Langston Starts Erasing Dreadful Memories

SEATTLE —  Dave Parker said, “Get up,” so the Angels on the bench did that.

Parker started clapping, so the Angels did that, too.

Finally, Parker extended his huge left hand, displaying the palm on which small Cessnas can land, and waited for Mark Langston’s to approach the runway.

Parker was welcoming Langston back--back to the fold, back to form, back from the dead zone that nearly swallowed Langston whole in 1990 and left Gene Autry counting, one by one, the 16 million better ways to spend $16 million.

“I wasn’t here, but I know he had a tough year last year,” Parker said. “From what I was told, he held up well, too.

“What we’re trying to do is create an atmosphere that shows you care about each other. . . . He did a good job today. I wanted him to know that.”

The prodigal pitcher returned Thursday, working the first six of nine scoreless innings against Seattle that added up to a 5-0 triumph, a season-opening series sweep and the Angels’ first 3-0 start since 1970.

Good things come to those who wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. The Angels had been waiting for 365 days--precisely one year since Langston teased them with his tag-team no-hitter with Mike Witt. That also came at the expense of his former Seattle teammates, which means the Angels now know one thing about Langston:

April 11 is a good day to start him against the Mariners.

Between the bookends, however, all bets were off. That no-hitter equalled or bettered Langston’s monthly victory totals for May, June and July. By the middle of August, he was 5-15. By the end of August, he won back-to-back decisions for the first time all season.

As a free agent with the Montreal Expos, Langston had been made available to the Angels for a limited time only. In their haste, they forgot to push for a money-back guarantee.

So there they were, stuck with the highest-priced 17-game loser on the market.

Langston’s first Angel season also was his worst professional season. Langston had to go back nearly a decade, to his days at San Jose State, to dredge up anything remotely comparable to it.

“My junior year in college was a nightmare year,” he says. “I won my first four games and then really faltered after that. I wound up 6-7 with an ERA of four-something.

“Fortunately, the Mariners still drafted me.”

Langston describes 1990 as “a true learning experience” and lists the hardest lessons first. “There were a lot of times when I was trying to force the ball over the plate,” he begins. “I became a defensive pitcher instead of being aggressive. This is a game that requires confidence, and I wasn’t a confident pitcher a lot of the time.”

Also learned: the value of a reliable defense, a self-starting offense and a quick-closing bullpen.

Langston experienced some of them, sporadically, last summer; but all of them, at once, Thursday afternoon.

Parker wasn’t the only one who lent him a hand.

Langston thanked Donnie Hill and Dave Winfield for their two-run doubles.

Langston thanked third baseman Gary Gaetti for the two double plays he initiated.

More than once, Langston thanked reliever Jeff Robinson for the three baserunners he stranded. That was some way to preserve a shutout, Langston noted--arriving on the mound with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the seventh.

“I’m still stunned,” Langston said. “I haven’t seen anything like that in a long time. You can’t put a guy coming in from the bullpen in a tougher situation than that.”

Robinson got out of it by refusing to let the ball out of the infield. Jay Buhner and Pete O’Brien barely made contact--Buhner fouling out to first baseman Wally Joyner, O’Brien popping to shortstop Dick Schofield. Pinch-hitter Greg Briley did less than that, striking out swinging.

“The job he did . . . I’m still in awe,” Langston said.

Anyone else to thank?

Oh, right. The Mariner minds who decided to pull the fences back a few paces this season in an attempt to capitalize on Seattle’s newly fortified starting rotation of Erik Hanson, Randy Johnson, Brian Holman and Scott Bankhead.

Thursday, the ace of Seattle’s old rotation capitalized more.

“It was definitely noticeable,” Langston said, having noticed the monster fly balls Junior Felix and Winfield tracked down near the outer limits. “If those same balls had been hit here last year, it would have made a big difference.”

The years before that, too.

“I would have loved to see the fences back there when I pitched here,” he said with a grin.

There’s no sense in jumping on bandwagons or to conclusions after one decent start--Langston was also 1-0 in 1990, remember--but he makes this claim: For the first time with the Angels, the pitcher says he feels comfortable.

“There’s a different feeling all over,” he said. “This is a very confident team right now. We realize we can play this game very well. And this series was a good example. We face their three most outstanding pitchers (Hanson, Johnson and Holman) and put some big numbers up on them. That’s a good sign.”

Langston is also joining in, and for the Angels, that’s more than a good sign.

It’s a vital sign.