Former Brewer Schroeder Stirs Up Trouble Against His Old Teammates

Everywhere Bill Schroeder turned Sunday, an old friend waited.

From his crouch behind the plate, he greeted the Milwaukee Brewers, his former teammates, one-by-one as they came to bat.

At the plate himself, he stared out at Bill Wegman, a former teammate who is not having much of a season, with six losses already and an earned-run average that has soared to 6.75.

After five seasons as a Brewer, Schroeder became an Angel last December when he was traded at his request. And although Angel Manager Doug Rader jokingly chided Schroeder about telling the Brewers what pitch was coming during the first few innings Sunday, Schroeder was clearly a Brewer no more.

After lifting a fly ball to the warning track in left in his first at-bat, he came up with the bases loaded in the third after Wegman intentionally walked Jack Howell to get to Schroeder, batting eighth in the order.

The walk made some sense, Schroeder granted. He was batting .225, and hadn’t played in a week. Wegman, a right-hander, walked Howell, a left-handed hitter, to get to Schroeder, who is right-handed.

The first pitch was up, and Schroeder drove it over the wall in left-center for the Angels’ first grand slam of the season and the second of his career.

The fans wanted a curtain call, but Schroeder, in the dugout high-fiving his teammates, said he never realized it.

“If I’d known that’s what they wanted, I’d have done it,” he said.

The grand slam gave the Angels a 9-2 lead that held up, after much ado, for a 12-9 victory at Anaheim Stadium.

It also was the last straw for Wegman, who lives near Schroeder in Wisconsin. They had talked during the winter about their impending confrontation. After they met face to face Sunday, Wegman left the game after allowing nine runs in 2 1/3 innings.

“Billy’s struggling a bit, not throwing too well,” Schroeder said. “His confidence is probably down right now.”

Read empathy in that, but no regret.

“I was glad to play against my old boys--and beat ‘em,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder was also glad to play, period. As catcher Lance Parrish’s backup, Schroeder has appeared in only 13 of the Angels’ 43 games.

So far, he has been making that rare playing time count. He has 10 hits in 44 at-bats. But here is the clincher. Of those 10 hits, three have been home runs.

Schroeder had a similar problem with playing time in Milwaukee, playing behind B.J. Surhoff and Charlie O’Brien. He appeared in only 41 games last season, hitting only .156.

Against Western Division teams, he had only seven hits--three of them, though, were home runs against the Angels.

That might have something to do with why he was so appealing to the Angels, who traded Gus Polidor for him in December, two months after acquiring Parrish in a trade.

“Last year, I was in a bad situation,” Schroeder said. “I didn’t play much, and when I did play it was once every 10 games. I started out the year struggling and never really got out. I didn’t want to be in that situation again, and that was one reason I demanded a trade.”

Even though he is playing behind Parrish, it was a move that Schroeder likes. For one thing, Parrish is 33, and Surhoff is 24.

“Not getting the playing time over here is different,” he said. “It’s a different atmosphere, like a breath of fresh air. We’re winning. It’s a lot easier to sit on the bench when you’re winning.”

In his other two times at the plate Sunday, Schroeder struck out and sent another fly ball to the warning track.

Good enough, Schroeder said.

“I’ll take the one for four--and the four RBIs,” he said.