Erstad: I’m Not an Excuse

The Angels lost first baseman Darin Erstad to a hamstring injury two weeks ago and lost their American League West lead two days ago. If the Angels fail to awaken from their offensive slumber and lose the division, however, Erstad will have no patience for those who claim his injury cost the team a pennant.

“This team is plenty capable of scoring runs and winning ballgames without me,” Erstad said. “It’s not like I’m the secret ingredient to winning.”

Erstad is hitting .303 with 19 home runs, 79 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. Since his injury, the Angels have played 12 games and scored three or fewer runs in nine of them.

“You can’t sit there and blame it on one guy,” he said. “That’s making excuses. There’s nobody on this team that will do that. Nobody.”

The Angels hope Erstad can return to the starting lineup Monday, when the first-place Texas Rangers arrive for the three-game series that could decide the division. Erstad could pinch-hit this weekend.

Manager Terry Collins said he apologized to his players for starting Erstad on Thursday at Texas. Erstad singled in the first inning, but he could not run well enough to stay in the game.

“I’ll take the responsibility for playing him,” Collins said. “We needed to make sure he was OK, and he wasn’t.”

*

Tonight’s game is sold out. As of Friday afternoon, 2,500 tickets remained for Sunday’s game against Seattle and about 10,000 for each of the three games against Texas. . . . Even with Erstad hurting, General Manager Bill Bavasi said he had no interest in bringing back first baseman Cecil Fielder, released by the Angels last month and released by the Cleveland Indians on Friday. Fielder hit .143 with no home runs in 35 at-bats for Cleveland. . . . Jim Abbott, who should be in the final month of the three-year contract he signed with the Angels in 1996, is 3-0 in his September comeback with the Chicago White Sox. The Angels have three victories from their starters this month. . . . Dave Henderson was at Edison Field on Friday, but not for the sole purpose of tormenting the Angels. Henderson, now a Mariner broadcaster, played for the Boston Red Sox when he hit the infamous home run here that deprived the Angels of a World Series appearance in 1986. The Angels have yet to return to the playoffs.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

JACK McDOWELL

(4-3, 4.66 ERA)

vs.

MARINERS’

MAC SUZUKI

(1-1, 4.42 ERA)

Edison Field, 7 p.m.

TV--Ch. 9. Radio--KRLA (1110), XPRS (1090).

* Update--McDowell is 10-1 lifetime against Seattle. Catcher Phil Nevin, who sprained his right ankle Thursday, is not expected to play this weekend, and the Angels on Friday bought the contract of catcher Chad Kreuter from the Chicago White Sox. Chuck Finley threw 126 pitches Wednesday at Texas and Steve Sparks threw 53 Thursday, so Collins said he might start Sparks against the Rangers here Monday and push Finley back to Tuesday.

* Tickets--(714) 634-2000.