Callaway Is No Marathon Man

The clock struck 12 minutes after 12 when the game finally ended, 5 hours and 5 minutes after it started. The clock also is ticking on Mickey Callaway’s tenure on the Angel roster, which might now be measured in hours.

The Angels tiptoed out of Puerto Rico early Friday morning, exhausted after enduring 14 muggy innings and hushed after an apparent glorious comeback victory collapsed into painful defeat. After the Angels scored three runs in the eighth and ninth innings to force extra innings, and after they scored twice in the top of the 14th, the Montreal Expos scored three times off Callaway in the bottom of the inning, dealing the Angels a wrenching 8-7 defeat.

“If you hang around that long, you might as well win the game,” Angel pitcher John Lackey said. “It’s one of those kinds of games that can build momentum.”

The Angels were three outs away from sweeping the series, extending their winning streak to five games and moving three games above .500 for the first time this season. Instead, in this stubbornly inconsistent season, the Angels dropped a season-high 10 1/2 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

The Angels used 21 players, everyone but four starting pitchers. Shawn Wooten, the Angels’ third catcher, entered the game in the ninth inning and said he needed five bottles of Gatorade and one bottle of electrolyte replacement solution to endure the final six innings.

After Scot Shields, Brendan Donnelly and Francisco Rodriguez held off the Expos from the eighth through the 12th, and after Callaway did the same in the 13th, Troy Glaus singled home two runs in the top of the 14th, lifting the Angels to a 7-5 lead.

Callaway, working for the fourth consecutive game, then gave up three runs in the bottom of the inning, on four singles and a walk. Jose Vidro drove home one run and Ron Calloway drove home the tying and winning runs.

As the Expos ran onto the field in celebration, Callaway shuffled off, with an earned-run average of 6.11 and an all-too-persistent pattern of getting behind in the count and trying to catch up with too many hittable pitches.

Callaway acknowledged he was tired, but Angel Manager Mike Scioscia refused to explain the game away that way.

“This is not something that’s new to Mickey,” Scioscia said. “If you look at Mickey’s struggles, it’s primarily from pitching from behind.

“I’m sure he’s getting a little tired. I also know the ghost he’s been battling ever since his first or second game has been getting behind in the count. This isn’t attributed to fatigue.”

After pitching Tuesday and Wednesday, the first time he said he has worked on successive days in his career, Callaway said he was running on empty Thursday.

“I was just going on adrenaline,” he said. “I didn’t have any life on my ball. Throwing it where I wanted to was a little more challenging.”

Callaway has been a starting pitcher throughout his career. The Angels stashed him in their bullpen last month, as insurance against recurrent injuries to veteran starters Kevin Appier and Aaron Sele.

But, with closer Troy Percival and center fielder Darin Erstad ready to return from the disabled list, the Angels need two roster spots and are expected to remove Callaway.

Such a move could come Saturday, when Percival is eligible to be activated, or even today, once Scioscia consults with General Manager Bill Stoneman to decide whether the Angels’ exhausted bullpen needs reinforcement for tonight’s game against the Florida Marlins, in similarly muggy Miami.

As the Angels headed to the airport, Lackey said depression would not set in on the three-hour flight to Florida. The heat and humidity would trump the disappointment.

“I think most of the guys will be racked out pretty quick,” he said.