Angels Walk Away With a 10-3 Defeat

By TIM BROWN

Sept. 10, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The parts of Darin Erstad not burned red by the afternoon sun were frosted red by the ice packs.

He looked up, expressionless, from the folding metal chair at his locker. He moved his limbs slowly. Contending doesn’t come free for any of the Angels, not even Erstad, the major league leader in hits and glares.

“The losses sting more now,” he said, quietly. “Time is running out.”

The Angels played loosely Saturday afternoon and lost, 10-3, to the Baltimore Orioles before 22,332 at Edison Field.

Their starter, Scott Karl (0-2), did not pitch out of the fourth inning and gave up six runs, four of them earned. Manager Mike Scioscia said afterward that he would consider removing Karl, after three starts, from the rotation, a decision possibly made easier by Thursday’s off day. “We’ll see what options we have,” Scioscia said.

The Angels, a .500 team trying desperately to be dynamic for the next three weeks, moved as numbly in the postgame clubhouse as they had on the base paths. Nine of them drew walks, five in the same inning, and only one of those scored. They had one hit in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position against a team with little left to play for.

If Mo Vaughn has become the leader of this club, calling meetings to remind his teammates of the monthlong opportunity before them, Erstad is still its conscience. No one plays harder. No one takes it harder.

Late in the afternoon, long after the shadows crossed home plate and Tim Salmon took strike three for the final out, Erstad remembered why they were here at all.

“It stings,” he said. “At the same time, we’ve been through so much this year, we’re very confident as a group.”

They have three weeks to make up ground that grew over five months. They trail by 6 1/2 games in the wild-card race and by six in the American League West. They all see it there before them, the ride deep into September that would make worthwhile all that came before it.

“You move on,” Erstad said. “Gotta go to tomorrow.

“All spring training, all off-season, everything you do, all the hard work you put in, all the games you play to put yourself in a position to play for something, this is the reward. I don’t care if it’s the dog days or not, you get yourself in this position and there’s no rest. The fun part about baseball is grinding it out. Everybody can do it when it’s easy.”

Erstad had two more hits, but was frustrated by Oriole starter Jose Mercedes (12-5), who gave up two singles and a double and walked eight in six innings, yet somehow won. In the third inning, Mercedes walked the leadoff batter, Matt Walbeck, got a double-play grounder from Kevin Stocker, then walked the next four Angel hitters. He threw 36 pitches in the inning, 13 of them for strikes, and allowed one run.

The Orioles batted eight in the fourth inning, scored four runs, took a 6-1 lead and coasted from there.

Erstad shook his head. The Angels lost ground. Twenty games left. It’s great and it’s awful, almost every day now.

“You play all season to put yourself in this position,” he said. “The best part is digging down and laying it out and getting it done.”

He sees that all around him.

The Angels played poorly Saturday. They committed two errors. They pitched in hitters’ counts and did not hit in them.

Still, Erstad sees it all around him.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Definitely.”

Then he rose, slowly, to his feet. The fun part.