No Happiness in Homecoming

The Angels went back to work Friday after an East Coast trip, with all the adrenaline that goes along with staring down potential playoff rivals at New York, Boston and Cleveland without losing a series to any of them.

The Angels went back to work at Edison Field, with an oft-muted crowd of 33,832 perhaps too exhausted to cheer on a sticky evening. With humidity high and crowd noise low, the atmosphere resembled Milwaukee in September, with the Brewers and Philadelphia playing out the string.

So, for the Angels, the adrenaline and intensity would have to come from within. With fans and media still buzzing about the Angels’ East Coast success, and with the Kansas City Royals in town, Manager Terry Collins was a worried man before the game.

“That road trip is over. We’ve got to stop talking about it,” Collins said. “What we just went through has no bearing on what happens the rest of the season.”

It certainly had no bearing on what happened in the final two innings Friday. The Royals tied the score on an unearned run in the eighth inning and won it in the ninth, 5-3.

They collected three consecutive hits off all-star closer Troy Percival in that ninth inning.

The Angels lost a game in the standings too. With Texas beating Minnesota, 9-3, the Angels’ American League West lead over the Rangers fell to 1 1/2 games with 21 to play.

“The Royals have been playing some good baseball,” Angel starter Ken Hill said. “We’re fighting for a division, so they’re going to be sky-high.”

And, after the ninth inning Friday, a bit higher. With the score tied, 3-3, Hal Morris led off the ninth with a single off Mike Holtz. After Larry Sutton sacrificed Morris to second, Percival replaced Holtz.

Mike Sweeney singled. Terry Pendleton singled. Johnny Damon singled. Game, Royals.

“I just threw bad pitches,” Percival said. “I got the ball down, I got the ball up and then I threw it down the middle of the plate and they hit it.”

Percival, one of baseball’s premier closers, is not at his best in non-save situations.

“That has nothing to do with it. I just wasn’t very sharp tonight,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the situation is. When I come in with someone else’s runners on base, it’s like a save situation to me.”

Percival has entered eight games with the score tied this season. His earned-run average is 9.82 in those games, and he has given up eight hits and six walks in 7 1/3 innings.

“That,” Collins said, “is pretty much a weird statistical phenomenon.”

In his second start since the Angels activated him, Hill held the Royals two runs over seven innings, striking out six. He faced the minimum nine batters through three innings, with two huge assists from catcher Charlie O’Brien.

The Angels so coveted O’Brien, particularly for his defensive skills, that they acquired him when he was injured. In July, the Angels traded two minor-league pitchers to the Chicago White Sox for O’Brien, who couldn’t play because of a broken thumb.

He couldn’t play in August either. The Angels finally activated him this week, as September began, and started him for the first time Friday. In the second inning, he threw out Dean Palmer trying to steal second. In the third inning, he did the same to Sutton.

Palmer extracted his revenge in the fourth inning. With runners at second and third and none out, Hill struck out Jose Offerman on a 93 mph fastball, ample proof his right elbow has recovered from arthroscopic surgery in June. But uninjured pitchers get hit hard, too, and Palmer doubled home two runs to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead.

Uninjured pitchers hurt themselves as well, as the Angels were delighted to remind themselves in the fifth inning. With two out and Troy Glaus on first base, Kansas City starter Pat Rapp proceeded to load the bases by walking Jim Edmonds and Randy Velarde. Garret Anderson then grounded to shortstop Mendy Lopez, who threw the ball so far past first base that Edmonds scored from second, following Glaus home and tying the score, 2-2.

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TEXAS WINS

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