Appier Feels Incomplete

Kevin Appier is 35. Last season, for the first time in his career, he did not pitch a complete game. In five postseason starts, he never pitched more than 5 1/3 innings.

The conclusion drawn from those numbers appears obvious, but it is one that offends Appier. “By no means do I consider myself a five-inning pitcher,� he said.

Appier makes his season debut tonight, and the Angels could not be faulted for hoping for five solid innings from him and four from their strong bullpen. Yet pitching coach Bud Black has assured Appier the Angels have not cast him as a five-inning guy.

“No starting pitcher wants to have that mentality. Our guys don’t,� Black said. “We expect all our starters, him included, to pitch past the sixth inning.�

Although the Angels won four of his five postseason starts and lost the other, 2-1, Appier was hit hard enough for analysts to question how effective he might be over the final two years (and $23 million) of his contract. He averaged six innings per start last year, when he went 14-12 with a 3.92 earned-run average, one of 15 American League pitchers with at least 14 victories and an ERA under 4.00.

“I feel like I threw the ball well last year,� he said. “A 3.92 ERA in this league is pretty good nowadays. I can’t believe I’m saying that, compared to where it was when I came in.�

Appier posted an ERA under 3.00 three times in his first four seasons, starting in 1990. He is described as a finesse pitcher now, a label that makes him chuckle. It’s not that his velocity has dropped so much -- his fastball is at 88 mph now, down from 90 mph then -- as much as today’s kids throwing so hard.

“Back then, people throwing 90 were throwing hard,� he said. “Now you throw 90 and it’s, ‘He’s a control pitcher.’ �

Still, Appier would rather work the corners of the plate than rear back and fire a fastball, even in apparent fastball counts. That approach tends to get him to 100 pitches earlier than most starters -- and can get him out of the game by the sixth inning.

*

Second baseman Adam Kennedy reported soreness in his right hamstring one day after colliding with right fielder Tim Salmon while the two chased a pop fly. The Angels listed Kennedy as day-to-day, but even without the injury Benji Gil probably would have started tonight and Saturday, against Oakland left-handers Ted Lilly and John Halama.

ON DECK

Opponent -- Oakland Athletics.

Site -- Network Associates Coliseum.

TV -- Channel 9 Saturday, ESPN2 Sunday.

Radio -- KSPN (710), XKAM (950).

Records -- Angels 2-1, A’s 2-1.

Record vs. A’s (2002) -- 9-11.

Tonight, 7 -- Appier (14-12, 3.92 in ‘02) vs. Ted Lilly (5-7, 3.69 in ‘02).

Saturday, 1 p.m. -- Jarrod Washburn (18-6, 3.15 in ‘02) vs. John Halama (6-5, 3.56).

Sunday, 5 p.m. -- John Lackey (0-1, 9.00) vs. Tim Hudson (1-0, 0.00)