Angels Do Everything but Win Against White Sox

Terry Collins looked over the figures. He did the math. He scratched his head. Nothing seemed to add up.

“They walked eight guys and we turned six double plays,” the Angel manager said, “and it was like we weren’t even in the game.”

There was one key number missing in that final equation--hits. The Angels had fewer hits (four) than double plays and walks, and that’s why they lost to the Chicago White Sox, 5-2, Tuesday night before 13,050 in Comiskey Park.

Scott Eyre, a junk-throwing left-hander whose most effective pitch is a changeup, limited the Angels to two runs in 5 2/3 innings despite walking eight, and White Sox right-hander Carlos Castillo retired all 10 batters he faced from the sixth through ninth innings to gain the victory.

Albert Belle’s two-run homer off Angel starter Omar Olivares and Greg Norton’s RBI double off reliever Greg Cadaret keyed a four-run sixth, and the Angels left 10 runners on, including the bases loaded twice.

“I’ve never seen so many pop-ups,” Collins said. “We’re a better offensive team than that. We’ve got to start grinding it out, hitting line drives . . . the home runs will come. After Belle’s home run, we had nothing.”

Angel designated hitter Tim Salmon said “it seemed like things were kind of quiet, like there wasn’t a lot of intensity out there,” and Collins noticed it too. Afterward, he addressed that subject in a very quick team meeting.

“I just told them we have to get after it,” Collins said. “We have a veteran team, but every so often they still have to be reminded of that. . . .

“It’s not a hustle thing. We’re diving for balls on defense, making good plays. We’re just not concentrating at the plate. Everyone is trying to hit a two-run home run instead of a line drive.”

The Angels bunched Garret Anderson’s single, Phil Nevin’s infield single and Gary DiSarcina’s bloop single for a run in the second. DiSarcina walked to start the fourth, stole second, took third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Eyre’s wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.

Olivares had a no-hitter--albeit an extremely ugly one--through four innings. The right-hander committed two errors in the third and walked five, but the Angels turned double plays in each of the first four innings to bail him out.

Then Norton homered to start the fifth, cutting the Angel lead to 2-1, and Frank Thomas opened the sixth with a double. Belle then ripped an Olivares changeup into the right-center field seats for his eighth homer of the season and a 3-2 White Sox lead.

Ruben Sierra’s single, Norton’s RBI double and Chris Snopek’s RBI single off reliever Pep Harris pushed the lead to 5-2, which was far too big a deficit for the Angel offense.

“It seems like we’re a little off right now,” Salmon said. “We had a lot of hitting counts tonight, but we weren’t ready for them. As a group, we’re not swinging the bats well.”

Collins thinks it’s a matter of approach.

“Eyre stayed away, away, away, away,” Collins said, “and we tried to pull, pull, pull, pull. . . . Rod [Carew, Angel batting instructor] told them before the game that he has a good changeup, but he’s going to give you one to hit.”

In keeping with the Angels’ theme Tuesday night--Oddities R Us--they committed three errors but played one of their best defensive games of the season.

DiSarcina, the Angel shortstop, and second baseman Craig Shipley each started two double plays, third baseman Dave Hollins started one, and left fielder Darin Erstad caught Sierra’s liner to left field and doubled Thomas off first to end the fourth.

The six double plays tied a franchise record, which the Angels previously set in 1975, ’66 and ’63. Erstad also made a diving catch of Magglio Ordonez’s drive near the left-field line to save a run in the fifth, and Hollins made a diving stop of Thomas’ seventh-inning grounder and threw him out.

“When you make those kinds of plays it gives you a chance to win the game,” Collins said. “When you get to the middle of [Chicago’s] batting order, they can hammer you, so when you hold them down for most of the game, you’ve got to feel pretty good about your chances.”