Angels Watch One Slip Away

Angel third baseman Troy Glaus said he “didn’t get a good read” on Bill Haselman’s eighth-inning liner, a blistering shot that sparked a chain of disastrous events that led to a 9-6 loss to the Texas Rangers before 34,272 at The Ballpark in Arlington on Tuesday night.

Playing near the grass and with speedy Scarborough Green running from first with the pitch, Glaus barely had time to get his glove up to catch Haselman’s rocket.

Glaus had a much better chance of catching left fielder Darin Erstad’s ensuing throw in an attempt to nail Green, but that’s when the ball--and the game--slipped right through the third baseman’s hands.

With the score tied, 6-6, and one out, Erstad charged Haselman’s hit and fired a perfect throw to third, but just as Glaus reached for the ball, it nicked Green’s helmet and deflected to the backstop, allowing Green to score the winning run. Gabe Kapler’s two-run triple provided insurance.

“I thought we had a good chance at him--I thought the ball was going into Troy’s glove--and the next thing you know it went to the backstop,” Erstad said. “I was thinking, ‘What the heck?’ [Green] obviously runs faster than I throw a baseball.”

Wasted in the loss was a three-hit game by Erstad, who came within 10 feet of hitting for the cycle when his ninth-inning drive was caught on the warning track in right center, just in front of the 407-foot sign, homers by Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson in the fourth and a stellar performance by reliever Mike Fyhrie.

Fyhrie replaced battered starter Seth Etherton in the fourth and retired all 10 batters he faced, helping the Angel bullpen extend its scoreless streak to 12 2/3 innings over three games.

“He’s been a real unsung hero in our bullpen,” Scioscia said of Fyhrie, who has a 2.41 earned-run average in 20 appearances. “He’s really opened some eyes.”

Scioscia probably wanted to cover his eyes when Etherton was on the mound. The rookie right-hander suffered his worst big-league start, giving up six runs on seven hits, including four home runs, in 3 1/3 innings.

Frank Catalanotto led off the first with a homer, Rusty Greer singled, and Rafael Palmeiro homered to the upper deck in right, giving Texas a 3-1 lead. Greer hit a two-run homer in the third, and Kapler homered in the fourth.

“I didn’t have anything,” Etherton said. “I had no velocity, no sharpness on my breaking pitches, no movement. It was one of those days when I had to battle, and I didn’t do it.”

A rotation that combined for a 2.90 ERA from July 6-21, when the Angels won 10 of 13 games, has been rocked for 22 earned runs on 35 hits, including 10 home runs, in 16 2/3 innings of the last four games for an ERA of 11.88 ERA.

Of possible concern is that both Etherton and Brian Cooper were hit hard this week by teams facing the young right-handers for the second time.

Etherton gave up one run on six hits in 7 1/3 innings of a 6-1 win over Texas on Thursday. After throwing a three-hit shutout to defeat Oakland on June 30, the A’s ripped Cooper for seven runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings Saturday.

“I definitely think the first time through, the pitcher has an advantage,” Scioscia said. “But in my opinion, poor execution of pitches were the reason Seth and Brian got hit, not because teams were seeing them for a second time.”

Etherton didn’t get the loss because the Angels erased a 5-1, third-inning deficit. Salmon led off the fourth with a homer, his 20th of the season, second in two nights and 24th against Texas, tying him with Albert Belle for most home runs by a Ranger opponent.

Anderson then launched a Darren Oliver pitch an estimated 444 feet over the wall in center, his 29th of the season. Bengie Molina doubled, and Adam Kennedy scored him with his league-leading seventh triple.

Texas went ahead, 6-4, on Kapler’s fourth-inning homer, but the Angels tied it on Erstad’s triple and Salmon’s RBI single in the fifth and Erstad’s bloop RBI single in the sixth. Erstad also doubled and scored in the first on Anderson’s two-out single.