Fullmer Is Latest Loss for Angels

In a season slipping painfully away from the Angels, the pain became horribly literal Thursday. Brad Fullmer ruptured his right knee in a 10-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Edison Field, and the Angels lost their designated hitter for the rest of the season.

The knee blew out as Fullmer ran out a ground ball in the eighth inning. Alfredo Griffin, the Angels’ first-base coach, heard the knee pop and covered his head with his hands as Fullmer collapsed beyond the base. Seattle pitcher Shigetoshi Hasegawa turned to look, then turned away in anguish.

“It’s sickening,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said.

With ace Jarrod Washburn on the mound, the Angels blew a 4-0 lead and lost for the eighth time in 11 games. The season will be halfway done next week, and the Angels are 13 1/2 games behind in the American League West. They stand fifth in the wild-card race, 7 1/2 games behind Oakland and Boston, only one game ahead of the Chicago White Sox and two ahead of the Baltimore Orioles.

But the standings were secondary to the loss of Fullmer, a terrific hitter and a player widely liked and admired by his teammates.

The Angels promoted utilityman Chone Figgins from triple-A Salt Lake to replace Fullmer on the roster, and Scioscia said he would give more at-bats to Figgins, Jeff DaVanon and Shawn Wooten

“Any time you lose somebody who contributes on a regular basis, it’s definitely going to set you back,” outfielder Garret Anderson said. “I hope it heals good so he can keep his career going.”

As Fullmer tried to beat out a routine ground ball, Griffin said, the right knee popped on his next-to-last stride. Fullmer lunged at the bag with his left leg, still trying to beat out a hit, then dragged his injured right leg across the base and crumpled to the ground.

“I saw his kneecap come up,” Griffin said. “I knew it was bad.”

Said Hasegawa: “I was scared. I didn’t want to see it like that.”

Fullmer felt no pain, Griffin said, but knew immediately that he had suffered a major injury. Trainers examined him on the field, then carried him off it. He was diagnosed with a ruptured patella tendon. He is expected to undergo surgery in the next few days, after an examination today, and his ability to return next season is uncertain.

It did not escape the notice of his teammates that he suffered a season-ending injury running all-out to beat out a ground ball, in a game the Angels trailed by four runs in the eighth inning.

Fullmer hit .306 this season. Even though Scioscia benched him against left-handers, Fullmer ranked third on the team with nine home runs and fourth with 35 runs batted in.

The Angels lost two starting position players to the disabled list last season, outfielder Tim Salmon for four weeks and catcher Bengie Molina for two. With this season not yet halfway done, they have lost Fullmer for the season, center fielder Darin Erstad for seven weeks and second baseman Adam Kennedy for two. They also have lost pitchers Kevin Appier, Aaron Sele and Troy Percival to the disabled list.

“Injuries are part of any team’s season. If you’re a championship-caliber organization, you’ll have depth to overcome it,” Scioscia said. “Even though we lost Brad, I still think we have depth to do things offensively.

“We’re certainly not running up a white flag at this point.”

Said Washburn: “I don’t think we can throw in the towel now that we don’t have Fullmer. I don’t think anyone in here is going to say this isn’t our year.”

For the third consecutive start, Washburn failed to survive the sixth inning, and his earned-run average is 10.57 over that span. He gave up his league-leading 19th home run Thursday, as many as he gave up all of last season.

“Right now, I’m not good,” he said. “I’m not all confused about what’s going on. I’m throwing the ball over the middle of the plate too many times.”

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*--* AL West Team W L GB Seattle 51 26 -- Oakland 45 32 6 Angels 37 39 13 1/2 Texas 29 48 22

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