It’s Too Hot for Angels to Handle

It wasn’t just the heat, it was the humility -- of walking eight, throwing three wild pitches and allowing a run on a passed ball, of committing four errors, of giving up nine runs to a team that came in with a 21-inning scoreless streak, of getting thoroughly outplayed by the team with the worst record in baseball.

The Angels, baseball’s hottest team since the start of July, wilted Thursday night in the inferno that was Kauffman Stadium, where it was 96 degrees at game time, the humidity producing a heat index of 109 degrees.

Ervin Santana, who had won seven consecutive decisions, couldn’t find the strike zone, and several fielders couldn’t find the handle on that pesky little thing known as the baseball, as the Angels lost to the Kansas City Royals, 9-4, to fall two games behind first-place Oakland in the American League West.

“We haven’t had a game like that in a while,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “That’s definitely one you want to turn the page on. Not only turn the page, but rip it out of the folder, crumple it up and throw it away.”

Santana walked eight, two shy of the club record for a nine-inning game set by Nolan Ryan and Andy Hassler in 1974, setting the tone for the Angels’ second straight loss after beginning July with a 13-1 record.

The right-hander’s early control problems slowed the game’s pace -- it took 3 hours 25 minutes to complete -- and Angels legs seemed to turn to jelly in the later innings.

After Vladimir Guerrero’s two-run double tied the score, 4-4, in the top of the fifth, the Angels allowed the go-ahead run during a three-error sixth and committed another error during the Royals’ three-run seventh.

The Angels have played some fabulous defense during their July streak, turning five double plays in Tuesday night’s win over Cleveland, but they still lead the league with 77 errors and have allowed a major league-high 64 unearned runs.

“We’ve been playing some great baseball, some fundamentally sound, aggressive baseball, for some time now,” Scioscia said. “Tonight is not something you would have expected, but it happens. We’ll move forward.”

Santana’s sentiments, exactly.

“Today, everything was out of the zone,” said Santana, who threw more balls (57) than strikes (46) in his 103-pitch performance. “I didn’t have command of my fastball, my slider, nothing. But it’s over. I can’t go back and say, ‘Let me do it again.’ I just have to be ready for my next outing.”

Santana, who issued three walks and threw two wild pitches during a 33-pitch first inning, was spared of the loss when Guerrero’s double knocked starter Jimmy Gobble out of the game.

But Royals right-hander Elmer Dessens, the former Dodgers reliever, replaced Gobble and escaped a first-and-third, no-out jam by getting Mike Napoli to fly to shallow left and Garret Anderson to line into a double play.

Angels reliever Kevin Gregg threw wildly past first on Joey Gathright’s bunt single to open the sixth, allowing Gathright to take third, and he scored when first baseman Kendry Morales couldn’t field David DeJesus’ grounder.

The third error of the inning came when Doug Mientkiewicz, lunging at a pitch-out, hit Napoli’s glove for catcher’s interference. Remarkably, Mientkiewicz made enough contact with the ball to hit a soft liner to third.

“I’ve had catcher’s inference before,” Napoli said, “but never on a pitch-out.”

It was that kind of game for the Angels, for Napoli, and for Santana, who couldn’t contain a 33-62 team coming off back-to-back 1-0 losses to Boston.

“He had problems not just hitting spots but getting the ball over the plate,” Scioscia said of Santana. “It was a tough start for him.”