Angels Make Unusual Efforts

Angel ace Chuck Finley was knocked out of a game he didn’t even play in Saturday night. Second baseman Justin Baughman ran right through a stop sign at third base--and scored on a wild, head-first dive into the plate.

After Manager Terry Collins was ejected in the sixth inning, he and umpire Ken Kaiser took turns kicking dirt on and off home plate in a scene that looked like some bizarre mating ritual from “Wild Kingdom.”

All that, and an Angel 8-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Yes, it’s fair to say that 37,806 in Edison Field got their money’s worth.

Jarrod Washburn survived a shaky start to pitch 5 2/3 strong innings, leadoff batter Orlando Palmeiro sparked a 13-hit attack with a triple and two singles, Gary DiSarcina hit a two-run double, and Darin Erstad and Jim Edmonds each had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who ended Baltimore’s winning streak at nine games and maintained a half-game lead over Texas in the American League West.

But after the game, Angel thoughts turned to Finley, who further embellished his reputation as the king of freak injuries when he was nailed by a Joe Carter foul ball on the Angel bench in the top of the third.

The liner struck Finley on the right forearm and sent the pitcher sprawling to the dugout floor. Finley was escorted to the clubhouse and sent to Chapman General Hospital in Orange for X-rays, which were negative. Finley, who had total flexibility in his forearm, will be reexamined today or Monday.

Of course, no one was surprised the ball hit Finley, a magnet for flying objects. Finley broke a facial bone when he was struck by a bat that flew out of reliever Mike James’ hands in spring training 1997, and he suffered a badly bruised elbow when he was struck by a Chad Kreuter liner on May 2.

Finley also broke his left wrist when he slipped and fell while backing up home plate last Aug. 19, and just Wednesday night, he suffered a deep gash on his right knee when he fell trying to cover first base against Tampa Bay.

“I could not believe when I looked over and saw Chuck fall,” Collins said. “He got drilled. We can laugh now because his arm is not broken, but I told him to just go sit in a cage or something.”

Finley was supposed to start Tuesday in Minnesota, but Collins said he will instead go with left-hander Allen Watson Tuesday and push Finley back to Friday, giving Finley’s knee ample time to heal.

Collins had plenty of time to nurse a bruised ego Saturday night after his argument with Kaiser. DiSarcina tried to score from second on Palmeiro’s single to left, and replays clearly showed DiSarcina’s foot had crossed the plate before Webster applied the tag, but Kaiser ruled DiSarcina out.

Collins stormed the field so quickly “I pulled a hamstring coming out of the dugout,” he said, and was quickly ejected for going jaw-to-jaw with Kaiser. A frustrated Collins kicked dirt over the plate before heading back to the dugout. Kaiser, showing who was master of his domain, kicked the dirt back off the plate.

“I knew I got carried away,” Collins said, “as I often do.”

The Angels led, 5-3, at the time, and added two insurance runs in the seventh--one on Matt Walbeck’s sacrifice fly, the first RBI by an Angel catcher this month--and one in the eighth on Palmeiro’s triple and Craig Shipley’s RBI double.

The key inning for the Angels was the fourth. With the score tied, 2-2, Jim Edmonds led off with a single and, two outs later, Baughman walked. DiSarcina slapped a double to right, easily scoring Edmonds.

Baughman, the Angels’ fastest player, raced toward third, where third-base Coach Larry Bowa held both arms up. Baughman didn’t even slow down. He headed home and slid headfirst into the plate as Webster dropped the relay throw.

The Angels scored their first two runs in the second and third, Garret Anderson doubling to open the second, taking third on Surhoff’s error and scoring on Baughman’s sacrifice fly, and Dave Hollins doubling and scoring on Erstad’s RBI single in the third.

Washburn recovered from a two-run, three-hit first to throw 4 2/3 hitless innings before Webster’s two-out homer in the sixth cut the Angel lead to 5-3. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came on and threw 2 1/3 innings of hitless and relief.