It Was No Fun Being a Giant

There was an obvious benefit to Jason Christiansen’s trade from the San Francisco Giants to the Angels on Tuesday.

“I went from a team that was 15 games under .500 to a team that’s in the middle of a pennant race,” the left-handed reliever said. “That’s definitely a positive for me.”

There were some other, more subtle benefits, though. For one, the 35-year-old veteran no longer has to deal with the soap opera that is Barry Bonds, the controversial slugger who has missed the 2005 season because of a knee injury.

“It’s good to get out of a situation where if you pitch a good game, you’re asked, ‘Did you guys miss Barry today?’ ” Christiansen said. “Life goes on without that guy coming out to the park. The last five months we saw him about 20 days. It’s tough to answer questions about someone you don’t know anything about unless you go onto his website.”

Another benefit: Christiansen was able to escape the turmoil and the deteriorating conditions in San Francisco, where the Giants have been the target of heavy criticism and where several players, Christiansen included, began to criticize Manager Felipe Alou.

“You had a team that won for 10 years in a row,” Christiansen said. “It gets tough. When you lose, you tend to point fingers. Losing breeds negativity, and our locker room was full of that, myself included. It was a tough place to play, and the fans let us know, rightfully so.”

Christiansen went 6-1 with a 5.36 earned-run average in 56 games for the Giants, but like several other relievers, he was unhappy with how he was being used. His role will be well-defined in Anaheim: He will be called upon to get left-handed hitters out, to be the left-handed specialist the Angels have not had for more than two years.

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Wednesday night’s waiver trade deadline passed with no significant moves by the Angels, who made little progress in their search for a right-handed bat.

The Angels continued to pursue Kansas City slugger Mike Sweeney, but according to a source, the teams never got to the point of discussing what players the Angels would send to the Royals because Kansas City was unwilling to eat any of the $30 million remaining on Sweeney’s contract through 2007.

Sweeney reportedly cleared waivers, so he was available in a trade. There has been speculation that the Royals asked for pitcher Ervin Santana, first baseman Casey Kotchman and a middle-infield prospect, but the source said it wouldn’t have taken that much if the Angels picked up Sweeney’s entire contract.

“We had conversations, one as recent as an hour ago,” General Manager Bill Stoneman said, speaking in generalities, about an hour before Wednesday’s game.

“Were we close to anything? Probably not. It’s really no different than July. There weren’t a heck of a lot of quality players being offered around.”

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With teams allowed to expand rosters today, the Angels will activate reserve catcher Josh Paul off the disabled list and recall outfielder Curtis Pride and reliever Greg Jones from triple-A Salt Lake. To make room for Pride on the 40-man roster, the Angels transferred Dallas McPherson to the 60-day disabled list.... An MRI test on Oakland shortstop Bobby Crosby’s injured left ankle Wednesday revealed a broken bone, and Crosby went on the 15-day disabled list. He is expected to be out at least three weeks, and there is some concern he could be sidelined for the rest of the regular season.