Angels Are Given Lesson of the Fall

As October baseball becomes an increasingly realistic goal for the Angels, the challenge of winning October games becomes increasingly evident. The Angels lost a game Saturday that they could have won, against the kind of championship-caliber team that advances into October by winning games it could have lost.

Jarrod Washburn pitched a complete game, and the Angels outhit Seattle, but they nonetheless lost, 3-1. On the bases, the Angels committed a critical blunder. At bat, they failed repeatedly to get a clutch hit. On the bench, they were outmaneuvered by Mariner Manager Lou Piniella.

And so, after sharing first place with the Mariners for a day, the Angels retreated into second place in the American League West. The Mariners ended a five-game losing streak against the Angels but remain plenty impressed with the upstarts from Orange County.

“They’re for real,” Seattle second baseman Bret Boone said. “I think they’re exceptionally hot right now, but that said, they’re a very good team. They’re not going anywhere. We’ll be in a fight with them, and that’s not to discount Oakland, either. But they’ve got our respect, without a doubt.”

While the Mariners might have been relieved to win, the Angels ought to have been distressed to lose. Washburn’s 12-game winning streak, the longest in the majors this year, ended in an entirely unpredictable fashion: He pitched his first complete game of the season, gave up four hits and lost, for the first time since April 13. One week ago, in Anaheim, he gave up five runs and eight hits to the Mariners, and won.

“It’s funny,” he said. “It lets you know just how hard a streak is.”

The Mariners scored on a sacrifice fly by Dan Wilson and a two-run homer by Edgar Martinez, but the Angels got more runners on base in the first six innings against Seattle starter Joel Pineiro than the Mariners got in nine against Washburn. Pineiro (11-4) gave up nine hits in 6 1/3 innings and won, because the Angels went one for eight with men in scoring position.

They also ran themselves out of a scoring threat in the sixth. Brad Fullmer singled to start the inning, and Orlando Palmeiro hit a ground ball that caromed off the glove of shortstop Carlos Guillen for an error. Fullmer, assuming the ball had carried into center field, rounded second base and never stopped running. But the ball had not gone very far at all, and Guillen easily threw out Fullmer at third.

“You want to be able to make sure you’ll be able to get to the base,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He just misread it.”

With closer Kazuhiro Sasaki warmed up, Piniella sent left-hander Arthur Rhodes to the mound to start the ninth, with the left-handed Palmeiro due up. As soon as pinch-hitter Benji Gil was announced, Piniella replaced Rhodes with Sasaki, so Scioscia replaced Gil with Jorge Fabregas.

The result, to Piniella’s glee: The Angels led off the ninth inning with a left-handed hitter batting .195 instead of a left-handed hitter batting .301. And Gil, batting .291, was out of the game without taking a swing.

“That was a good move, to force our hand,” Scioscia said.

With the Angels trailing, 3-1, they needed a runner to reach base before they could have a chance to tie the score. Palmeiro is a terrific leadoff hitter--and a .400 hitter in 25 at-bats against left-handers--so why didn’t Scioscia let him face Rhodes?

“Rhodes is a special lefty,” Scioscia said. “We felt better trying to match up Sasaki against our lefties.”

Sasaki retired Fabregas, Adam Kennedy and Scott Spiezio in order in the ninth. The Mariners were back on top in the AL West, though not easily, and they’re well aware that they end the regular season against the Angels, with three games at Edison Field Sept. 27-29.

“It would be nice if we had a four- or five-game lead at that point,” Boone said, “but it could very well come down to that.”

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Can’t Win ‘Em All

Jarrod Washburn’s 12-game winning streak ended Saturday, two games short of Chuck Finley’s club record set in 1997-98. Washburn’s game-by-game showing during the streak (*denotes games in which he received no decision):

*--* Date Opp IP H ER BB SO April 19 Oak 6.1 8 3 0 2 April 24 Sea 6.2 6 3 1 1 May 1 Clev 7.0 5 2 2 3 May 7 * Det 7.0 1 0 4 7 May 12 * Chi (A) 5.1 8 2 1 3 May 19 Chi (A) 7.0 3 1 1 5 May 25 * Minn 8.0 4 3 3 7 May 31 Minn 6.0 4 1 3 7 June 5 * Tex 6.2 8 3 0 4 June 10 Pit 6.1 6 3 2 5 June 16 * Dodgers 5.1 7 4 1 5 June 22 Mil 6.0 8 2 4 10 June 27 Tex 6.0 4 1 2 6 July 3 Balt 8.0 3 0 1 7 July 11 KC 6.0 3 0 2 3 July 16 Minn 6.0 7 2 3 4 July 21 Sea 7.0 8 5 1 4 Note: For the 17 games, Washburn averaged 5.5 hits allowed in 6 2/3 innings, with an earned run average of 2.85

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