Sele Has Dodgers Under His Control

Make the decision on statistics alone, and the question is a valid one: When the Angels decided to remove a starter from their rotation so they could add rookie John Lackey, why didn’t they drop Aaron Sele?

The Angels decided to drop Scott Schoeneweis instead, although Sele’s numbers were just as poor as those of Schoeneweis, and in some cases worse.

For one night, anyway, the Angels were rewarded: Sele pitched one of the finest games of his career, twirling a three-hit shutout Saturday in a 7-0 victory over the Dodgers.

“I can’t say enough about the game he pitched,� Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It was tremendous.�

Tim Salmon homered, doubled, singled and drove in three runs, leading a 14-hit attack that thrilled the apparent minority of Angel fans among the sellout crowd of 43,592 at Edison Field.

Dodger starter Kazuhisa Ishii all but forfeited his longshot chance to make the National League All-Star team, getting pounded and then dismissed in the fourth inning.

Sele walked one, struck out five and made a season-high 124 pitches, in the Angels’ first complete-game shutout in two years. Brian Cooper, since traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, shut out the Oakland Athletics two years ago today.

Sele retired 23 of the final 25 hitters, including 13 in a row at one point, and all the hits he gave up were singles--by Mark Grudzielanek in the second inning, Shawn Green in the sixth and Eric Karros in the ninth. The Dodgers got one runner into scoring position.

Sele did consistently Saturday what he has done only intermittently all season--get ahead of hitters, bury hitters with two strikes and especially throw his trademark curve for strikes.

“I can’t remember him throwing two poor curveballs in a row,� Scioscia said.

The simple answer to why Sele remains in the rotation and Schoeneweis does not: Sele has a $24-million contract and Schoeneweis does not.

But the reason Sele has that contract is because he has a track record that Schoeneweis does not. In each of the past four seasons, Sele has won at least 15 games and posted an earned-run average below 5.00. Schoeneweis, in his third season in the Angel rotation, has yet to accomplish either feat.

When the Angels demoted Schoeneweis to the bullpen Friday, Sele had the same number of victories and a slightly higher ERA, and opponents were hitting .324 against him.

“His track record, for me, instills that inner confidence,� Angel pitching coach Bud Black said. “He’s done it before. There’s no reason to think he can’t do it again.

“He’s been through a lot of ups and downs. He keeps on a pretty even keel, and he doesn’t let his bad outings affect what he needs to do.�

Against the Dodgers, at least, he does whatever he wants to do. In four starts against the Dodgers, he is 4-0 with a 1.16 ERA.

“Same old Sele,� Grudzielanek said. “He consistently throws pitches where he wants to. He pitched his regular game, nothing extra special. He just hit his spots.�

The Angels could be excused for wondering why so much hype has surrounded Ishii, who hit almost none of his spots.

In two starts against the Angels, he is 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA. In his other 14 starts, he is 11-2 with a 2.97 ERA.

Ishii did himself no favors Saturday, throwing a frighteningly high number of pitches while struggling to find home plate. He needed 88 pitches to get 11 outs. He gave up nine hits and three walks--and a wild pitch--in 3 2/3 innings.

His control, rarely good in his first season in the majors, has wavered between decent and poor. In 95 innings, he has issued 61 walks, the most of any major league pitcher.

Of his 88 pitches Saturday, 40 were balls. Of Sele’s 124 pitches, 41 were balls.

When Ishii did throw strikes, the Angels hit them, repeatedly.

“It comes back to bases on balls,� Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said, “and situations set up by bases on balls.�

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In Control Angel right-hander Aaron Sele continued his mastery of the Dodgers in his three-hit 7-0 victory Saturday night at Edison Field. Sele’s career statistics against the Dodgers: Games 4 Innings 31 Hits 16 Runs 4 Earned runs 4 Home runs 0 Walks 6 Strikeouts 15 Win-loss record 4-0 Earned-run average 1.16 Batting average .147

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