Misjudged Ball Tests His Memory

Angel starter Ismael Valdes gave up eight runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings Thursday, but that was nothing compared to the pounding center fielder Darin Erstad absorbed. This one wasn’t administered by the Giants or an outfield wall, though. It came from Erstad himself.

The Giants had a 4-2 lead and the bases loaded in the fourth inning when Jeff Kent lifted a towering fly ball to deep center. Erstad got to the wall in plenty of time, leaped, and, in his own words, “whiffed it.” The ball sailed to the right of his glove and bounced off the wall for a three-run triple, catapulting the Giants toward a 10-4 victory.

The sun was brutal above Pacific Bell Park on Thursday--Angel third baseman Troy Glaus and Giant shortstop Rich Aurilia both lost infield popups that fell for hits--but Erstad did not lose this ball in the sun.

“It was a lack of concentration, plain and simple,” Erstad said. “The sun was not a factor.”

Erstad has lost several balls in the twilight above Edison Field, he has lost balls in the lights and in Minnesota’s Metrodome roof, but never in his professional career had he missed a ball he saw all the way.

The last time something like this had happened?

“I was 17 years old, playing American Legion ball in Aberdeen, S.D.,” Erstad said. “Routine fly ball to center field, the day before my ACT test . . . “

After scoring two runs in the first two games of the series, the Angels scored twice in the first three innings Thursday. Leadoff batter David Eckstein started both rallies with doubles, took third on a sacrifice bunt and a ground-ball out by Adam Kennedy and scored on Erstad singles.

But the Angels failed to muster much more offense, even though they had as many hits as the Giants, 11. The difference: The Angels went three for 12 with runners in scoring position and left men on base in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings.

The heart of the order--Glaus, Garret Anderson and Tim Salmon--went three for 12, though Salmon’s single was an infield popup that was lost in the sun.

“The top part of the lineup is intact, so it gets to the middle of the lineup again,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s obvious. How long have we been talking about this? We’re banging our heads trying to find some solutions.”

Ramon Ortiz, tonight’s starter for the Angels against the Dodgers at Edison Field, is on a roll, having given up four earned runs on 18 hits in 19 2/3 innings of his last three starts, a win and two no-decisions.

Even better for the Angels, he won’t have to hit or run the bases because the designated hitter will be employed in the American League park.

Ortiz cost the Angels a run last Saturday when he missed the plate while trying to score in a 2-1 loss to the Dodgers.