Angels Lose a Run in the Fourth, Game in the Ninth

Angel batting instructor Mickey Hatcher probably hadn’t been tackled this hard--or by anyone this large--since he played wide receiver for the University of Oklahoma football team in 1976-77.

But the fact that Hatcher was wrestled to the ground by a guy wearing the same uniform, 6-foot-1, 268-pound Angel first baseman Mo Vaughn, speaks to the depths of the frustration the Angels experienced in their 7-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics before 15,300 in Edison Field Wednesday night.

Hatcher was fuming in the wake of a controversial call that cost the Angels at least one run and maybe two in the fourth inning, runs the Angels believed would have changed the complexion of the game.

Had they scored in the fourth, perhaps their two-run rally in the eighth would have given them a lead instead of merely tying the score, 3-3.

And then closer Troy Percival, and not set-up man Mark Petkovsek, would have pitched the ninth inning, when the A’s snapped the tie with four runs on Ben Grieve’s RBI single, Jeremy Giambi’s two-run single and Eric Chavez’s RBI single.

The Angels were trailing, 3-1, when Anderson led off the fourth with a single. Troy Glaus followed with his second double of the game, a liner that one-hopped the left-field wall and bounced high into the air before Grieve, the A’s left fielder, was able to retrieve it.

Anderson scored easily from first, but third-base umpire Mike VanVleet ruled that the ball nicked a fan in the first row--though replays didn’t seem to confirm that--and gave Glaus a ground-rule double. The other three umpires agreed that Anderson wouldn’t have scored and sent him back to third.

After a lengthy argument between Angel Manager Mike Scioscia and crew chief Al Clark, Edgard Clemente grounded to third, and Anderson was thrown out in a rundown between third and home, Clemente reaching on the fielder’s choice. Matt Walbeck singled sharply to right to load the bases.

But Trent Durrington, starting because Scioscia wanted to give second baseman Adam Kennedy his first night off this season, bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

“Any time you get a run taken away, it’s a big play,” Scioscia said. “First they called fan interference, and I didn’t think so. And if it was, the umpires have a responsibility to place the runners. They claimed Garret wouldn’t scored on the play. I wouldn’t have argued if I wasn’t positive.”

Though he was also upset with the call, Hatcher claimed he was expressing frustration over Durrington’s double play when Clark approached the Angel dugout after the inning.

“I kicked something and yelled something at my own players when [Clark] comes over and starts yelling at me,” Hatcher said. “That’s terrible. He’s trying to tell me I can’t talk to my players? Why’s he coming over and hollering at me for? That’s not right.”

Hatcher soon found himself on the field, charging Clark. He had to be restrained by Vaughn’s big bear hug and was tackled by the Angel first baseman.

The A’s, behind the superb pitching of left-hander Mark Mulder (two runs, six hits in 7 2/3 innings), maintained that 3-1 lead until the eighth, when Darin Erstad, who homered in the third, opened with a single. Grieve then leaped at the wall to rob Benji Gil of a two-run home run, and Vaughn struck out looking.

Oakland Manager Art Howe summoned right-hander T.J. Mathews to face Angel cleanup batter Tim Salmon, who hit an RBI double to left. Anderson followed with an RBI double off closer Jason Isringhausen.

The Angels issued two medical updates after the game. An MRI test on shortstop Gary DiSarcina’s sore right shoulder revealed normal wear and tear for a 32-year old but did not reveal the cause or origin of his injury. He will undergo further tests today.

An MRI test on pitcher Ken Hill, who went on the disabled list Tuesday night, confirmed the initial diagnosis, a strain of the right intercostal muscle, which is located in his rib cage. Hill will be sidelined for at least a month and could be out two to three months.