Phillips ‘Embarrassed’ About Arrest

Angel utility player Tony Phillips, a bit quieter and certainly more low-key, rejoined the team Thursday, saying he was “embarrassed” by and “regretted” his arrest for cocaine possession--which led to a suspension by the Angels that was overturned by an arbitrator Wednesday.

Then the news conference ended. By the time Phillips walked back to the Angel clubhouse, and into Thursday’s starting lineup, he had recharged his boisterous personality.

Phillips, the center of distraction while he was away from the team, returned as center of attention. His gab and banter was evident. Life, at least for a brief moment, seemed to return to normal for the Angels.

“What is normal around here?” outfielder Tim Salmon said. “We have guys dropping like flies injury-wise. The last 10 days haven’t seemed right without Tony here. There is no normal here. I want it to be like it was three weeks ago.”

Three weeks ago, Phillips was a key to the Angel pennant hopes, not charged with felony possession of cocaine. He became the flash point in a policy tug of war between baseball and the Walt Disney Co., which owns the Angels.

In an effort to get back those better days, the Angels trotted Phillips out for a news conference--with Phillips’ lawyer present--before Thursday’s game against the New York Yankees, then ran him up to the plate in the bottom of the first inning.

“I’m not feeling real comfortable in this situation that I got myself into and I’m extremely, extremely embarrassed,” Phillips said. “I just want to express my regrets for the hurt I’ve caused my teammates, the Angels and, most of all, my wife and two daughters.”

Phillips took the field before batting practice and received a hug from first-base coach Dave Parker--himself once suspended as a player for a drug-related offense. The Angel players, likewise, were quick to welcome him back.

“We all called him just to make sure that he didn’t feel alienated from the team,” pitcher Chuck Finley said. “What he did was wrong and he knows it. But we’re willing to give him a second chance.”

Fans were too, eventually. They booed when he was announced in the bottom of the first, then cheered after he doubled down the right-field line. He scored on a single by Darin Erstad and was mobbed by teammates in the dugout.

“He’s a good person and a good friend,” Finley said. “We’re behind him and we’ll be there for him.”

Phillips, 38, was arrested shortly after midnight on Aug. 10 after allegedly purchasing $30 worth of cocaine. He declined to comment specifically about the arrest and charges. He also would not comment on whether he has had an ongoing drug problem.

He did, however, address the dangers of drug use.

“There are many, many other people who put themselves in the same situation that I was in and they come out in body bags,” Phillips said. “I feel fortunate to have an opportunity to correct this situation.”

Phillips will to undergo random drug tests and outpatient counseling, as recommended by doctors representing major league baseball and the players’ association. He said he began the counseling last week.

“That’s what they thought was necessary for my actions,” Phillips said. “I said, ‘Fine.’ If they would have said something else, I would have said, ‘Fine.’ ”

What wasn’t fine to Phillips was being suspended by the Angels, who wanted him to go on the disabled list and enter an inpatient drug-counseling center.

“The Angels wanted me to stay away from the team for two weeks,” Phillips said. “I had already fulfilled the obligations and penalties and paid the price for my situation.

“What’s really been killing me is not being there to make amends for things I’ve done. This is my family. I’ve lived with these guys the last four months. The quicker I get back on the field and the quicker I’m around the guys, the sooner this situation going to be resolved.”