Was This Finale for Finley?

While it seems inconceivable that their relationship would end in anything other than a two-year contract extension, Chuck Finley and the Angels tried it one more time on Thursday night, for old times’ sake.

He pitched in their uniform, on the verge of free agency, and with the serenity of a lifer.

Finley pitched seven sturdy innings, gave up four runs and left without a decision. The Angels defeated the Oakland A’s, 5-4, at Edison Field, where Jeff Huson singled home Troy Glaus with two out in the eighth inning for the eventual game-winner. An inning before, Gary DiSarcina’s two-run double tied the score, 4-4.

Finley finished at 12-11, and with seven victories in his final eight decisions.

The night before, on the eve of his 379th career start, Finley strode through the corridors beneath Anaheim Stadium and said he was not afraid to leave, and that his wife and children would support it. But, he said, it would be very difficult to turn his back on this weary organization, which so obviously still needs him.

“I knew the better days were ahead of me,” he said. “I still have a lot of life in my arm for whoever.”

There were no fresh emotions for Finley. He took the ball and threw it the way Marcel Lachemann and Joe Coleman showed him so many years ago, fastballs on top of forkballs, force and then deception.

In the sixth inning, Finley moved to 44th on baseball’s all-time strikeout list with a forkball to Rich Becker, then had season strikeout No. 200 on a forkball to Olmedo Saenz. He has 2,150 career strikeouts, the last nine against the A’s, and at least 200 in a season for the third time.

Finley has seen the organization change directions more often than an overeager car salesman in a crowded showroom, and so he shrugged at the chance he would never throw another pitch in periwinkle.

“There’s no sense sitting here pondering it,” Finley said. “Whatever happens, happens.”

Finley said he will not make it a point to test the free-agent market, on which he would be one of the more impressive figures, despite the fact he will turn 37 shortly. The Angels, then, will have their shot, assuming there is a general manager in place to take it.

Otherwise, Finley could declare his free agency the day after the final game of the World Series. He would be free to speak to other clubs regarding money and terms after 15 days. At the conclusion of his 14th big league season here, Finley waved away the details of it.

“I don’t even know where this organization’s going, so . . . “ he said, his voice trailing. “I don’t know that. I don’t know who’s going to be here. There may be a lot of us thinking they’ll be here who will be gone.”

The Angels need an ace. They need steadiness in their clubhouse. They need a patient hand and a settled stomach and the perspective of thousands of innings, all of which he provides. Six or seven million dollars a year seems a bargain.

Also, Finley said he believes the Angels are close to winning. He knows it, he said.

“I want him to stay here with us,” shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “But I have no idea what’s going to happen.

“He’s been the one constant throughout the years. He’s got another year of 200 innings. He’s a perennial workhorse. He’s shown everybody, in and out of the organization, that he’s got a lot left in his arm.”

Enough, it seems, to give him the baseball on another night. Say, opening day of 2000?

“He’s a loyal person,” DiSarcina said. “He’s proven it.”