ANGELS : Sanderson Excels, Despite Anguish

There was no time to mentally prepare for the start, and Angel starter Scott Sanderson said he really didn’t much feel like pitching Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies.

His entire weekend was spent grieving with his wife, Cathleen, trying to find the right words to console and comfort her. They had been eagerly anticipating the birth of their third child in seven months, but Saturday night, Cathleen suffered a miscarriage.

“It was a pretty tough thing to go through,” said Sanderson, who left the team Friday. “You find out in a hurry that there are more important things than baseball.

“Believe me, it was pretty hard to stay focused out there today.”

Sanderson, vying for a spot in the rotation, managed to put aside his distress and pitched a near-flawless three innings. He yielded only a bunt-single without a walk, helping the Angels to a 2-1 victory.

“You always want to surprise people,” Sanderson said, “but when you surprise people, that assumes people’s expectations of you were low. I expect a lot out of myself this year.”

*

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers on the financial state of baseball: “We’ve got a screwed-up system right now. It’s tough to differentiate right from wrong. We’re rewarding guys for hitting .220.

“I mean, we offered a three-year contract to Dick Schofield for $6.5 million. And he’s dumber than we are. He turned it down. It’s like we’re trying to out-dumb each other.

“They asked me, ‘What would you do about Schofield?’ I said, ‘I’d release the guy. If you can’t find a guy who can hit .220, there’s something wrong with this game.’ ”

*

Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina, who replaced Schofield, made a spectacular diving play to save the game in the ninth inning. There was one out with a runner on second when DiSarcina went far to his right to stop Dante Bichette’s hard-hit grounder, dropped to his knees and threw out Bichette.

*

The Angels lost their split-squad game against the Rockies in Tucson, 5-3, when bullpen stopper Joe Grahe blew a 3-1 eighth-inning lead. Said Grahe, who yielded five hits and four earned runs in one inning: “I threw strikes and they seemed to like them.” . . . The Rockies’ Mark Kundson, who pitched three shutout innings against the Angels in Tempe, said his wife is expecting triplets in June: two girls and a boy. . . . Second baseman Damion Easley will be examined today for his shin splint problems. If the inflammation has subsided, Rodgers said Easley could resume playing early next week. . . . Designated hitter Chili Davis, who has been hampered by a slight groin pull, went one for three with a double.