Angels Strand Erstad

Darin Erstad was out there, on base, as he has been for a month.

He had three more hits and he walked once, but he did not score a run Thursday night.

As the Angels continue to alternate wins and losses, they await full participation from the middle of their lineup, which had its opportunities to stay with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but only left Erstad, among others, out there.

The Devil Rays defeated the Angels, 7-3, before 16,144 at Edison Field, where Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson were hitless in 11 at-bats, including four strikeouts, most of the at-bats before the bullpen went belly up.

In his fourth start, Angel rookie Ramon Ortiz (1-2) was effective if somewhat wasteful, mixing lively fastballs with dead changeups. He threw too many pitches--93 in five-plus innings--but allowed only two earned runs before his bullpen undermined a close game.

Reliever Al Levine gave up three runs in the sixth inning. He walked the first and third batters he faced and both scored. Gerald Williams had a two-run single and Greg Vaughn singled home another run, so a deficit that seemed manageable at 3-1 became steep at 6-1, then overwhelming in the eighth inning at 7-1.

Devil Ray starter Dwight Gooden (2-0) gave up four hits and a run in five innings. The Angels were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position against Gooden, including consecutive strikeouts by Vaughn and Salmon with two on in the fifth.

Erstad would not have enough at-bats to change the outcome.

He singled in two of his first three at-bats, enhancing a month that already qualified as phenomenal.

Known for their occasional lapses--OK, more like full-gainers--into apathy, the fans at Edison Field are sounding swept up in Erstad’s rebirth.

He arrived in the bottom of the first inning with a .456 batting average, nearly 70 points better than John Olerud, the American League’s next-best hitter, and four points better than Vladimir Guerrero, who led the National League.

And the crowd cheered respectfully.

Among his feats of April, Erstad has 15 multi-hit games, the most since Dave Winfield had 15 for the San Diego Padres in 1979. Erstad also has 44 hits, the best American League April in at least 11 years. He also tied the club record for most hits in any month.

The research is ongoing.

How much is a month at .468 helping to erase the bad habits and bad memories of his disastrous third major-league season? Last year, Erstad didn’t hit .300 in any month.

In the first inning against Gooden, Erstad hit a chopper that Gooden deflected to shortstop Kevin Stocker. As Erstad churned down the line, Stocker dropped the ball.

Hit No. 42? Or error?

Ed Munson, sage official scorer, announced hit, a 1 went up over the 0 on the scoreboard, and the crowd actually cheered the decision.

Erstad, of course, did not raise an eyebrow. He won’t, usually. Mirthful wouldn’t describe his playing mood.

In the third inning, Erstad plunged into the stands to catch a foul ball hit by Stocker. He reached five feet into the crowd, craned between bodies, crashed into the fence and crumpled to the warning track. As third base umpire Doug Eddings raced down the line, Erstad held the ball aloft in his bare hand.

When Eddings raised his arm, the crowd warmed again to Erstad, who held his right side and grimaced.

Still, the Angels fell behind the potent Devil Rays, who scored single runs on John Flaherty’s two-out single in the second and Dave Martinez’s two-out double in the third.

The Devil Rays built both rallies against Ortiz from two-out, none-on situations and they led, 2-0.

Adam Kennedy led off the third inning for the Angels with a home run, his third.