Washburn Is Ready to Shut Up and Pitch

The memory is not pleasant. The last time Jarrod Washburn pitched a game that counted, a few miles from here, he was devastated and ashen-faced.

In Game 5 of the World Series, at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco, Washburn sunk the Angels into a 6-0 hole, with 10 of the first 14 Giant batters reaching base. The Angels lost, 16-4, tumbling within one defeat of losing the World Series.

“I’m glad we won. It made the off-season a lot easier,” he said. “I would have been a miserable human being if we would not have won. I would have put a lot of the blame on myself.”

Washburn has been itching to pitch again and has been particularly irritable the past couple of weeks. After a sprained shoulder delayed his spring workout schedule, the Angels scratched him from his opening-day start so he could make another exhibition appearance.

The decision displeased him, but he did his best to muzzle himself. Teammates rally around him, in part because of his confidence and outspokenness.

But after Washburn criticized the Angels last month for treating young players “unfairly” during contract negotiations, Mike Scioscia summoned him to the manager’s office and asked him to pipe down.

“Every time I open my mouth, I’m in there getting yelled at,” Washburn said. “Sometimes speaking my mind gets me in trouble. I’m not going to change. That’s who I am.

“But we’re coming off something good, and there’s no reason to cause waves this early in the year. So I bit my tongue and went along with it.”

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Tonight

ANGELS’ JARROD WASHBURN

vs.

ATHLETICS’ JOHN HALAMA

Network Associates Coliseum, 1 p.m.

TV -- Channel 9. Radio -- KSPN (710), XKAM (950).

Update -- Oakland shortstop Miguel Tejada, the 2002 AL MVP, is one for 30 lifetime against Washburn. Halama is 7-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 13 appearances against the Angels. Anaheim second baseman Adam Kennedy still has pain and a nasty bruise on his right thigh after colliding with right fielder Tim Salmon on Wednesday but was available in a reserve role Friday and is expected to start Sunday when the Angels next face a right-handed starter.

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Bill Shaikin