Rangers Get the Upper Hand

The lineup card in the Angel clubhouse will probably be posted right-side up tonight. Someone turned it upside down Saturday, hoping to reverse the team’s fortunes, and the Angels stopped a four-game losing streak. It remained upside down Sunday, and the Angels won again.

The third time brought more harm than charm. Texas right-hander Todd Stottlemyre turned the Angel offense inside out for the second time in a week, leading the Rangers to a 9-1 victory Monday night in the opener of a critical three-game series in Edison Field.

An embarrassingly small and sedate crowd of 33,487 saw Stottlemyre pitch seven shutout innings, giving up six hits and striking out seven, as the Rangers took a one-game lead over the Angels in the American League West with six games remaining.

Texas also bombed Angel knuckleballer Steve Sparks for the second time in five nights, scoring five runs in the first four innings to take a commanding lead. Rusty Greer had four hits and two runs, and Juan Gonzalez had two hits and two RBIs, giving him 156 on the season.

“You can say we were tight, feeling pressure, you can write it any way you want to,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “But the bottom line is that was the worst game we’ve played in 3 1/2 months. We didn’t swing the bats, we didn’t play good defense, we didn’t pitch well. You combine that, and you’re going to lose, 9-1.”

Texas, which boasts the league’s best offense, amassed 14 hits, giving Stottlemyre the benefit of the rout, but this game was decided as much in the Angel and Ranger general managers’ offices on July 31 as it was on the field Monday night.

That was when Texas outmaneuvered the Angels to acquire Stottlemyre in a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. The trade did not pay immediate dividends, as Stottlemyre, a former Oakland and Toronto pitcher, struggled to regain his bearings in the American League.

But like a high-interest, one-month certificate of deposit, the investment matured just in time for Stottlemyre (5-4) to win two huge games against the Angels in the last week, his first an eight-inning, one run effort in last Wednesday night’s 5-3 victory.

The Angels, meanwhile, were skunked as thoroughly before the trading deadline as they were by Stottlemyre Monday night, failing to deal for a pitcher who could have boosted their sagging rotation.

So, they were left to fend off Texas with the likes of Sparks, who has been one of the team’s amazing success stories since his June recall from an 0-8 minor league stint. But he has hardly distinguished himself in his last two starts, giving up a combined nine runs on 14 hits in 5 1/3 innings to the Rangers.

“They’re a good high-ball hitting team, and when I left the ball up they hit it,” Sparks said. “I think I deflated our offense. We got down, 5-0, so quickly they didn’t have any time to do anything.”

Texas didn’t claim to have any insider information on the knuckleball. “There are four guys in the major leagues throwing the knuckler out of how many pitchers?” designated hitter Will Clark said.

“There are theories on how to hit fastballs, curves and sliders, but there is no theory on the knuckleball, because a lot of times it leaves the pitcher’s hand, and he doesn’t even know what’s going to happen.”

The Rangers had a clue, though. Maybe it was because this was the fourth time they had faced Sparks (9-4), or because Texas didn’t overswing on Sparks’ floaters--the left-handed hitting Greer served two ground-ball singles to left, and Gonzalez grounded an RBI single to center in the first.

Whatever the reason, it was clear the Rangers were not baffled by Sparks, pounding him for seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. Sparks didn’t get much help in the first, as second baseman Randy Velarde booted Mark McLemore’s routine grounder, which led to an unearned run.

The Rangers tacked on two more runs in the second, as Lee Stevens singled and Todd Zeile doubled, Stevens sliding home just ahead of Velarde’s relay.

Zeile eventually scored on Sparks’ wild pitch--which came one pitch before McLemore grounded out to end the inning. The Rangers knocked out Sparks with a two-run fourth, which included Goodwin’s sacrifice fly and Greer’s RBI single, and they blew the game open with three in the seventh.

Stottlemyre, who dominated the Angels with fastballs last week but breaking balls Monday night, got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first by striking out Darin Erstad and getting Garret Anderson to ground out.

“You get those good pitchers on the ropes you better get them while you can, or it might be your last chance,” Collins said. “He’s a great competitor, one of the best around.”

And one the Angels wish they had around.