Seedy Play Bothers Collins

The strain of a spring filled with injuries, mistakes, poor pitching and just plain bad baseball is beginning to show on Manager Terry Collins’ face.

“You know I’m getting frustrated when I reach for the sunflower seeds,” Collins said before Saturday’s exhibition against the Colorado Rockies in Tucson. “These are the worst things in the world for you, and I’m about to have some.”

The game hardly eased the pain. Allen Watson gave up seven runs on eight hits, including two homers, his spring earned-run average jumping to 10.38, and the Angels lost, 11-5, to the Rockies.

Reliever Chuck McElroy, whose arm is as dead as the supposed deal that would have sent him to San Diego for Rickey Henderson, was bombed for four runs in the eighth inning. The Angels are 5-12 this spring and have given up 10 or more runs in eight games.

Watson gave up five runs in the second inning, the first coming when he hung a curve to Larry Walker, who ripped it over the right-field wall. Watson could have escaped the inning with only three runs but gave up a two-out, two-run single to Quinton McCracken.

“Either we start getting it done,” Collins said, “or we find guys who can.”

Said Walker: “That was a bad pitch to Walker. He couldn’t hit my fastball and I threw him a curve. I should have went with a hard slider. It’s hard to get pumped for spring training, but I’ve got to motivate myself better the rest of the way.”

McElroy is suffering from a sore arm and will take a few days off in an attempt to build up some strength. “It’s a dead arm,” he said. “I get it every spring.”

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Utility player Chris Turner suffered a slightly sprained left wrist when he dove for McCracken’s looping single in the fifth inning, and he’ll be sidelined for a few days. . . . Collins said he will continue to have pitchers take batting practice despite Saturday’s incident, in which Chuck Finley was struck in the face by an errant bat. Pitchers for some American League teams have refrained from batting practice for fear of injuries.