Error, Not Percival, Saves Day for Angels

The admittedly listless, frustrated, unemotional Angels, losers of 10 of 14 games before Tuesday night, may have found the formula for shaking out of their lethargy: Continue to struggle offensively; waste a brilliant performance by their best starting pitcher; watch their closer blow a three-run lead in the ninth, then win when their 275-pound first baseman hustles down the baseline on a ground ball and forces a throwing error.

A stretch? Maybe, but the formula worked Tuesday night as the Angels beat the Oakland A’s, 4-3, in 10 innings in front of 17,275 at Edison Field.

“They’re never easy, but we’ll take it,” Manager Terry Collins said wearily. “Hopefully, this game will get us going.”

Troy Percival, who was called on in the ninth to protect a three-run lead after Chuck Finley’s masterful eight-inning, eight-strikeout, four-hit outing, gave up two hits, walked three and left with the game tied.

“We haven’t been as emotionally pumped up as we should lately,” Percival said. “And those guys expect me to hold it, but I was crappy tonight. The way the boys came back is a testament to them. This game can be a great motivator for our team.”

Darin Erstad beat out a grounder to second leading off the 10th, took second on Jim Edmonds’ sacrifice bunt and scored when A’s third baseman Mike Blowers threw wildly to first after fielding Cecil Fielder’s ground ball. Edmonds was bunting because he turned his ankle on a play in the outfield and Collins was afraid he couldn’t run fast enough to avoid a double play.

Percival’s inability to get three outs before three runs scored wasted a brilliant performance by Finley, who gave up only three singles before Jason Giambi doubled leading off the ninth. Percival came in to get Kurt Abbott to fly out, but he walked Scott Spiezio and pinch-hitter Mike Macfarlane bounced a ground-rule double over the short fence in the left-field corner to score Giambi.

Pinch-hitter Matt Stairs singled to left to bring home Spiezio and Macfarlane scored on Rickey Henderson’s sacrifice fly to center. Percival walked two more batters before Shigetoshi Hasegawa got Blowers--who came to the plate batting .444 with the bases loaded and has seven career grand slams--to pop up.

Collins didn’t get much sleep Monday night, fretting over ways he could tweak his lineup to create the right chemistry that would spontaneously combust and spark his flagging team. Then an idea struck him: Get out of the lab and go back to a simple formula.

“I sat up half the night thinking about ways to mix and match players,” he said. “But then I figured what we needed most was to relax, and sometimes when you move guys around a lot, a sense of panic sets in.

“So you’re going to be seeing this lineup a lot. These are our best players and these are the best spots for them.”

One game is hardly a conclusive litmus test, but no one will be calling the Angel lineup the Nuclear Nine after Tuesday night. They managed only three hits against A’s starter Kenny Rogers before scoring twice in the eighth on another infield single by Erstad, a line-drive single to center by Edmonds, a sacrifice fly by Tim Salmon and a double into the right-field corner by Fielder.

With Erstad leading off, Edmonds hitting second, Salmon in the No. 3 spot and Fielder hitting clean-up, followed by Dave Hollins, Garret Anderson, Phil Nevin, rookie Justin Baughman and Gary DiSarcina, the Angel offense continued to sputter. They scored in the second when Nevin walked, Baughman fouled off two attempts to sacrifice and then looped a single to right and DiSarcina rolled a run-scoring groundout to second.

So Finley, the quintessential grinder, needed to dominate on this evening and the veteran left-hander clearly was up to the task. He gave up singles in the first and second innings and a walk in the third, then settled in to retire six in a row before Rickey Henderson hit a dribbler to first and Finley got a late start covering the base.

Finley, never known for his grace as a fielder, caught Fielder’s throw with his bare hand, tried to swipe a tag on Henderson, slid on his knees and then tumbled into a somersault. Finley popped back up to his feet and appeared to be unscathed, but you can bet Collins was holding his breath as he ran out to the mound to check on his ace, who has been prone to freak accidents in the last couple of years.

Finley apparently wasn’t fazed. He didn’t yield another hit until Giambi’s double in the ninth.