Wooten Just Tees Off When the Tease Is On

Shawn Wooten was feeling pretty good about himself. In the first at-bat of his first major league game in 11 months, he had singled. Nothing pretty, mind you, just a ground ball that caromed off the end of the bat and trickled past the second baseman. But, considering his heartbeat and adrenaline were in overdrive, not bad.

When he returned to the dugout, his teammates teased him, as they love to do. Come on, big guy, can’t you do any better than a little ground ball?

So he did. Next time up, he hit a home run in the sixth inning, for all the offense the Angels would get, or need. Wooten’s homer supported a four-hit shutout by four Angel pitchers, with starter Jarrod Washburn extending his winning streak to 10 games and the Angels extending theirs to four with a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals Thursday.

After Tim Salmon threw out A.J. Hinch at home plate in the third inning, the Royals never advanced a runner past second base. And, aside from Wooten’s home run in the sixth, the Angels never advanced a runner past first.

But Ben Weber, Scott Schoeneweis and Troy Percival combined to shut out the Royals over the final three innings, with Percival converting his 14th consecutive save opportunity and 22nd of the season.

Percival has not blown a save since May 30. Washburn has not lost since April 13; his 10-game winning streak is the longest in the major leagues this season.

“That’s 17 scoreless innings in a row,” a reporter informed Angel Manager Mike Scioscia.

“For us offensively or defensively?” Scioscia said, smiling.

Uh, that would be for Washburn. But the offensive concern is understandable, given that the Angels got all of six hits against Darrell May, who pitched briefly in Anaheim in 1997 before heading to Japan for the next four years. In another miserable summer for the beleaguered fans in a good baseball town, May pitched a complete game, and so even in defeat the crowd of 13,031 saluted him with a standing ovation in the ninth inning.

May threw 97 pitches. Washburn threw 102, and on a hot and humid night Scioscia decided he was “zapped” after six innings.

The Angels’ last five victories have come by one run, against Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The Angels have scored 14 runs in those games. It is not a promising sign that the offense is sputtering, particularly when Monday brings the first game of a 20-game stretch against contenders Minnesota, Oakland, Seattle, Boston and the Yankees.

But perhaps Wooten can help. With the Angels trying to acquire pitching help before the July 31 trading deadline, Wooten appears to be the hitting help.

“Sometimes it’s somebody within your own house that steps up,” Scioscia said.

Wooten hit .312 as a rookie last year, but a wrist injury ended his season in August. Two more injuries--a torn ligament in his thumb and a strained muscle on his side--delayed the start of his 2002 season until Thursday. He can fill two roles for the Angels now, as a designated hitter against left-handers and a power hitter off the bench.

He did not hit a home run in 60 minor league at-bats during his rehabilitation assignment. He hit one in his second at-bat Thursday.

“I was pretty nervous in my first at-bat, like it was my big league debut,” he said. “I just went up there hacking at everything. In my second at-bat, I just relaxed, told myself to slow down, and I got a good pitch to hit.”

And so he did, much to the delight of the teammates who delight in teasing him. “We’ve all got to have an outlet,” Percival said. “He’s everybody’s outlet.”

He plays along, happily. He was tired Thursday night, after playing in a minor league game in San Jose Wednesday night, getting five hours of sleep and flying to Kansas City Thursday morning.

“I need as much beauty sleep as I can get,” he said, pointing to his face. “This is pretty ugly.”

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*--* Second Half-Baked The Angels have been a poor second-half team the last six seasons. A look at their record before and after the All-Star break since 1996: YEAR BEFORE AFTER TOTAL 1996 43-45 27-46 70-91 1997 44-42 40-36 84-78 1998 49-37 36-40 85-77 1999 41-45 29-47 70-92 2000 47-41 35-39 82-80 2001 42-45 33-42 75-87 Totals 266-255 (.510) 200-250 (.444) 466-505 (.480)

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