Schoeneweis Joins Rotation of Injured Angel Pitchers

There was an almost perfect symmetry to Angel pitching injuries this season after Scott Schoeneweis left Friday night’s 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards because of a strained right rib-cage muscle.

Schoeneweis had been the lone starter from the Angels’ season-opening rotation not affected by injury. Put on the disabled list after suffering injuries were Ken Hill (May 10), Jason Dickson (May 15) and Kent Bottenfield (June 8). Ramon Ortiz, who began the yearwith the Angels and tried to pitch with a shoulder injury, was demoted to triple-A Edmonton May 10.

Just when it appeared the rotation was on the mend--Tim Belcher will make his 2000 debut today after missing the first 2 1/2 months because of elbow problems, and Hill, Dickson and Bottenfield are expected back in the next week or two--Schoeneweis was injured after delivering his first pitch of the fourth inning to Will Clark.

It was almost as if Belcher tossed Schoeneweis the keys to the training room on his way out. Schoeneweis was put on the 15-day disabled list after the game, and he could be there for a while; similar injuries sidelined Jarrod Washburn for seven weeks in 1999, Hill for more than a month this season, and Schoeneweis for more than a month at double-A Midland in 1997.

“Right now I can hardly move, so it’s not going to go away in a couple of days,” said Schoeneweis, who overcame testicular cancer and reconstructive elbow surgery in college. “It’s pretty frustrating. I’ve been through a lot of stuff . . . it’s too much for one person to deal with.”

Manager Mike Scioscia and the Angels are also discovering how it feels to have the injuries pile up.

In addition to the rotation injuries, reliever/starter Kent Mercker suffered a brain hemorrhage in May and is still out, and reliever Mark Petkovsek missed almost a month because of a viral syndrome that has since been diagnosed as a touch of meningitis. Shortstop Gary DiSarcina (rotator cuff surgery) is also out for the year.

“I don’t believe in curses, but . . . ,” Angel first baseman Mo Vaughn said. “Two rib cages, a brain, a hip, a shoulder, an elbow . . . I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Belcher was activated after the game, and with a day off Monday, the Angels won’t need a fifth starter until next weekend, when Bottenfield is eligible to come off the disabled list. The Angels already have three starters who began the season in the minor leagues--Washburn, Brian Cooper and Seth Etherton.

“I’ve said before, I have a lot of confidence in the depth of the starting pitching in our system,” Scioscia said. “But this is really testing us to the limit. . . . The well is running dry with our starting pitching.”

Schoeneweis’ injury further dampened a depressing trip for the Angels, who extended their losing streak to three--their longest of the season--Friday and have lost five of seven games, falling four games behind first-place Oakland.

Schoeneweis, who felt discomfort in his rib cage after Sunday’s game at Arizona but thought he could pitch through it, gave up two home runs to cleanup batter Albert Belle, a three-run shot in the first and a solo shot in the third that gave Baltimore a 4-1 lead. Belle has five homers and 14 RBIs in his last three games.

Oriole ace Mike Mussina gave up two runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking two, to win his fourth consecutive decision, and got relief help from left-hander Buddy Groom, who struck out Vaughn on three pitches to end the seventh with runners at first and third.

The Angels rallied against closer Mike Timlin in the ninth when Bengie Molina walked, Adam Kennedy singled and Orlando Palmeiro advanced pinch-runner Benji Gil and Kennedy with a sacrifice bunt.

Darin Erstad’s grounder to second brought in Gil, cutting the Oriole lead to 4-3, and moved Kennedy to third. Kevin Stocker followed with a grounder up the middle, but Oriole shortstop Mike Bordick ranged to his left to field the ball and made a nice, across-the-body throw to first in time to get Stocker.

All that was left was for the Angels to lick their wounds.

“What goes around comes around, I guess,” Schoeneweis said. “I’d been giving the [injured pitchers] a hard time in a joking way. I won’t do that again. I wanted to pitch the whole year, throw a lot of innings. This is a real disappointment.”