Candiotti Shrugs Off Poor Outing

The beauty of spring training for knuckleball pitchers in Arizona is that you can give up seven runs on 12 hits in five innings, as Angel right-hander Tom Candiotti did in a 9-3 Cactus League loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, and laugh about it afterward.

“I hope you guys had more fun than me,” Candiotti joked when approached by reporters. “Everyone knows once you get out of this climate, the knuckleball works better.”

Humidity is the best thing for knuckleball pitchers, and there was none Saturday. It also didn’t help that a nice breeze was blowing toward left field, aiding two of the three homers Candiotti gave up.

But former Angel knuckleballers Steve Sparks and Dennis Springer experienced many similar afternoons in Arizona, and none had too much of a bearing on whether they made the team. Likewise, Candiotti, who was impressive in his previous three spring appearances, was not discouraged by Saturday’s ugly line.

“The rotation on the knuckleball was great, I changed speeds, I threw a great curve that ended up [beyond] the left-field fence,” he said. “If I was throwing a lot of balls and getting behind hitters, that would concern me.”

Of some concern were two Dave Dellucci liners that hit Candiotti’s left thumb, one in the first inning and one in the fourth. The base of his thumb was swollen, but Candiotti remained in the game and suffered nothing worse than a few bruises.

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Scott Spiezio came to camp hoping to win the second-base job. His last three appearances, including two starts, have been at third base, while Manager Mike Scioscia took an extended look at Trent Durrington, who started three games at second this week.

“I really don’t know anything,” said Spiezio, who came up through the Oakland A’s farm system as a third baseman before moving to second in 1997. “Mike came to me [last week] and said he wanted me to play third for a few games in case something happens to Troy [Glaus].”

Scioscia hasn’t decided how to configure his roster--whether he’ll go with 11 or 12 pitchers, two or three catchers, four or five outfielders, five or six infielders.

But if Spiezio, who has a guaranteed $600,000 contract, doesn’t win the second-base job, he’ll have a decent chance of making the team as a reserve.

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The Angels didn’t have any success against the Diamondbacks south of the border Saturday, either. Erubiel Durazo, Travis Lee and Damian Miller homered against Angel right-hander Brett Hinchliffe to lead the Diamondbacks to an 11-3 split-squad victory at Hermosillo, Mexico.