ANGELS PITCHING: WASHBURN FADING FAST ANGELS' ACE GETS IN EARLY TROUBLE IN GAME 5 LOSS.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - Jarrod Washburn has hit the wall. In the process, he's put the Angels up against one.

The Angels call Washburn their ace, and for 32 regular-season and three postseason starts, he filled that bill.

But when Washburn returns to his offseason home in Wisconsin, he'll have to live with the fact he could not deliver for his team in the World Series.

Thursday night, with the Series lead in the balance, Washburn turned in his worst start of the season, giving up six runs in four innings of the Giants' 16-4 victory in front of 42,713 fans at Pacific Bell Park.

The Angels return to Edison Field facing elimination, down 3-2 to the Giants. Washburn is on the hook for two of the losses, and barring an emergency relief stint in a potential Game 7, his final appearance of 2002 looks like this: Four innings, six hits, five walks, six runs.

It was Washburn's shortest outing of the year, one in which the control artist threw nearly as many balls - 39 - as his 40 strikes. He left his team in a 6-0 hole, an especially precipitous deficit given the bullpen's heavy use in the previous four games.

And even though the bullpen yielded 10 runs behind him, and the lineup failed in its one attempt to bring the tying run home in the sixth inning, Washburn was more than willing to say this one was on him.

``I take full responsibility for this loss, '' Washburn said. ``Nothing was working for me. I put us in a huge hole right away. I have no excuses.''

Well, he does have one. Washburn, as pitching coach Bud Black noted, is in uncharted waters. He pitched a career-high 206 innings in winning 18 games in the regular season and has followed that up with 28 2/3 postseason innings. He said there was no life on his fastball, he struggled with his location and he had virtually no command.

Black said Washburn wasn't keeping his eyes focused on the target, and needed to stay back over the pitching rubber a bit.

Washburn looked like a tired pitcher. And he was.

``I feel tired, and I've felt tired the last month,'' he said. ``But I'm sure every pitcher out there feels that way right now. Tired or not, I'm expected to do the job. I've been able to do that in the past.''

The World Series has been a different matter. In Game 1, he challenged hitters like he always does and the Giants made him pay by hitting three home runs.

Thursday, the damage was mostly selnflicted.

From the start, he didn't look comfortable. Leadoff batter Kenny Lofton singled to start the game, and one out later, Jeff Kent drew the first of Washburn's five walks.

With two runners on, there was little choice but to pitch to Barry Bonds, and he delivered an RBI double for a 1-0 lead, not a bad fate given the possibilities.

But after Benito Santiago hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, Washburn was ordered to walk Reggie Sanders intentionally, setting up a matchup against the left-handed hitting J.T. Snow.

Washburn threw one strike to Snow. And then everything went haywire.

Eight of the next nine pitches were balls, as Snow walked to load the bases and David Bell drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-0.

What's more, Washburn's walk-fest enabled pitcher Jason Schmidt to bat in the bottom of the first. That meant Lofton led off the second inning, and he started the process all over with another single. Darin Erstad gave Washburn a brief reprieve with a diving catch of Rich Aurilia's fly ball, but Kent followed with a double to right field. That meant a no-brainer walk of Bonds, but Benito Santiago followed with a two-run single to make it 5-0.

Sanders' sacrifice fly completed the six-run, two-inning barrage.

``I put us in a hole,'' he said. ``It was too big of a hole to get out of. I feel terrible. I'm going to try to forget it.''

Black thinks he'll have forgotten it by this morning.

``I know he's going to come to me (today) and want to pitch in Game 7,'' Black said. ``If it goes seven, 10 guys will be down there (in the bullpen) with their spikes on.''

So that might be Washburn's shot at redemption. He's hoping for it, but certainly not counting on it.

``I would be available for that,'' Washburn said. ``After tonight, I'm not sure they'd want me to.''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Angels' ace Jarrod Washburn took his second loss of the World Series in a 16-4 pounding by the Giants. Washburn might be showing signs of fatigue after pitching the most innings of his career.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer