Oriole Pitchers Drive Angels Batty, 1-0

The most productive thing the Angels did with their bats Sunday was to fling them skyward or hammer them to the ground in disgust.

Baltimore Oriole pitchers certainly found Angels holding bats nonthreatening. The Orioles didn’t even seem to sweat out their 1-0 victory in front of the 35,053 at Edison Field.

That’s how benign the Angels were at the plate.

The best contact many of them made was with the numerous poundings made into the turf after popups and ground outs. It was hard to put a positive spin on such a frustrating performance, although Manager Mike Scioscia tried.

“It would have been a big lift to have come away with a win today,” Scioscia said. “But, in the big picture, we are happy where we are.”

That would be 7 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox, for those still clinging to the Angels’ slim--and fading--wild-card hopes.

The Angels managed seven hits off four Oriole pitchers, including starter Jose Mercedes, who went 6 2/3 innings. Only a week ago, the Angels smacked around Mercedes for six runs in three innings.

“That’s baseball,” Scioscia said.

That’s Angel baseball.

This was the ninth time the Angels have been shut out this season, tops in the American League. They were shut out only five times last season.

They wasted a top-shelf performance by Ismael Valdes, who gave up one run and five hits in eight innings. But one run was one too many.

The closet thing the Angels had to a clutch hit came in the second. After Tim Salmon walked and went to third on Shawn Wooten’s bloop single, Bengie Molina lofted a lazy fly ball to center. Salmon tried to score, and appeared to avoid catcher Brook Fordyce’s tag.

But home plate umpire Derryl Cousins called Salmon out.

“I didn’t feel a tag,” Salmon said.

Said Scioscia: “I didn’t see a tag.”

Nor did anyone hear the tag. But neither Salmon nor Scioscia would say that call cost the Angels the game. There were too many other opportunities wasted.

“We did some good things today,” Scioscia said. “We took the extra base. We moved runners along. We had a good hit and run. We just needed a couple hits and that didn’t happen tonight.”

That’s looking at the glass as half full instead of cracked and leaking.

The Angels, who stranded 13 runners in winning Saturday, left eight more Sunday. The were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.

That led to plenty of bat bashing.

Troy Glaus led the Angels with three. He threw his bat to the ground after grounding out with a runner on first to end the third inning. He flipped it high in the air after flying out to end the fifth. He then slammed it so hard it broke after flying out in the eighth.

Molina slammed his to the ground after grounding out with runners on first and second to end the fourth.

“When you’re not hitting, what do you do?” Salmon said. “We have everyone in this clubhouse analyzing everything. It’s just a confidence thing. A couple guys get hits, the pitcher starts feeling pressure and makes mistakes.”

Or, as was the case Sunday, “The pitcher can hit his spot, change speeds and guys start getting frustrated,” Salmon said.

Mercedes (5-12) did that somehow. He entered the game with a 6.02 earned-run average, but gave up six hits.

Mercedes reportedly has been on the trading block, but the Orioles have found no takers. Sunday’s game may enhance his value before Tuesday’s non-waiver trading deadline.

“I kind of live minute by minute and hour by hour,” Mercedes said. “I just want to concentrate on pitching.”

More impressive was Valdes, who struck out seven through the first four innings.

The Orioles’ only run came in the sixth. Valdes hit Brady Anderson to start the inning, but got Brian Roberts to bounce into a double play. Chris Richard followed with a single and Jeff Conine broke an 0-for-12 slump by one-hopping a double off the right-field fence, scoring Richard.

Said Valdes: “There was no room for mistakes today.”

Not with the way the Angels were swinging their bats.