Five Twin Killings Fatal for Angels

The ground balls that have been sneaking through the infield went right at defenders. The fly balls that have been snatched after long runs dropped off their gloves or in front of them.

The Angels’ three-game winning streak was built on clutch hitting, but their offense got stuck in neutral and their defense down-shifted into a lower gear Wednesday night, as the Angels hit into five double plays in a 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins before 11,517 in the Metrodome.

“For some reason, after the fly-ball double play [Luis Alicea hit in the third inning], I thought to myself, ‘This game is not shaping up the way I want it to,’ ” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “It was just one of those nights.”

It could have been worse. Shortstop Gary DiSarcina, already suffering from nagging shoulder and elbow injuries, spent several minutes on his back after colliding with Twin third baseman Ron Coomer on a rundown play in the seventh.

Coomer’s knee slammed into DiSarcina’s right shoulder during the tag, but DiSarcina complained more of hip pain, and pain shooting down his right leg.

Those who followed the Angels in 1995 know DiSarcina’s worth--the Angels blew most of an 11-game lead when he went out because of a thumb injury that August--and it appeared DiSarcina might be seriously hurt Wednesday night.

Though he eventually got up and finished the game, DiSarcina’s short-term status remains questionable. “I’m concerned about him,” Collins said. “A hip pointer can be an aggravating injury.”

DiSarcina had his shoulder, elbow and hip wrapped in ice afterward. “Just add one more thing to my list of physical problems . . . and mental problems,” he said. “Physically, I feel like it’s August 12 right now. Some weird things have happened this season.”

Jim Edmonds would concur. The sure-handed center fielder, trying to make an over-the-shoulder catch of Terry Steinbach’s fourth-inning drive to the wall, aided the Twins’ three-run inning by dropping the ball.

Greg Colbrunn’s sacrifice fly scored the first run, and Coomer’s RBI single and Chris Latham’s bloop RBI double that fell in front of right fielder Tim Salmon made the score 3-0.

“The ball I dropped cost us the game,” Edmonds said. “It hit my glove. I should have caught it. I don’t know what the heck is going on this year, but my defense is down--that’s the second ball I should have caught that I dropped.”

The three-run rally helped make a winner of Twins starter Rich Robertson, a soft-serve left-hander who threw a shutout against the Angels in 1996 is now 2-1 with a 2.83 earned-run average against them in four career starts.

Robertson, effectively mixing a changeup and slow curve, gave up two runs, on Edmonds’ fifth-inning homer and Jim Leyritz’s RBI single in the fifth.

Minnesota added an insurance run on back-to-back doubles by Matt Lawton and Steinbach in the eighth, and four runs were enough from a Twin offense that scored four runs in the previous three games. Mike Trombley (eighth) and Rick Aguilera (ninth) added a scoreless relief inning.

Angel left-hander Allen Watson (0-2) took the loss but pitched well, giving up the three runs on six hits and striking out seven in six innings after getting bombed in his first two starts.

“That’s more like the Allen Watson I expected, and he’ll be even better,” Collins said. “Cripes, he only made about two mistakes. He threw his changeup for strikes, moved the ball in and out, and got his breaking ball over for strikes. If he builds on this, he’ll be in good shape.”

Almost every time the Angels started to look good Wednesday night, they would hit themselves out of potential rallies.

Alicea hit into three double plays--one a hit-and-run flyout on which Darin Erstad couldn’t get back to first, and one on a liner to short, which Denny Hocking appeared to short-hop but was ruled a catch--and Garret Anderson and Eddie Murray also grounded into double plays.

“We didn’t help ourselves,” Collins said.