Hollins Watches the Numbers

Dave Hollins hit a season-high Tuesday night in Bank One Ballpark, but it was not for runs, hits or errors. It was for the amount of glucose in his bloodstream, a reading that reached a dangerous level when the diabetic third baseman was pulled from the game in the eighth inning.

A normal blood-sugar count would be in the 80-120 range, but Hollins, fighting a cold and having difficulty coping with Phoenix’s 90-degree temperatures, hit 402 Tuesday night.

“When people check into a hospital with complications from diabetes, their blood-sugar is usually around 400,” Hollins said. “It makes you real lethargic, your vision gets foggy and it’s tough to concentrate--all those things you need in a game. It gets to a point where you don’t want to hurt the team.”

In extreme heat, Hollins’ biggest fear is that his blood-sugar level will dip too low, so Tuesday night caught him by surprise.

“My blood-sugar was way out of whack,” Hollins said. “I was spent. I needed to get out of that game. One thing about having diabetes, a cold or a flu bug can really mess you up.”

Hollins takes daily insulin shots and tries to time his pregame meals so his energy level peaks around game time. When temperatures soar, as they will in Texas this weekend, he stays out of the heat as much as possible.

*

The combination of a badly bruised right shoulder blade and a left-handed starter for Arizona kept Angel center fielder Jim Edmonds out of the lineup Wednesday night.

Edmonds was hit in the upper back by Clint Sodowsky’s pitch in the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s game. He didn’t think Sodowsky was throwing at him, but Edmonds was suspicious of the pitch.

“I just don’t see how a big league sinkerball pitcher can throw a two-seam pitch to a left-handed hitter and almost hit him in the head,” Edmonds said. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Edmonds had never faced Sodowsky before, so there wasn’t any history of bad blood between the two. “But there is now,” Edmonds said.

*

Criticizing umpires is one of the best ways to get fined in baseball, so Angel left-hander Chuck Finley tried to be diplomatic when asked if home plate umpire Larry Poncino squeezed the strike zone Tuesday night, when Finley walked five and gave up a season-high six runs in five innings.

“Let’s put it this way, if I had to throw to that strike zone all the time I’d be in trouble,” Finley said. “It shrunk on me, and I couldn’t find it. I see all those strikes the Atlanta pitchers get, and I figured these [National League umpires] would call strikes from one on-deck circle to the other.”

*

The Angels have not begun formal contract negotiations with their first-round pick, USC pitcher Seth Etherton, but the market has been clearly defined for the right-hander.

The 19th pick in the draft, Woodland High School shortstop Anthony Torcata, has signed with the San Francisco Giants for $1 million. Etherton was the 18th pick, so he’ll likely command a bonus of a little more than $1 million.

Tonight

ANGELS’ JASON DICKSON (5-4, 5.66 ERA)

vs.

DIAMONDBACKS’ BOB WOLCOTT (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Bank One Ballpark, Phoenix, 7 p.m.

TV--Channel 9. Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090), KIK-FM (94.3).

* Update--Catcher Phil Nevin was scratched from Wednesday night’s starting lineup because of a stomach virus. Nevin also has decided to drop his appeal of a three-game suspension stemming from a brawl-marred game June 2 against the Kansas City Royals, and he will begin serving it Friday night in Texas. Dickson, who regained his rotation spot last week, has not given up a run in his last 11 2/3 innings. Wolcott, a former Seattle right-hander, is making his second start for Arizona after throwing eight innings of shutout ball in a no-decision against Oakland last Friday night.