Angels Glad Loss Is Only a Game

The Angels reverted to their ragged ways Friday, with their bench depleted and their play less than crisp, but they counted their blessings nonetheless.

On another night when they bore little resemblance to World Series champions, a night when third baseman Troy Glaus left the game because of an infected foot and center fielder Darin Erstad indicated he might be headed for the disabled list, the Angels could shrug off a 5-2 loss before 37,203 at Edison Field. They played terribly, yes, but their ace was nearly beheaded by a baseball.

Casey Fossum, otherwise known as the pitcher the Boston Red Sox refused to trade for Bartolo Colon, did his general manager proud, pitching seven shutout innings. The Angels rallied, bringing the tying run to the plate in the eighth and ninth innings, but they nonetheless lost for the eighth time in 11 games.

With Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele already on the disabled list, Jarrod Washburn narrowly escaped serious injury on a play that could have harmed him and ruined the Angels’ chances to return to the playoffs.

In the sixth inning, Boston’s Bill Mueller whistled a line drive directly at Washburn’s head. Washburn instinctively thrust his glove in front of his face, jumping away in the same motion. The ball crashed into his glove, and he fell to the ground, face first.

He remained there for several seconds, alone with the ball in his glove and with thoughts of a severe facial injury. The play so frightened Mueller that he tapped his hand over his heart and visibly exhaled upon seeing that Washburn was not hurt.

“That,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said, “was scary.”

Washburn emerged as the Angel ace last season, winning 18 games and starting the first game of the playoffs and of the World Series. The Angels, already deploying a patchwork rotation in the absence of Appier and Sele, might have been broken by the loss of their anchor.

“My hand hurts like hell,” Washburn said, “but my head is all right.”

That would be his right hand, his glove hand. His left hand, his pitching hand, is fine. But the Angels still are trying to navigate the trickiest part of their schedule without their third baseman, center fielder and two starting pitchers.

“You’re talking about people we counted on, people who were a big part of our success last year,” outfielder Tim Salmon said. “We had a terrible start last year and things turned out good. Maybe we can get through some bumps in the road and get some guys healthy.”

Scioscia said that Glaus had been bothered for several days by an infection in one of the toes of his left foot. Glaus saw a doctor Friday afternoon and received antibiotics, but Scioscia said the discomfort nonetheless got “progressively worse” during Friday’s game. Glaus left in the fourth inning, after running out a single, and Scioscia said he is unlikely to play tonight.

Washburn did not pitch well, but then again his teammates did not play well. Washburn pitched seven innings and gave up five runs -- including one in the third, an inning that started with a walk, and two in the fourth, an inning that started with a hit batter.

“My command isn’t very good,” he said. “I’m falling behind guys. I can’t throw inside strikes. That’s why I’m giving up bullets at my head.”

The Angels got three hits off Fossum in the first inning and two off him the rest of the evening, and they blew that one chance to score because of questionable baserunning. David Eckstein doubled to start the first inning. One out later, Salmon singled to center, and third base coach Ron Roenicke waved Eckstein home. Center fielder Damian Jackson threw him out.

Garret Anderson then doubled, but, even with two out and Salmon running, Roenicke held Salmon at third, after right fielder Trot Nixon fielded the ball perfectly. Glaus then flied out, ending the no-run, three-hit inning.