Angels Can’t Celebrate Victory

This should be a happy day for the Angels. The bats have awakened from their April slumber, the arms are lively, and the team has won four consecutive games for the first time this season.

But the mood was decidedly solemn within the Angel clubhouse after Friday’s 7-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers. Bengie Molina, the Angels’ catcher, could be headed for the disabled list after suffering a strained hamstring running the bases.

Molina, who grimaced in pain as trainers treated him on the field and needed help to walk off the field, is scheduled for an MRI examination today. If the Angels put him on the disabled list, they could summon his brother Jose from triple-A Salt Lake and hand the starting job to veteran Jorge Fabregas, who never has played more than 100 games in a season.

Said Fabregas: “He’s the catcher here. He’s the man. I need to go in there and take over where he left off.

“We’re on a roll here. We need to stay on a roll.”

The Angels got no style points for this victory, committing three errors, stranding 11 runners and scoring the winning run on a hit batsman. The Edison Field crowd of 36,690 approved nonetheless.

The Angels, trailing 5-4 in the seventh inning, loaded the bases with one out. Adam Kennedy singled home the tying run. David Eckstein twisted his left shoulder into the way of a pitch, getting hit for the fifth time this season and forcing home the winning run. Darin Erstad hit a ground ball that produced an insurance run when second baseman Damion Easley booted the ball for an error.

The Angels had 13 hits and erased a three-run deficit for the first time this season. They played without Tim Salmon, who had flu-like symptoms and left the stadium to rest at home. Salmon could be back tonight, but Molina could be out for a few weeks.

“When you’re a starting pitcher, that’s your right-hand man out there,” Angel starter Scott Schoeneweis said. “He’s your best friend. For him to go down, that’s like losing your best friend.

“Obviously, he’ll be sorely missed. But the show will go on.”

Molina was unavailable for comment, but he told utility man Shawn Wooten that he heard a pop in the hamstring. Wooten also said the hamstring was bruised.

Wooten, who made the team in part as a third catcher, said he had recovered enough from a spring training knee injury to help catch in Molina’s absence.

“I hope they see things the way I want them to,” said Wooten, whose three hits lifted his batting average to .406.

The score was tied 4-4 through six innings, with Schoeneweis very much on his game--ground balls, and lots of them. Of the Tigers’ first 18 outs, 12 came on ground balls.

For a sinkerball specialist such as Schoeneweis, a reliable defense is essential. In the seventh inning, the Angel defense very nearly cost Schoeneweis the game.

Brandon Inge led off with a ground ball between first base and the pitcher’s mound. First baseman Wooten tried and failed to barehand the ball, then fell onto the grass, and Inge reached base on the error. After Roger Cedeno flied out, Jose Macias’ grounder to third base caromed off the glove of Troy Glaus and into foul territory, a two-base error that allowed Inge to reach third base.

So Schoeneweis had one out to show for two ground balls and a fly ball. And, but for another defensive failure, he still would have escaped the inning without allowing a run.

Bobby Higginson flied out to shallow left field, and Garret Anderson fired a one-hop throw to Molina. The throw arrived ahead of Higginson, but Molina could not handle the high hop, and the run scored. No error was charged, but the run was unearned.

“They gave it to us,” Detroit Manager Phil Garner said. “We gave it right back to them.”

The Tigers scored four earned runs off Schoeneweis, the most he has allowed in seven starts this season, in 6 2/3 innings.

Detroit scored three runs in the second inning, two on a bloop single by Juan Encarnacion that landed inches inside the right-field foul line.

The Angels peppered Detroit starter Matt Perisho, a onetime Angel prospect, for four runs before excusing him in the third inning. Perisho gave up eight hits while getting seven outs.