A’s Make Belcher Hit Rock Bottom

In his long and grueling rehabilitation from winter elbow surgery, Angel pitcher Tim Belcher threw several live batting-practice sessions in an effort to build up arm strength and regain his command.

He threw another one Sunday night, only those weren’t teammates getting their hacks off Belcher hours before game time in an empty stadium, and there was no screen in front of the mound--or above the left-field wall, for that matter--to protect the pitcher.

Those were the Oakland Athletics who administered one of the worst beatings of Belcher’s career, ripping the veteran right-hander for seven runs in the first inning of a 10-3 victory before 21,150 in Edison Field, pushing the Angels six games behind first-place Seattle in the American League West.

Belcher has made 368 starts in his 12-year career, none shorter than Sunday’s one-third-inning abomination, in which he gave up a home run, four singles and three walks, his earned-run average soaring from 4.97 to 9.69.

The A’s batted for 25 minutes in their half of the first, and Belcher, who was ejected from his last start Tuesday after 1 1/3 innings for arguing a balk call, wasn’t even around for all of it. He was replaced by Mike Fyhrie after the A’s batted around.

“[Jarrod] Washburn and [Brian] Cooper made it look easy [in Angel victories] the last two nights, but you can’t keep a good club like that down too long,” Belcher said. “I attribute this to two things. They were due, and I basically threw batting practice.”

The A’s, one of baseball’s hottest teams in June, had lost four in a row entering Sunday’s game, and Manager Art Howe was so disappointed with his club’s lack of hustle he held a team meeting to address that and other issues after Saturday’s 7-2 loss.

Howe criticized several players in postgame comments, which is out of character for him, and his mood was reflected in Sunday’s lineup: leadoff batter Terrence Long, who was knocked for not running hard on a ground ball Saturday, and struggling designated hitter John Jaha were benched.

Sunday night’s game was dubbed by Howe as “the most important that we’ve played this season,” and the A’s responded, unleashing four days of pent-up frustration on Belcher and playing with a sense of urgency that made the calendar seem like September, not early July.

Setting the tone was Ryan Christenson, Long’s replacement at the top of the order. He belted Belcher’s second pitch of the game over the wall in left-center for a home run.

Randy Velarde singled, Jason Giambi walked, and Ben Grieve’s RBI single made it 2-0. Olmedo Saenz singled in another run, Matt Stairs walked, and Miguel Tejada knocked in a run with a groundout, making it 4-0.

Eric Chavez was intentionally walked to load the bases, and after Ramon Hernandez’s RBI single, Manager Mike Scioscia came to the mound to fetch Belcher, replacing him with Fyhrie, who gave up RBI singles to Christenson and Velarde before retiring the side.

“We were desperate,” Velarde said. “I don’t care what you call it, something had to be said, and it came at the perfect time. We just seemed complacent. We were going through the motions.”

Belcher, however, didn’t think there was any correlation between Howe tearing into his players Saturday night and the A’s tearing into him Sunday.

“With all due respect to Art Howe, that meeting had nothing to do with the first inning,” Belcher said. “They could have not held a meeting and hit the ball like that. It was good timing for Art. I hope he remembers I made him look good.”

After his early exit, Belcher said he spent the rest of the game “beating myself up mentally,” but unlike his early days with the Dodgers, when he was known for shredding a clubhouse or two, Belcher didn’t beat up any inanimate objects Sunday.

“I just don’t have the energy for that anymore,” Belcher said.

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WINDY CITY SWEEP

The Chicago White Sox continued their surprise season with a three-game sweep of Boston. D8