Erstad’s Injury Is Deflating

CLEVELAND — The Angels had just completed what shortstop Gary DiSarcina called “the best East Coast trip I’ve ever been on” Wednesday night, but you’d hardly know it listening to the eerie silence in the Angel clubhouse.

No 13-5 shredding of the Cleveland Indians before a crowd of 43,200 in Jacobs Field; no season-high 21-hit effort; no career-high ninth win for pitcher Steve Sparks, and no impressive 6-4 record on a demanding trip through New York, Boston and Cleveland, was going to lift the spirits of this group.

Not with first baseman Darin Erstad, as much the heart of this gritty team as the heart of its batting order, hobbling around the room with another left hamstring injury, which will likely sideline him for at least two weeks, maybe more.

The Angels fought through so many injuries to so many key players--Tim Salmon, Ken Hill, Jack McDowell, Dave Hollins and Mike James, to name a few--to make it to September in first place, and now they may face their biggest challenge of all: winning the American League West without their best all- around player.

“If this season is a test, I want to know when you pass, when it’s finally over,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “I’ve had enough of it. It’s time for us to get some breaks.”

Oh, the Angels get plenty of breaks--usually bones and hearts. They lost DiSarcina to a thumb injury for most of August and September, 1995, and blew an 11-game division lead to Seattle.

They were in first place in August, 1997, when ace Chuck Finley and catcher Todd Greene suffered season-ending wrist injuries, and they finished six games behind Seattle.

And now Erstad in ’98.

“It’s an old subject with this team, but to be honest, I’m sick and tired of talking about it,” DiSarcina said. “Nothing against Darin--we’d love to have him out there--but this team is accustomed to this. We have to move on and forget about it as much as we can.”

Erstad had grounded a Bartolo Colon pitch down the left-field line in the first inning to score the Angels’ first two runs but clutched his left leg just before hitting the first-base bag, hopping on his other leg to the base.

The Angels’ No. 3 hitter had to be carried off the field and was initially said to have a strained hamstring--the same injury that sent him to the disabled list from Aug. 4-18. He will be reevaluated by Lewis Yocum, Angel team physician, and will undergo an MRI test today.

Several pitches after Erstad’s injury, there was dead silence in the Angel dugout. “We were sick,” Sparks said.

Then, according to Collins, DiSarcina screamed: “Don’t get down! Pick it up and move on!” And the Angels did, riding four-hit games by Randy Velarde and Gregg Jefferies to an easy victory that enabled them to retain their 2 1/2-game lead over Texas, the same margin with which they ventured East.

“This is not going to be an excuse, I know that much,” DiSarcina said, a hint of anger in his voice. “If we can play without the guy in August for two weeks, why can’t we do it in September?”

Erstad didn’t want to discuss the injury “until I get a diagnosis,” but when asked if he had any reason to be encouraged, he said, “No.” Collins on Erstad: “It does not look very good.”

Erstad, batting .303 with 19 homers and 79 RBIs, was playing left field when he went on the disabled list in August, and the Angels went 8-6 in his absence.

When then-first baseman Hollins went down with a season-ending shoulder injury on Aug. 9, Chris Pritchett, who bats left-handed, and Greene, a right-hander, shared time at first until Erstad returned.

Collins said Pritchett, Greene and Jefferies, the team’s left fielder, would fill Erstad’s spot.

“We have to do what we’ve done all year long,” Collins said. “Someone will have to step up and get it done.”