Etherton Latest Angel Youngster to Produce

Tim Belcher, sidelined since last September because of an elbow injury, is scheduled to make his 2000 debut Saturday in Baltimore. Kent Bottenfield, Ken Hill and Jason Dickson are all expected back from the disabled list in the next two weeks.

But the way several young starters have responded in these times of crisis, including the Angels’ 5-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday, one can’t help but wonder: Will the Angels really be better off with a veteran rotation that is fragile in so many spots?

It will take a few weeks of Belcher, Hill, Bottenfield and Dickson pitching together to answer that question, but in the meantime, consider this: Jarrod Washburn, Brian Cooper and Seth Etherton, who all started 2000 in the minor leagues, have combined for a 5-4 record and 4.50 earned run average in 14 major league starts this season.

Etherton continued the run of respectable replacement starts by giving up two runs on five hits in five innings of the Angels’ win Tuesday before 13,483 at Tropicana Field, the first big league victory for the former USC and Dana Hills High standout.

It probably won’t be enough to keep Etherton in the rotation for more than another week or so, but if he were to continue to keep the Angels in every game he starts, and Cooper and Washburn continue to remain effective, a case could be made for them staying in the big leagues, along with fellow youngster Scott Schoeneweis, who is 5-4 with a 4.84 ERA.

Of course, that never will happen, not with the Angels’ commitment of $14.6 million to Hill, Belcher, Bottenfield and Dickson. But if the veterans struggle or suffer minor injuries, the Angels will be less hesitant to turn to their farm system for pitching help than they were in the past.

“Are Belcher, Hill, Dickson and Bottenfield going to pitch when they’re healthy? Yeah, they’re going to get the ball,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “But if things don’t work out, if they struggle or get nicked up, we have a lot of options.

“These [young] guys have tasted the major leagues, they’re poised and ready. I’m confident any one of these guys can get us to the playoffs.”

One argument in favor of going with the veterans is that many young pitchers enjoy success in their first big league stint before the league catches on to them, and it’s always possible that Washburn, Cooper and Etherton could be hit harder the longer they remain in Anaheim.

But the Angels are very encouraged by what they see.

“Pitching is the cornerstone of any organization, and obviously these [young] guys are the future of the organization, but they’re knocking on the door,” Scioscia said. “They’ve been doing a great job. We have great expectations when Hill, Belcher, Bottenfield and Dickson come back, and we have confidence in the youngsters.”

Etherton wasn’t feeling too confident about things early Tuesday night. It took only five batters for the right-hander to put the Angels in a 2-0 hole, as Randy Winn opened the first with a walk, Jose Guillen drilled an RBI double to center, Greg Vaughn walked, Fred McGriff flied out and Vinny Castilla singled Guillen home.

But Etherton settled down quickly, blanking the Devil Rays on one hit over the next three innings and getting out of a second-and-third, two-out jam by striking out Vaughn with a high fastball to end the fifth. He finished with five strikeouts and three walks but left after five because of a blister on his middle finger.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa retired all six batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings, and Troy Percival retired the side in the ninth for his 16th save and first since May 29.

The Angel offense put Etherton in line for the win with two runs in the second on Bengie Molina’s home run and Benji Gil’s RBI single, two runs in the third on Orlando Palmeiro’s triple and Mo Vaughn’s team-leading 19th home run--his first in 13 games--and one run in the sixth on Troy Glaus’ double and Adam Kennedy’s RBI single.

Kennedy had three singles and a walk in four at-bats and is now 13 for 24 in the eighth spot. Kennedy spent the first two months of the season in the No. 2 hole.