels and fund most of a renovation of Anaheim Stadium. The city council is expected to vote on the proposal today. C6

* UNDER SCRUTINY: On opening night and deal-closing eve, the Angels looked like anything but a bargain. C6