Angels Win, but There’s Bad News

Even the silver linings are tarnished these days. The Angels weren’t happy that shortstop David Eckstein might miss the rest of the season, but the injury afforded them the chance to evaluate rookie Alfredo Amezaga as a possible replacement for next season.

Now Amezaga is injured too, and that chance might have passed him by. The Angels enjoyed a rare laugher Friday, a 10-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals, but their latest injury is no joke. Amezaga has a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and his status for the final 27 games of the season is uncertain.

Bengie Molina set a career high by driving in five runs, and Jarrod Washburn carried a shutout into the seventh inning, but Anaheim’s latest injury could cancel Amezaga’s audition for the 2004 shortstop job. As the Angels consider options to upgrade at that position, scouting Japanese star Kazuo Matsui and pondering a bid for pending free agent Miguel Tejada of the Oakland Athletics, Amezaga offered a low-cost alternative.

He hit .347 at triple-A Salt Lake. After hitting .081 in his first 13 games with the Angels, he hit .269 in the nine games since.

“I’m trying to do my best to show them I can play at this level,” he said. “I was getting my timing back and feeling a little more comfortable at the plate.”

Amezaga suffered the injury in Tuesday’s game, landing hard on the shoulder while diving for a ball.

“When I did it, I felt something,” he said. “I just went to bed. I wasn’t thinking about torn anything. The next day, I woke up kind of sore.”

The Angels ordered an MRI examination Thursday, and Dr. Lewis Yocum relayed the diagnosis Friday. Amezaga said the status of the labrum was described to him as “a little torn,” and Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said he could return this season. General Manager Bill Stoneman agreed, noting the rotator cuff was not damaged.

The Angels did not put Amezaga on the disabled list, since rosters expand Monday. They will add an infielder who would not otherwise have been promoted, perhaps another utilityman from triple-A or possibly double-A shortstop Brian Specht. In a season with four weeks left, Scioscia said “we’re still talking weeks” before a possible longshot return for Eckstein or center fielder Darin Erstad.

Washburn, bedeviled by shoulder, hip and back injuries at various times this season, has nonetheless made all his starts and appears to be recovering the form that made him the Angel ace last season. In his last five starts, Washburn has given up 19 hits in 36 innings.

“I’m not the guy who was going out there in the middle of the season and getting crushed,” he said.

After Carlos Beltran singled home the Royals’ first run in the seventh inning, making the score 7-1, Washburn struck out the next two hitters. Scioscia then yanked him after a mere 90 pitches, citing back stiffness that Washburn said was present but was not getting any worse.

“I was surprised they took him out,” Molina said.

Molina had three hits, including a home run. He has driven in 68 runs, three shy of his career high and second on the team to Garret Anderson. He has 13 home runs and a .280 batting average, threatening his 14 homers and .281 average in 2000. The Angels rewarded him with a four-year contract after that season, but this is his first comparable offensive season.

“The year I had that year was because I didn’t have any injuries,” he said. “This year, I’m going that way. The key was to try to stay healthy.”

Molina, frustrated by the injuries, hired a personal trainer last winter. He said he would repeat that conditioning program this winter, with one exception.

“More intensive,” he said.