All Is Not Lost in Angel Defeat

The Angels lost to Seattle, 4-3, in 10 innings Saturday night, disappointing a Cap Night sellout crowd of 43,752 at Edison Field. But it was one of those losses that didn’t leave too many guys dressed in periwinkle feeling all that blue.

Closer Troy Percival, who worked the Angels out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth, yielded a 430-foot home run to right-center by David Segui in the 10th that spelled defeat. But really, this Saturday night was all right.

Todd Greene slammed his third homer in as many nights, the Angels had a chance to win in the ninth, a chance to tie or win in the 10th and they went down swinging when Troy Glaus almost came out of his shoes while missing a Jose Mesa fastball with two on in the 10th.

But the upbeat attitude was mostly due to the performance of veteran right- hander Ken Hill.

Hill changed his motion late last season so he didn’t go over his head during his windup, a move designed to relieve some of the stress on his surgically repaired right elbow. The switch, however, also seemed to remove all feeling of rhythm from his delivery.

The Angels suggested he introduce a bit of bounce in his arm motion after he brings his hands together at the outset of his windup. So Hill added some shake and rattle to his windup and rolled through seven strong innings.

Hill, the pitcher Manager Terry Collins deemed to be the linchpin in the Angel rotation during spring training, had given up 11 hits and nine runs while walking 11 in his first two starts and was particularly wild in his last outing against Texas.

“It’s been frustrating,” he said before the game. “I want results. I want to help, but right now I’m only hurting the team.”

The Angels certainly liked his new-found rhythm this time out. Hill gave up five hits and three runs while walking three and striking out four. Hardly Nolan Ryan stuff, but a vast improvement on his shaky start and even more impressive because he seemed to get stronger as the game went on.

After giving up a run-scoring triple to catcher Dan Wilson that glanced off the glove of a sliding Tim Salmon in the right-field corner in the fourth inning, Hill did not allow another hit, retiring 10 of the last 11 Mariners he faced.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the second when Garret Anderson reached first after he swung and missed a two-strike pitch in the dirt that bounded away for a wild pitch, Glaus ripped a single to left--his fifth hit in the last seven at-bats--and Matt Walbeck slapped a run-scoring single to center.

The Mariners went ahead, 2-1, in most Mariner-like fashion in the third. Leadoff hitter David Bell singled up the middle and Ken Griffey Jr. turned Hill’s 1-1 delivery into a souvenir for someone in the right-field bleachers. It was his third homer of the season. Seattle expanded its lead in the fourth on a single by Butch Huskey and Wilson’s triple.

The Angels tied the score, 3-3, in the fourth when Greene followed Anderson’s double with a 397-foot shot into the seats in left. The home run extended Greene’s career-best hitting streak to eight games.

Greene, who has spent most of the past two seasons rehabbing his right shoulder, is not a player who needs much motivation.

His sense of urgency is already piqued, but when Collins decided to pinch hit for him in the ninth inning Wednesday in Oakland, it must have been taken for a slight. In the three games since, Greene has eight RBIs.

The Mariners had a chance to take the lead in the ninth when Huskey reached first on shortstop Andy Sheets’ throwing error and Russ Davis singled with one out. Percival, who had pitched only two innings in the last eight games, replaced reliever Mark Petkovesk and got Wilson to ground out and pinch-hitter Tom Lampkin on a line drive to right.

The Angels had an opportunity to win it in the ninth. Greene led off with a walk, Walbeck sacrificed pinch-runner Jeff Huson to second. Huson moved to third on Sheets’ groundout to short, but Orlando Palmeiro’s shot up the middle caromed off the mound to second baseman Bell, who threw out Palmeiro at first.

Darin Erstad got a one-out single to right off Mesa in the 10th and Salmon followed with a walk, but Mesa struck out Anderson and Glaus to earn his third save.