Angels Keep Losing Players

Almost since the day he took over as Angel manager this season, Mike Scioscia has scoffed at the notion of an Angel jinx, of a black cloud that supposedly hovers over this star-crossed franchise, which has seen far more tragedy than triumph in its 40-year history.

The Angels might make a believer out of him yet.

For the second time in three games, Scioscia rushed to the mound in the early innings to come to the aid of a starting pitcher in distress.

Left-hander Kent Mercker was pulled in the second inning from Thursday night’s 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers because of severe headaches and dizziness. And, for bad measure, reliever Eric Weaver was pulled before the sixth inning because of turf toe on his right foot.

Tuesday night, Angel pitcher Ken Hill crumbled to his knees after delivering a third-inning pitch against Oakland, suffering a severely strained rib-cage muscle that will sideline the right-hander two to three months.

And Monday night, the Angels lost shortstop Gary DiSarcina, a veteran leader who is considered the glue to the infield, to a mysterious shoulder injury that doctors are still trying to get to the root of, an ailment that will sideline him for two weeks and probably more.

“I’ve been on some clubs where freaky stuff happens, and injuries are going to happen to every team, there’s no getting around them,” Scioscia said. “This is a challenge for the club. If you’re going to be perennial contenders, you have to be deep enough to deal with these things. And right now we’re being tested.”

The procession to the Angel trainers’ room put a damper on a victory that featured home runs by Darin Erstad in the fifth inning--his third in three games--and Troy Glaus in the seventh, and Garret Anderson’s tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning before 15,644 at Edison Field.

Adam Kennedy sparked the Angels’ winning rally with a single to left off Ranger starter Kenny Rogers. Mo Vaughn doubled to right, Kennedy stopping at third, and Texas walked Tim Salmon intentionally to load the bases for Anderson, who grounded into a double play with two on in the ninth inning of a 1-0 loss to Seattle Saturday.

Anderson took ball one inside and then waved at a 68-mph curve for strike one. Rogers tried to go upstairs with a fastball, but Anderson pounced on it, whizzing a single past Rogers’ ear and into center field for a 3-2 lead.

“He didn’t want to walk me after he got me out at will the first three times,” Anderson said. “Maybe he was trying to sneak something up and get me to pop it up. In that particular situation, he had nowhere to put me.”

Troy Percival needed only seven pitches to retire the Rangers in the ninth for his 10th save, capping a superb Angel bullpen effort that included Shigetoshi Hasegawa’s three scoreless innings and Al Levine’s 3 1/3-inning, one-run effort. Angel relievers have combined to throw 56 1/3 innings in the last 14 games.

“That was a great job by the bullpen,” Scioscia said. “They’ve been taxed the last few weeks, and they keep responding.”

So do the Angel trainers, but to mound emergencies.

Mercker gave up a towering solo home run to left field to Ranger catcher Ivan Rodriguez in the first. After walking David Segui to open the second, Mercker struck out Ruben Mateo looking.

But after finishing the strikeout pitch, Mercker doubled over in front of the mound and put both hands on his knees, as if he was nauseous, dizzy or having trouble catching his breath.

Scioscia and an Angel trainer rushed to the mound, and after a brief consultation, Mercker convinced them he was OK to continue. Four pitches later, with Royce Clayton at the plate, Mercker doubled over again, in almost the exact same position, and Scioscia pulled him.

“He said his ears were popping and ringing the first time we went out,” Scioscia said. “Then he threw that last pitch and had like a migraine headache.”

X-rays of Mercker’s head were negative (“They showed nothing,” Scioscia joked. “You know that old line.”) and Mercker was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center for further tests late Tuesday night, but Scioscia believed he probably would be available by this weekend.