[0] ANGRY ANGELS TATTOO ORIOLES : ANGELS 8, BALTIMORE 3.

Byline: Joe Haakenson San Gabriel Valley Tribune

What happens to a major-league team when it struggles?

It gets cranky.

``This is not a happy clubhouse today,'' Angels first baseman Cecil Fielder said before Saturday night's game against the Baltimore Orioles. Did 11 losses in 14 games have anything to do with it? ``What do you think?'' Fielder responded.

To make matters worse for the Angels, pitcher Chuck Finley spent most of the evening at the hospital, and he didn't even play in the game. Finley was hit on the right forearm by a line drive off the bat of the Orioles' Joe Carter in the third inning while sitting in the dugout. Results of the X-rays were negative, but Finley will be examined again tomorrow.

But the Angels, knowing that the Texas Rangers had already won Saturday and a loss would knock them out of first place, could laugh and enjoy themselves with a victory over the Orioles. They won 8-3 before 37,806 at Edison Field.

The Angels players were not the only ones on edge Saturday. Manager Terry Collins, though, had every right to be upset when he stormed onto the field to argue with home-plate umpire Ken Kaiser in the bottom of the sixth.

Kaiser called the Angels' Gary DiSarcina out at the plate after DiSarcina tried to score from second on a two-out single to left by Orlando Palmeiro. B.J. Surhoff's throw from left field to catcher Lenny Webster was late. DiSarcina slid under the tag, but Kaiser called him out.

Collins argued long enough to get ejected for the third time this season. It was the Angels' 10th ejection of the season.

The Angels, batting .168 on the homestand with six runs in the previous three games before Saturday, snapped out of their rut with 13 hits.

DiSarcina got the big hit, breaking a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning when he slapped a 1-2 pitch into right field for a two-out, two-run double and a 4-2 lead.

Everyone in the starting lineup for the Angels had at least one hit except for second baseman Justin Baughman, but Baughman drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Palmeiro, Darin Erstad and Jim Edmonds had two hits apiece.

Angels starter Jarrod Washburn struggled early, giving up two runs in the first inning. But he escaped a potential game-breaking inning when he retired Webster with the bases loaded to end the first.

Washburn (5-2) didn't allow another run until Webster hit a solo home run with two out in the sixth. That was it for Washburn, who made 34 pitches in the first inning and a total of 117 in his 5-2/3 innings.

The Angels cut into the Orioles' 2-0 lead in the second inning after Garret Anderson doubled and went to third on an error. It extended Anderson's hitting streak to a team-high 16 games.

One out later, Anderson scored on a sacrifice fly by Baughman.

The Angels tied it one inning later after Dave Hollins doubled and scored on a single by Erstad.

DiSarcina's two-run double broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth, and Edmonds made it 5-2 with an RBI-single in the fifth.

Webster's homer in the sixth cut the Angels' lead to 5-3, but the Angels added two runs in the seventh, one run scoring on a wild pitch and the second on a sacrifice fly by Matt Walbeck.