Angels Gain Ground but Still Suffer

Last month, the Angels were gaining momentum like Cecil Fielder riding a skateboard down the Grapevine. These days, they seem to be spending most of their time rolling to the hospital.

The latest Angels to make the trek to Kansas City’s St. Luke’s Hospital were catcher Matt Walbeck, who was hit on the left collarbone by a pitch that bounced in the dirt during the ninth inning of the Angels’ 6-5 victory over Kansas City on Saturday night, and closer Troy Percival, who has been suffering dizzy spells and went for tests before the game.

In the last 10 days, Angel officials have driven a player to the hospital six times: Chuck Finley (three times, for a gash in his right knee that required eight stitches July 15 and X-rays after line drives hit him in the right forearm last Saturday and just above the left elbow Friday), Orlando Palmeiro (when a ball he fouled off the plate rebounded into his left eye Tuesday), and now Percival and Walbeck.

Preliminary test results on Percival showed no abnormalities, but he was still at the hospital Saturday night undergoing further neurological testing.

“This is just unbelievable,” Manager Terry Collins said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Hell, I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

But the Angels have somehow managed to persevere, coming from behind to win three of the last four games, including Saturday’s when Justin Baughman drove home Tim Salmon with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to break a 5-5 tie before 28,428 at Kauffman Stadium.

The Angels trailed, 3-0, before getting to Royal starter Tim Belcher for four runs in the fifth and then had to rely on relievers Pep Harris, Rich DeLucia and Mike Holtz, who picked up his first save of the season.

Percival, who said he felt lightheaded and was seeing spots before and after he picked up his American League-leading 29th save against the Twins on Thursday, was examined by the Minnesota team doctor, who told him it was probably something minor, such as an ear infection. But when Percival had another dizzy spell Saturday afternoon, team officials decided a trip to the hospital was in order.

“I talked to him for about 20 minutes this morning and he was feeling good,” Collins said, “but he was dizzy again this afternoon. It was the third time in the last two days, so we sent him to the hospital.”

Salmon, playing with a very painful foot injury, had three hits and scored three times sprinting around the bases in agony as the Angels took a half-game lead over Texas in the American League West.

“The way we’ve been going, I’ve got to ignore what my foot is telling me and just go hard,” he said. “But I can’t stop thinking about Scotty on Star Trek, when he says, ‘She can’t take any more, Captain.’ How much more of this can this team endure?”

Rookie Jarrod Washburn started and battled through five innings, going basically with one pitch since his curveball had no snap. The Royals scored a run in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, each time getting the leadoff runner on base . . . or all the way around.

Washburn gave up leadoff home runs to Mike Sweeney in the third and Dean Palmer in the fourth. Sweeney came within inches of hitting back-to-back homers when his drive to right-center leading off the fifth hit the top of the wall and caromed back onto the warning track for a double. He scored on Jose Offerman’s single.

Belcher breezed through the Angel lineup the first time around without a blip, retiring nine in a row and he escaped unscathed after Jim Edmonds led off the fourth with a double. But Salmon, Garret Anderson and Walbeck lined consecutive singles to open the fifth, Walbeck’s bringing home Salmon.

Two outs later, Edmonds walked to load the bases and Craig Shipley stroked a bases-clearing triple to right-center.

Salmon singled to lead off the sixth, took second on Anderson’s single and raced around to score on Walbeck’s double. The Royals tied the score, 5-5, in the sixth after Harris took the mound. Palmer blooped a single to right, advanced to second on Jeff Conine’s single and then scored on Sweeney’s two-out single to left.

“If we could win the division after the things we’ve gone through, that would be something wonderful,” Harris said. “Just to be battling for the division title is amazing. We just keep getting back up and fighting.”