Angel Notebook : The Great Chuck Finley Experiment Goes Awry, and So Does His Pitching

PHOENIX — The Angels had grand designs for Chuck Finley when they sent him to Mayaguez of the Puerto Rican Winter League last off-season. The plan was to convert Finley, a 6-foot 6-inch hard-throwing relief pitcher into a starter by teaching him to throw out of a full windup. Visions of a left-handed Mike Witt danced through the Angels’ heads.

One month later, that vision, as Finley put it, “kind of faded out.” Finley came home after only half a season, bringing with him a new pitching delivery, no new job and a tired arm.

Finley can deal with the failed experiment and the return to the bullpen. Getting his arm back into shape, however, is another matter.

“I’m pitching like bleep,” Finley said after struggling through a tattered inning-and-a third against the Oakland A’s Saturday. While closing out the Angels’ 9-3 loss to Oakland, Finley gave up a walk, a bunt single, a bad-hop single, a triple and three runs--boosting his spring earned-run average to 8.44.

“I’ve never had control problems this bad,” Finley said. “Every time, the batter starts out 2-0, 3-0. I’m pitching in a hole all the time.”

Finley, who had a 3-1 record with a 3.30 ERA as a rookie in 1986, has made three appearances this spring. Two have been bad. Last Tuesday, he blew a two-run lead in the top of the ninth inning, surrendering three hits and three walks in two innings.

“I’m out of sync right now,” Finley said. “Everything’s not together. It’s almost like being in a batting slump.”

There could be a reason for that. Before last winter, Finley had never pitched out of a full windup. Have the Angels tinkered too much with a good thing?

Finley and Angel Manager Gene Mauch say no.

“I went down to winter ball to work out of a windup and I threw the ball good down there,” Finley said. “I’m staying with the windup. It’s just coming on a little slow.”

Said Mauch: “If you walk the leadoff guy while pitching from a windup and walk the second guy pitching from the stretch, what’s the difference? No, the way he threw down there (in Puerto Rico) was fine.”

So what’s the problem? Mauch suspects that Finley’s arm strength is not yet up to Opening Day par.

“The velocity I know and like from Chuck Finley is not there right now,” Mauch said.

“I got to find it quick,” Finley said. “I’m going crazy.

“Last year, a slump like this would have meant a plane ticket out of here. Damn, I thought the pressure was off this year. But you gotta prove yourself every day. Nobody is ever locked in.”

A day in the life of Devon White . . .

White, handed the mantle of Angel rookie phenom now that Wally Joyner is a grizzled second-year man, continues to look the part at the plate. He had two more hits Saturday--beating out an infield single and driving a Carlos Diaz pitch over the center-field wall for his first home run of the spring. White is batting .432 (16 for 37).

But in the field, which is purportedly Devon’s domain, White, in his words, is “going through a crisis.”

Carney Lansford began things in the fourth inning with a dying fly to right. White got a late break on the ball and couldn’t come up with it with a dive. Double for Lansford.

Then, in the seventh inning, White moves in to glove Stan Javier’s single, but his scoop comes away with nothing. The ball bounds under his glove, all the way to the warning track. Javier winds up on third and White is charged with a two-base error.

“Right now, I might be a little passive,” White said. “I’m not playing a good outfield these days.”

Angel Notes

En route to a 2-7 exhibition record, Angel pitchers have a 5.77 ERA. Saturday, John Candelaria allowed 2 earned runs in 4 innings, and DeWayne Buice yielded 4 in 2 innings. “I’ve been told Buice has excellent control,” Gene Mauch said. “I’m still looking around for it.” . . . Doug DeCinces and Gary Pettis both had two hits. Jack Howell added a double. . . . Reggie Jackson did not play, but the A’s new designated hitter exchanged greetings with Wally Joyner, Brian Downing and Mauch before the game. “Reggie and I had a conversation and I listened,” Mauch said with a grin. . . . Bob Boone could soon become the lone member of the Unemployed All-Star Catcher Assn. First, Lance Parrish signs with the Philadelphia Phillies and now the Oakland A’s are reportedly within days of reaching an agreement with Rich Gedman. “I feel funny denying the rumors when, in fact, we do have an interest in Gedman,” Oakland General Manager Sandy Alderson said. “Three weeks ago, I felt he was definitely going back to Boston. We have since had some new conversations with his agent, but to describe them as ‘ongoing’ would be inaccurate. To say that anything is imminent would be wild and speculative.” That’s Alderson’s on-the-record comment, anyway. Gedman’s agent, Jack Sands, is scheduled to fly into Phoenix next week to meet with A’s officials.