Collins Can’t Get in the Mix

Angel Manager Terry Collins felt as if someone had handcuffed his wrists to the dugout bench Sunday afternoon, depriving him of the chance to flash a stolen-base or hit-and-run sign.

The Cleveland Indians had built an early five-run lead en route to a 6-4 victory over the Angels before 35,628 in Edison Field, leaving the ever- aggressive Collins as helpless as an Indy car driver with a flat tire.

“It’s tough to play when you’re four or five runs down all the time,” Collins said after the Indians’ convincing three-game sweep of the Angels. “It shuts you down from any type of running game.

“We don’t have a ton of speed, but we can pick our spots. When we’re not swinging well, I like to move runners along. When you’re five behind, it makes that kind of tough.”

A deep rotation was supposed to prevent weekends such as this, but for the third consecutive game, an Angel starter put the team in a hole. Friday night, it was Jack McDowell’s four-run third inning. Saturday night, a three-inning, seven-run start by Allen Watson doomed the Angels.

Jason Dickson took the loss Sunday, giving up six runs on seven hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings. David Justice, who had three hits, snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run homer in the third, and Jim Thome’s two-run bloop single capped a three-run fifth for the Indians, whose 5-0 start is their best since opening the 1966 season with 10 victories.

Scoreless relief work by Mike James (2 1/3 innings) and Mike Holtz (1 1/3 innings) prevented the Indians from extending their 6-1 lead. Matt Walbeck’s homer to open the eighth, and Cleveland pitcher Charles Nagy’s throwing error helped the Angels score two more runs in the inning, making it 6-3.

Cleanup batter Tim Salmon then came up against reliever Jose Mesa with runners on second and third and one out. But Salmon, who hit a 445-foot homer off Mesa on Friday night and homered in the second inning Sunday, managed only an RBI fielder’s choice, and Cecil Fielder tapped weakly back to the mound to end the eighth.

Paul Assenmacher and Mike Jackson then closed out the Angels in a one-two- three ninth.

“You get the juices flowing and you want to do it again,” Salmon said of his last at-bat against Mesa. “But sometimes too much of that can go against you.”

So can too much superb starting pitching. Dave Burba limited the Angels to one run on six hits in seven innings Friday night, Bartolo Colon threw a four- hit shutout with 10 strikeouts Saturday night, and Nagy gave up only one run on five hits through the first seven innings Sunday.

And here’s the kicker: The Angels face Boston’s Pedro Martinez, the 1997 National League Cy Young Award winner, tonight.

“They just keep coming, don’t they?” Salmon said. “We haven’t seen too many slouches the last few nights.”

Center fielder Jim Edmonds said “it’s obvious what has happened the last two games--good pitching beats good hitting,” but it’s also apparent the Angels are not swinging very well. In three games against Cleveland they had eight runs, 19 hits and 21 strikeouts.

“We’ve got to hit better than that if we’re going to compete with them,” Collins said. “Otherwise we’re going to be in trouble.”

The Angels are not about to panic, though.

“It’s early in the season, and our swings are not where we want them to be,” Salmon said. “We’re saying all the things to keep morale up, but the bottom line is we’re playing good teams and we need to swing the bats better. We’re not hitting or pitching as well as we’re capable of, but we can’t dwell on that too much.”