Ortiz Can’t Stick It Out

Jarrod Washburn has a pretty good fastball, but Ramon Ortiz has a better one. Washburn relies on his fastball, but Ortiz offers an assortment of pitches.

But Washburn is the Angel ace, and he is the pitcher with the 10-game winning streak, because he can win on good days and bad ones. Ortiz, the prodigy with the electric stuff, let down and frustrated the Angels again in Sunday’s 12-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Raul Ibanez hit a grand slam against Ortiz in the first inning and a three-run homer in the second, tying a club record by driving in seven runs.

Manager Mike Scioscia lectured Ortiz on the mound in the second inning, then yanked him after the inning. Catcher Jorge Fabregas later delivered a pointed critique of Ortiz.

“What makes an ace pitcher is that he doesn’t have games like this,” Fabregas said. “In the games he struggles, like this one, he’ll pull himself through. He’s not going to stand on the mound and feel sorry for himself.”

The Angels, who tonight play the first of 20 consecutive games against teams with winning records, should have flown out of Kansas City with momentum.

The Royal starter, Miguel Asencio, was pitching in Class A this time last year, and their best hitter, Mike Sweeney, was scratched because of back stiffness.

The game was there for the taking, but instead Ortiz withered.

He did not pitch to the corners of the strike zone. He missed the zone completely--of his 45 pitches, 27 were balls--or he threw the ball down the middle and got hit hard. Of the 15 batters he faced, seven got hits and two walked.

Bud Black, the Angel pitching coach, visited the mound four batters into the game. Fabregas said that, at one point, he felt like rifling the ball back at Ortiz to snap the pitcher to attention.

With the bases loaded in the first inning, Ortiz got two strikes on Ibanez, followed up with three balls and then gave up the grand slam. So, with two out in the second inning, the Angels down, 6-0, and Ibanez up again, Scioscia marched to the mound.

Scioscia makes the pitching changes, but he usually sends Black to deliver messages. Scioscia delivered this one himself, loudly, with the catcher and all the infielders gathered around, but no one else saying a word.

The message: It’s the second inning, so our offense has plenty of time to get us back into the game. Never mind the score, just buckle down and get that third out now.

The response: Ibanez hit another home run--Royals 9, Angels 0. After Ortiz retired the next batter, he walked off the mound very slowly, a defeated man, his confidence apparently gone.

“He needs to focus, to get aggressive and not quit,” Fabregas said. “We have a chance to come back. He can’t be worrying about the grand slam. He needs to get the hitter out and keep it at 6-0.”

The Angels are willing to write off a bad start, particularly because Ortiz (8-7) had pitched at least six innings in every other start this season. They’re not worried about the home runs--he has given up 28, most in the majors, but he still has a winning record.

But they are concerned about his all-too-frequent mental lapses, especially as the schedule becomes more challenging. Last August, after the Angels had won a series against the Yankees to move seven games over .500, Ortiz came to Kansas City and lost, 10-4, giving up three home runs.

Ortiz did not comment after the game. His next start comes against the American League West-leading Seattle Mariners. The Angels juggled their rotation so that Ortiz would pitch the series opener against Seattle. They hope not to regret it.