Angel Slump Is Not So Hot

The air conditioning failed in the Angels’ hotel here late Monday night and the rising humidity set off the fire alarms.

By Tuesday night, however, the Angels were bothered but certainly not hot.

Losers of 13 of 17 July games, they were again shivering in their own personal cold snap. It was 82 degrees outside, 68 inside the Metrodome and positively arctic in the Angel clubhouse after they lost, 4-2, to the Minnesota Twins in front of 11,869.

Facing a pitcher, LaTroy Hawkins, who was 1-3 with a 6.90 earned-run average in his last six starts and a team that had lost seven of 10, Angel batters continued to struggle and the meat of their order was minced once again.

The two runs came on a 200-foot sacrifice fly by No. 9 hitter Gary DiSarcina and No. 8 hitter Justin Baughman’s artificial-surface, run-scoring single that bounded over a drawn-in infield, breaking an 0-for-13 slump by the rookie second baseman.

But this game was more about the runs the Angels could have scored. They left eight runners on base, five of them in scoring position.

“That’s why we’re playing like we’re playing,” Manager Terry Collins said. “I don’t always have the answers. We just have to battle our way out of it.”

A quick recap of Tuesday’s version of the Angels desperately seeking the big hit:

* Garret Anderson, the team’s hottest hitter, came up with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and hit into a double play.

* Anderson (who extended his hitting streak to a career-high 18 games three innings too late) and Matt Walbeck singled to open the seventh inning and chase Hawkins. But the Angels came away with only one run--on Baughman’s single against reliever Mike Trombley--after DiSarcina flied to left, Darin Erstad popped up on a 3-and-0 pitch and Craig Shipley flied out.

“I’m the one who turned Darin lose 3-0,” Collins said. “I’ll take my chances there on one of our best hitters getting a fastball.”

* They had runners at first and second with no outs in the eighth, but failed to score when Cecil Fielder popped up, Anderson bounced out and Walbeck popped up.

“We had the bases loaded with Garret up and I thought, ‘Here it is.’ ” Collins said.

But “it”--the clutch hit that turns the momentum and ends the July slide--continues to elude the Angels. Their big three in the middle, Jim Edmonds, Tim Salmon and Fielder, combined for two hits.

Left-hander Allen Watson, getting a chance to make his first start since May 9 because Chuck Finley cut open his knee sliding while covering first base last Wednesday, ground out five less-than-inspiring innings. His performance didn’t exactly secure his spot in the rotation, but it probably didn’t hurt his chances much either.

“He threw the ball all right,” Collins said. “But you just can’t walk [Twins’ leadoff hitter] Otis Nixon. You just can’t let him get on base.”

Nixon reached first in each of his first three at-bats, scoring in the second on Marty Cordova’s sacrifice fly and again during Minnesota’s three-run fifth on designated hitter Paul Molitor’s two-run double. Molitor, who tied Eddie Murray for 10th place on the all-time hit list (3,255), had three doubles in his first three at-bats.

“Molitor hit two good pitches,” said Watson, who gave up seven hits and four runs--only two of which were earned. “Both were down and away and he hits one down one line and the other down the other line. But that’s why he’s got more than 3,000 hits.

“My fastball was a little erratic, but I had a real good curve. I would’ve liked to go another inning maybe, but I think I pitched well enough to win.”

For the Angels these days, that almost requires a shutout.