News Is All Bad for Angels

A lengthy downpour that resulted in a 1-hour, 43-minute rain delay couldn’t wash away all that ails the Angels or a 9-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night at Edison Field.

The Angels will begin a four-game series against the American League West Division rival Texas Rangers tonight without first baseman Mo Vaughn, who could be sidelined for up to six weeks because of a high left ankle sprain and bone bruise.

Vaughn was put on the 15-day disabled list during Thursday’s game in front of 25,084, and team physician Lewis Yocum said it’s difficult to pinpoint a date for Vaughn’s return.

“With a lower-ankle sprain, you can tape it up and stabilize it easier,” Yocum said. “But with a high-ankle sprain and the way Mo hits, he puts so much torque on his [back] foot he can aggravate it. . . . Some sprains like this can take up to six weeks to heal. Hopefully he’ll be back in two weeks.”

Vaughn didn’t need crutches Thursday, but it was clear by the way he hobbled around the clubhouse in an air cast that baseball would not be in his very near future. So the first baseman went on the disabled list for only the second time in his nine-year career.

For those who lost track, the 1999 season is now three days old, and the Angels have nine players, including center fielder Jim Edmonds and shortstop Gary DiSarcina, on the disabled list.

“I’m going to need a little more time than everyone expected,” Vaughn said. “I feel better, but I’m not ready to put any more pressure on it. If I’m not going to be right, I don’t want it to be aggravated for the rest of the season . . . it’s disheartening.”

After suffering the injury while crashing into the first-base dugout Tuesday night, Vaughn said Wednesday that as soon as he could “move around at half-speed” he would be ready to play. But reality set in Thursday.

“There’s no sense going out and re-injuring it,” he said. “I think I’ve learned that if you play too soon at 80% or 90%, you’ll be at 50% real soon. . . . If I played now, I’d swell up like there was no tomorrow.”

The Angels recalled Chris Pritchett, who hit .288 with eight runs batted in in 31 games while Darin Erstad was sidelined last August and September, from triple-A Edmonton, and Pritchett will start at first base, moving Erstad back to left field.

But if Edmonds is ready to come off the disabled list Wednesday, Collins will probably move Erstad to first base and go with Garret Anderson, Edmonds and Tim Salmon in the outfield.

“We’re going to go to Texas with what we’ve got and get it done,” a hopeful Collins said. “We have depth. We’ll get through this.”

Vaughn, meanwhile, will remain in Anaheim getting his ankle treated.

“I know myself, and this is a situation where the ballclub is playing with 24 guys instead of 25,” he said before the game. “Right now, I don’t feel I’ll be ready to go in the next five or six days, so the best thing is to get someone else here for two weeks, and I can really concentrate on getting better.”

Since signing a six-year, $80-million contract in November, Vaughn has been told of an Angel curse that seems to have hovered over this star-crossed franchise for decades, but even after suffering a major injury five minutes into his Angel career, Vaughn refused to buy into the hex.

“I didn’t get hurt because of any jinx, and it wasn’t because this stadium was built on some ancient burial ground,” he said. “It’s just the game, and it happens.”

Minus Vaughn and Edmonds, the offense continued to sputter, as the Angels managed one infield single and Troy Glaus’ fifth-inning homer against Indian starter Bartolo Colon on Thursday. They finished with four hits in a game for the second consecutive night.

“That’s a lot of power out of the lineup, so we have to find some way to manufacture runs,” Erstad said. “We’ve got to execute, move runners over, hit and run, bunt and bring home runners in scoring position.”

The Indians, on the other hand, took the perfect approach to Angel starter Steve Sparks’ knucklers, waiting until the last possible moment to take their hacks but not overswinging.

They scored six runs in the first four innings, two on Roberto Alomar’s first-inning homer and two on Manny Ramirez’s third-inning double.

* LATE: The result of the Angel game was unavailable at press time.