K-Rod Is Followed by an ‘L’ for Angels

The Angels all but blushed their way through the first few days of the season. Hoisting that World Series flag was great, slipping those sparkling championship rings onto their fingers was nice, but the Angels could hardly wait for what they called the “victory lap” to stop and the challenge of a new season to start.

From the proverb file: Be careful what you wish for.

The present is far less kind to the Angels than the past. The Angels got their latest and rudest awakening here Sunday, when their victory blueprint dissolved into another defeat.

The Angels had the lead, Francisco Rodriguez on the mound and Troy Percival waiting to close.

Rodriguez blew the lead, Percival never got into the game and the Oakland Athletics polished off a three-game sweep with a 7-6 victory.

An aura of invincibility surrounded Rodriguez after his playoff heroics.

“Everybody expects him to strike out every guy that comes to the plate,” first baseman Scott Spiezio said. “That’s unrealistic.”

The Angels led, 5-4, with nine outs to go. With six outs from Rodriguez and three from Percival, the Angels could salvage one victory in this series.

As usual, Rodriguez had his lively fastball and nasty slider.

Unfortunately for the Angels, he had no idea where they were headed, against a patient offense more than willing to exploit that weakness.

He insisted this was not a first, that his control had been erratic against the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins in the playoffs.

“The difference was, those guys were swinging the bat. These guys take pitches,” Rodriguez said. “In the postseason, those guys swung right away. They didn’t want to get behind in the count.”

The A’s didn’t swing and didn’t have to. The first batter Rodriguez faced, Jermaine Dye, walked on four pitches. The next, Erubiel Durazo, also walked. The next, Terrence Long, lined out.

Then, with Ramon Hernandez up, Rodriguez threw two wild pitches, each allowing the runners to advance. Dye scored on the second wild pitch, a truly bizarre play.

The pitch was a slider, and Hernandez swung and missed for strike three.

The ball broke straight down instead of bending away, Rodriguez said. Rather than trying to block the ball with his body, Gold Glove catcher Bengie Molina tried a backhand stab, but the ball skipped past him.

Hernandez frantically waved Dye home, forgetting that he could run to first base on the missed third strike.

As Spiezio charged home for a possible play there, everyone hollered at Hernandez to run.

“The dugout, the lower deck, the Diamond Club, everybody,” Oakland Manager Ken Macha said.

So, with first base vacant, Hernandez belatedly ran there. Dye scored the tying run and Hernandez made it to first.

Then, Chris Singleton singled home the go-ahead run, Mark Ellis delivered a sacrifice fly for an insurance run, and in one inning Rodriguez had given up more runs than he had in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Second baseman Adam Kennedy insisted he never equated “Now pitching for the Angels, Francisco Rodriguez” with “game over.”

Said Kennedy: “With a one-run lead, I don’t think so. With a three- or four-run lead, you feel a little more comfortable. But with a one-run lead against a team like that, you don’t have the feeling it’s over.”

The A’s are 5-1. The Angels are 2-4, with World Series Game 7 hero John Lackey needing 106 pitches to get through five innings Sunday and his earned-run average at 8.10 through two starts, with shortstop David Eckstein hitting .150 and Spiezio hitting .095.

“You got any tips?” Spiezio said. “I’m messed up a little up there.”

The calmest guy in the room was Rodriguez.

“This is only the beginning, guys,” Rodriguez said.

“We’ve got 156 games left.”