Rangers Make Belcher Pay

That little brown hill in the middle of the infield at the Ballpark in Arlington was more like a deserted island for Angel pitcher Tim Belcher Sunday night.

The right-hander had his second shaky outing in as many starts, giving up five runs on 11 hits in three innings of a 6-3 loss to the Texas Rangers in front of 23,175. “When you get racked around like that, it’s no fun being out there in the middle of the diamond,” said Belcher, who has been tagged for 10 runs and 17 hits in 7 1/3 innings of two starts, a no-decision and a loss. “It’s a lonely place when hits are flying all over.”

This was not what the Angels expected when they signed Belcher to a two-year, $10.2-million contract this winter. Granted, the 37-year-old is not supposed to be the Angels’ pitching panacea, but the veteran has a reputation for eating up innings and keeping his team in the game.

He did neither Sunday night, as an attack-minded Ranger team ripped him for two triples, two doubles and a single in a three-run first inning and four singles in a two-run third to take a 5-2 lead.

“I’ve had more than two bad starts in a row, but the fact it has happened back to back in my first two games of the season is not good,” Belcher said. “ . . . But if I’ve learned one thing in my career, it’s not to push the panic button too quick and change things with my routine.”

In a roundabout way, Angel pitcher Omar Olivares’ superb game Saturday night--he pitched 7 1/3 innings in a 10-0 victory--may have hindered Belcher.

“I think Omar had them so frustrated, they figured they’d come out hacking against a guy who doesn’t have as much movement on his pitches and throws the ball over the plate,” Belcher said. “Obviously it was a good plan.”

It’s probably too early in the season for any trend to become too disturbing, but it should be noted that Angel starters have given up 22 earned runs in 29 innings of six games for a 6.83 earned-run average, and that includes Olivares’ scoreless effort.

Ranger pitching has been just as shaky, but Texas finally got a solid effort from right-hander Aaron Sele, who froze several Angels with a big-hook curve in his 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs--one earned--and five hits and striking out 10. Sele has a 15-3 lifetime record in April and is 7-0 in his two Aprils with the Rangers.

“I don’t know if you can throw the curve any better than he did tonight,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said. “He threw it in the strike zone and out of the strike zone and had a quality fastball and slider. If we catch the ball, he really only gives up a home run [to Troy Glaus in the sixth] after he was tired.”

If the Angels did a little better catching the ball, they may have prevented two runs. Center fielder Garret Anderson started back on Todd Zeile’s third-inning bloop with the bases loaded before racing in, and the ball dropped in front of him for a single.

Ivan Rodriguez opened the fifth with a routine fly ball to left, but it bounced off the heel of Orlando Palmeiro’s glove for an error. Rodriguez later scored.

One more Angel shortcoming: With the potential tying run on third with no out in the third, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon and Glaus struck out.

“This is a strange game,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “[Saturday] night we had 19 hits and put the ball all over the park. Tonight we couldn’t get a guy home from third with no outs. . . . It was not a pretty game.”