Angels Out of Control

Too bad the deadline for filing income taxes just passed Monday. The Angels might have been able to write off Friday night’s 5-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics as a charitable donation.

The A’s entered Friday with the second-lowest average (.229) in the major leagues, the second-fewest runs (66), and the second-lowest on-base percentage (.297) and average with runners in scoring position (.231). They had only 16 hits in a three-game series against Detroit that ended Thursday.

So what do Angel pitchers do? They walk 10 batters, including a career-high seven by starter John Lackey, in McAfee Coliseum. Four of those free passes came around to score, as the A’s, lacking punch but not patience, won despite having only four hits.

The double-figure walk total was the most the Angels have issued since they walked 11 in a 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees on May 19, 2004. The A’s walked more times Friday than the Angels have in their last four games combined. The Angels have walked 23 in the last three games.

“Some guys are getting too fine early in the count, some are giving pitcher’s counts right back to the hitters by not being able to make a pitch and put guys away,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Some guys are not locked in. It varies from case to case. The cause is different from pitcher to pitcher.”

Despite the maddening mound follies, the Angels were in a position to win when Garret Anderson, swinging on a 3-and-0 count, rifled a Rich Harden fastball into the right-field seats in the sixth inning for a 3-2 Angel lead.

But Angel reliever J.C. Romero, who worked his way out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth inning, walked Marco Scutaro with one out in the seventh, and Eric Chavez blasted a two-run home run to right to give Oakland a 4-3 lead.

The A’s extended the lead to 5-3 in the eighth when Nick Swisher led off with a walk off Esteban Yan and scored on Jason Kendall’s double to right-center.

The Angels threatened in the ninth when Darin Erstad led off with a triple, career hit No. 1,500, off reliever Joe Kennedy. With closer Huston Street sidelined by injury, Oakland Manager Ken Macha summoned right-hander Kiko Calero, who struck out pinch-hitter Tim Salmon.

Casey Kotchman walked, and with pinch-runner Robb Quinlan stealing second, Jeff Mathis struck out. But the momentum of his follow-through pushed Mathis over the plate, Kendall’s right hand hit Mathis’ helmet on the catcher’s follow-through, and Mathis was called for interference, ending the game.

“It was the right call,” Scioscia said. “Jeff stepped across the plate.”

That ended a rough night for Mathis, the rookie catcher who dropped two popups after long runs in the stadium’s expansive foul grounds in the third inning, one on the third-base side, one on the first-base side.

It appeared third baseman Maicer Izturis could have made one of the plays, but he backed off at the last second. First baseman Casey Kotchman was playing toward the hole on the second popup and didn’t have enough closing speed.

Mathis was charged with an error on one of the plays. Though neither cost the Angels a run, they “cost Lackey about 15 pitches,” Scioscia said. “The corners should have had those balls.”

Lackey was a control freak in his first three starts, walking only two in 19 innings, but of his 113 pitches Friday night, only 64 were strikes.

Mark Kotsay drew a two-out walk in the third and scored on Bobby Crosby’s double to right for a 1-0 lead. The Angels took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fourth when Chone Figgins singled, took third on Orlando Cabrera’s single and scored on Anderson’s RBI single. Erstad’s sacrifice fly to center pushed the Angels in front.

But Oakland evened the score in the bottom of the fourth. Swisher walked with one out and Lackey walked .029-hitting Dan Johnson, who had one hit in 35 at-bats entering Friday, on a full-count breaking ball that just missed the strike zone.

Lackey then hung a curve to Ellis, who lined it into the left-field corner for an RBI double and a 2-2 tie.