Rodriguez Isn’t Invincible Now

This was Fort Knox being broken into, the CIA’s main-frame computer being hacked, an electrical fence lined with barbwire being scaled.

The irresistible force that was Angel reliever Francisco Rodriguez is no longer an immovable object, and a World Series that seemed well within the Angels’ grasp in the early innings Wednesday night is now spinning out of their control.

Rodriguez, the kid with the golden arm, the right-hander with the blazing fastball, vicious slider, 5-0 playoff record and 1.38 earned-run average, was reduced to a mere mortal in Game 4, giving up David Bell’s game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning of a 4-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants before 42,703 in Pacific Bell Park.

Relying almost exclusively on his slider -- of his 30 pitches, only a few were fastballs -- Rodriguez gave up a leadoff single to J.T. Snow in the eighth. Snow took second on catcher Bengie Molina’s passed ball and scored when Bell turned on a rare Rodriguez fastball, this one clocking at 97 mph, and lined it to center field for a 4-3 lead. Closer Robb Nen recorded the save, and the best-of-seven series is now even, 2-2.

It was Rodriguez’s first defeat in more than two months -- his last loss came for triple-A Salt Lake, when he gave up five earned runs on six hits in the ninth inning of an 8-7 loss to Tucson on Aug. 11.

“He gave up one run,” Angel right fielder Tim Salmon said. “C’mon, he’s not going to get everyone out. It’s not like he got shelled. He’ll be fine.”

Indeed, Rodriguez, 20, responded well to his first playoff heartbreak, when he gave up a two-run home run to Alfonso Soriano in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the American League division series, a game the Angels won.

And he rebounded quickly from a shaky AL championship series appearance against Minnesota, when he allowed three inherited runners to score in a Game 5 victory. Why should this be any different?

“I don’t see this as a setback,” Angel closer Troy Percival said. “I don’t see him being fazed at all.”

It was a major setback for the Angels, though.

They let a 3-0 third-inning lead slip away, and their vaunted offense, which some were comparing to some of the greatest teams in postseason history, grounded to a halt -- Giants pitchers faced the minimum 18 batters over the final six innings, as the Angels hit into three double plays.

After rocking Giant starter Kirk Rueter for seven hits in the first three innings, the Angels managed only three singles from the fourth inning on.

Most important, instead of taking a commanding 3-1 series lead into Game 5 tonight, the series is now tied, and the Angels must face Giant ace Jason Schmidt, who limited the Angels to three runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings of a 4-3 San Francisco victory in Game 1.

“But we have our ace going too,” Percival said, alluding to Angel left-hander Jarrod Washburn. “Any time you have your ace going, you have to feel good knowing that if you get a few runs, you have a good chance to win. I’ll take my chances with Wash out there any time.”

Rodriguez, who struck out Jeff Kent and retired Barry Bonds on a grounder to first in the seventh, insisted after the game that he felt good, and pitching Coach Bud Black said Rodriguez felt fine.

“I feel great, and my stuff was good, I just made a couple of mistakes,” Rodriguez said. “I got a couple of balls up in the zone, and a couple of my breaking balls were hanging.... I’ll just forget it. It’s in the past. I’ll come back [today] and will be ready.”

Rodriguez wasn’t nearly as devastated as Molina, who took the blame for the loss. With Snow on first base and none out in the eighth, Rodriguez threw a fastball that cut outside at the last second. The ball nicked off Molina’s glove and to the backstop, allowing Snow to take third.

Molina also second-guessed his pitch selection on Bell’s game-winning hit.

“I don’t know why he’d say it was his fault we lost,” Salmon said of Molina. “If that’s the case, it’s my fault because I made an error [in the fifth inning]. There’s no reason for anyone on this club to take responsibility like that. We pick each other up. Nobody is looking at him as being the reason we lost.”