One Mistake Costs Wise and Angels

There are no do-overs in baseball. No mulligans. Which was too bad for Angel rookie Matt Wise, who threw only one pitch he’d like to retract Wednesday night, a third-inning slider to Nomar Garciaparra that was the baseball equivalent of a slicing tee shot that clangs off an oil rig.

Wise’s ears may still be ringing.

With one sharp crack of the bat, Garciaparra ripped a three-run home run to left field, the decisive blow in the Boston Red Sox’s 4-2 victory over the Angels before 25,334 at Edison Field.

The homer--Garciaparra’s only hit in the three-game series--spoiled an impressive performance for Wise, the former Cal State Fullerton, Pepperdine and La Verne Bonita High School right-hander who gave up three runs on five hits in seven innings of his first big-league start.

It also drowned out a feel-good moment for Angel right fielder Tim Salmon, who came out of the dugout for a curtain call in the sixth inning after tying Brian Downing’s franchise record with career home run No. 222 in the sixth inning.

“I hung a slider [to Nomar]--it was a bad pitch, and he took advantage of it,” said Wise, who was called up from triple-A Edmonton last week. “He’s a good hitter, and you’ve definitely got to give him credit. I wish I could have that pitch back more than anything.”

Ron Gant had staked the Angels to a 1-0 lead in the first inning with his third home run in his last four at-bats since Monday, turning viciously on Jeff Fassero’s fastball and lining it over the wall in left.

Wise blanked the Red Sox in the first two innings but ran into trouble when Mike Lansing and Trot Nixon opened the third with singles and advanced on Scott Hatteberg’s slow roller to the mound.

Though Wise was struggling with his control, Carl Everett hacked at the first pitch he saw, popping to shortstop Benji Gil for the second out. Up stepped the lethal Garciaparra, who entered with an American League-leading .386 average, 17 homers and a team-leading 67 runs batted in.

The questions facing the Angels: do they intentionally walk Garciaparra to face left-handed hitting Troy O’Leary with the bases loaded? Do they pitch around Garciaparra, hoping he’ll fish for a ball out of the strike zone? Or do they challenge the Boston shortstop.

The Angels chose the latter.

A wise move it was not.

Garciaparra drilled Wise’s first pitch into the Angel bullpen for a three-run home run and a 3-1 lead.

“In hindsight, I would have pitched him differently, but I thought we had the momentum going,” Wise said. “I had just gotten Everett to pop up. I thought even if [Nomar] hit the ball hard, he would hit it at somebody. Bad idea. I should have been a little more careful.”

Wise rebounded strongly, retiring the next 10 batters before Ed Spraque’s single with one out in the seventh. He was not overpowering--his fastball was in the 87-mph range for most of the night--but he kept the Red Sox lunging for his changeups, and rarely did they make solid contact.

It was little consolation.

“The bottom line is we’re here to win,” Wise said. “If I’d have won, 15-10, I’d be a lot happier right now. Individual success doesn’t matter anymore. It matters in the minor leagues, but that’s what gets you here. Once you’re here, it’s all about winning.”

Fassero, the crafty left-hander who relies heavily on a split-fingered fastball, gave up two runs on four hits in five innings for the victory, snapping Boston’s four-game losing streak.

Fassero struck out Gant and Mo Vaughn with a runner on third to end the third and got Vaughn to ground to first with the bases loaded to end the fifth.

But Manager Jimy Williams, who has shown little faith in Fassero this season, yanked him after Salmon’s homer in favor of Hipolito Pichardo, who ran into trouble when he walked two in the seventh.

Left-hander Rheal Cormier came on to retire Vaughn on a weak grounder back to the mound, ending the inning and pushing to six the number of runners Vaughn stranded in the game.

Garciaparra then came up in an RBI situation again in the eighth, and the Angels decided to walk him intentionally. Reliever Mark Petkovsek retired O’Leary on a routine fly ball to center.

Figures.