DiSarcina Gets Down and Dirty

Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina found a good way to cope with the cold Sunday, rolling around the Jacobs Field dirt on a controversial play at the plate in the fourth inning and on a great defensive play in the sixth.

DiSarcina was tagged out at home after trying to score on a pitch that caromed away from catcher Sandy Alomar, who retrieved the ball and lunged to tag DiSarcina as he dove head-first into the plate.

Replays showed DiSarcina’s hand crossed the plate just before Alomar’s tag, and the ball squirted out of the catcher’s hand. But plate umpire Terry Craft’s call was upheld by first-base umpire Chuck Meriwether.

Angel Manager Terry Collins and third-base coach Larry Bowa argued the call, but DiSarcina was nowhere to be found in the dispute. “I thought I was safe because I didn’t hear the ump make the call,” DiSarcina said.

DiSarcina got dirty again in the sixth, diving for Omar Vizquel’s grounder up the middle, rolling over and, from one knee, making about a four-hop throw to first baseman Darin Erstad for the out.

*

A magnetic resonance imaging test on Mark Gubicza’s shoulder was normal, but the right-hander is expected to go on the disabled list Tuesday. Gubicza received a cortisone shot in the back of the shoulder and will begin therapy today.