Angels Finally Have Ace Showing

He was the conscience of the clubhouse and the pitcher to whom the team entrusted its most critical games. For so many years, and by definitions of the word that extend beyond the mound, Chuck Finley was the Angels’ ace.

Tonight, the torch is officially passed to Jarrod Washburn. After two years of post-Finley uncertainty, after two years of the on-the-job training for a young starting rotation, the Angels are pleased and proud to show off their new ace tonight, before a national television audience.

In an unexpectedly lavish commitment to winning, over two days in December, the Angels earmarked $56 million for veteran starters Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele. Tonight, as the Angels face the Cleveland Indians, Appier and Sele will watch from the Angel bench--and Finley from the Cleveland bench--as Washburn throws the first pitch of the major league season.

“It doesn’t bother me if they want to call me an ace,” Washburn said. “I don’t know if you can do that with this staff, because we have five guys that are worthy. If I’m tabbed as the guy, I’ll look forward to the challenge.”

The first challenge comes tonight, in his first opening night assignment. Finley, who started four openers and won a club-record 165 games for the Angels before signing with the Indians as a free agent, believes Washburn will be up to the challenge.

“He has a real tenacity about him,” Finley said. “He has a real businesslike approach. He’s not overly excitable out there. You don’t see him jumping around.”

The bigger the game, the more the Angel players wanted Finley to pitch. “Fin to win,” Chili Davis loved to say. Give the horse the ball and ride him to victory.

Joe Maddon, the only holdover on the coaching staff from Finley’s tenure with the Angels, describes Washburn as something of a Finley for the new generation.

“Jarrod’s got broad shoulders. He’s got the personality to do it,” Maddon said. “I think Washburn can be that kind of figure for our pitching staff, not only because of his ability but because of what’s inside him.”

Finley and Washburn are left-handed, but the comparisons just begin there. Neither is the crafty lefty of baseball lore, the Jamie Moyer type who survives on breaking balls thrown at three speeds--slow, slower and slowest.

Finley, in his prime, seldom needed more than his fastball to get ahead of hitters and his split-finger to strike them out. Washburn can thrive on his fastball alone, thanks to its lively movement and his ability to throw it at various speeds.

“He has a gift,” Angel pitcher Scott Schoeneweis said. “Very few people can throw 120 fastballs a game and win. He’s got a real good idea of how to use his fastball and change speeds.

“I know there are batters that walk back and shake their heads like, how did that guy get me out? He has such confidence that he doesn’t care. He’s not afraid. He’s coming with his No. 1 pitch. He knows it. The hitter knows it. Everybody in the ballpark knows it. He’s still successful. That says a lot for him.”

Neither Finley nor Washburn is the dominant sort, the Roger Clemens or Pedro Martinez type always a threat to throw a two-hit shutout and strike out 12. But the Angels don’t give up if Washburn gives up four runs in the second inning.

“He’s a lot like Fin that way,” closer Troy Percival said. “If he gets into trouble early, he’ll pitch his way out of it, and the next thing you know it’s the seventh inning and he’s still out there. That’s a big benefit for him.

“He’s got the mentality to go out there and be a No. 1 pitcher.”

Washburn, 27, went 7-2 with a 3.74 earned-run average in 2000, a season interrupted by three stints on the disabled list. He went 11-10 with a 3.77 ERA last season; in the last 10 years, no Angel pitcher besides Finley and Mark Langston started 30 games and posted a lower ERA.

“He was an ace last year,” Percival said.

At one point, Washburn started 14 consecutive games without a loss. He won eight consecutive decisions, the longest streak by an Angel since Finley set the club record of 14 in 1997-98.

Said Finley: “I’m glad to see he’s doing well and staying healthy. He always had pretty good stuff, and he wasn’t afraid to work, but it was a matter of staying healthy. He threw a game against us in Cleveland last year [a 4-1 victory over tonight’s opponent, Bartolo Colon] where it looked like he had really turned the corner.”

That success bred the confidence that allowed Washburn to emerge as a clubhouse leader. Teams tend to follow position players like Darin Erstad, who play every day, but teammates respect pitchers who work hard even on days they do not pitch and never blame a 2-1 loss on the offense.

Washburn, like Finley, does not retreat to the security of the pitchers’ side of the locker room. He works the room--he organized the Angels’ NCAA tournament pools--and he speaks his mind. He earned the admiration of teammates last year when he said that, after a game was overwhelmed by rally monkey festivities, “maybe if they worked this hard promoting the team as they did the monkey, we wouldn’t play in front of 15,000 fans.”

Said pitching coach Bud Black: “He’s a stand-up guy. He’s very personable. He’s genuine. In a lot of ways, he’s a position player who pitches.

“If you equate it to football, there’s offensive linemen who like their quarterback and there’s offensive linemen who don’t like their quarterback. Our offensive line loves Washburn.”

Washburn, the new ace, wouldn’t say that he has replaced Finley, the old ace.

“But, if I become that guy, that would be great,” Washburn said.

“He’s the kind of guy you want to be compared to. He’s a hard-working man, but he’s very easy to talk to. He was a universally respected man on our team. He was a good teammate and a good guy to have on the team.

“When I retire, that’s what I want guys to say about me: ‘He was a great guy to have on your team.’ That’s what everybody who played with Fin says about him.”