BLISTER POPS ESCOBAR'S CONTROL TAMPA BAY 8, ANGELS 3.Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Kelvim Escobar's first win as an Angel came on an April afternoon in Oakland, after the nail on the middle finger of his pitching hand split in the first inning. He still completed five innings and quietly earned the respect of his new teammates. Tuesday, again in the first inning, that same finger developed a blister, which popped in the third inning. Escobar grimaced grim·ace n. A sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust. intr.v. grim·aced, grim·ac·ing, grim·ac·es To make a sharp contortion of the face. through the pain, hoping to gut out five innings and deliver another victory. He fell one out short. Tampa Bay Tampa Bay, inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, 25 mi (40 km) long and 7 to 12 mi (11.3–19 km) wide, W Fla., separated from the Gulf by numerous small islands; it receives the Hillsborough River. St. didn't let Escobar out of the fifth inning, posting three go- ahead runs on him, and the Angels fell another rung back in both of their races with an 8-3 loss in front of 9,537 at Tropicana Field • • [ . On a night the Angels learned emerging utilityman Robb Quinlan Robb William Quinlan (born March 17, 1977 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a Major League Baseball player. He currently plays third base for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Quinlan graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1999, obtaining a degree in marketing and communications. likely will miss the rest of the season, they saw their most dependable starting pitcher Noun 1. starting pitcher - (baseball) a pitcher who starts in a baseball game baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; undermined by a blister - a fickle injury that could force him to miss at least one start. It was enough to greatly alter his approach Tuesday, a night the Angels fell two games behind In sports, the phrase games behind, often abbreviated as GB in tables, is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division. Oakland in the American League West The American League West is one of three divisions in Major League Baseball's American League. The division currently has four teams, but it has had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. and 1 1/2 back of Boston and Texas in the wild card. ``I don't like to have excuses,'' Escobar said. ``I felt very strong, but my location wasn't there. I wasn't trying to throw to the corners because of the soreness. I tried to let them get themselves out. It didn't happen.'' Only once had Escobar failed to complete five innings, and it took a rain delay of more than two hours, at New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , to drive him from the game. Only once in his last 18 starts had Escobar failed to complete six innings. But it was soon evident Escobar was not right. B.J. Upton, the 19-year-old rookie shortstop, hit his first major league home run in the third. In the fifth, Escobar issued a leadoff walk to Carl Crawford Carl Demonte Crawford (born August 5 1981 in Houston, Texas) is the starting left fielder for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of Major League Baseball. He bats and throws left-handed. , a one-out single to Aubrey Huff and then drilled Tino Martinez in the upper back with a fastball to load the bases. Martinez took offense, grumbling as he slowly trudged toward first. But Escobar's plunking was anything but intentional. The blister robbed him of any semblance of control. Soon, a Julio Lugo sacrifice fly and a Toby Hall two-run double turned a 3-2 Angels lead into a 5-3 deficit. After a two-out intentional walk, Escobar (7-9) was done. He called the split nail episode in Oakland ``very painful.'' He said Tuesday's discomfort was even worse. His nail broke again two starts ago in Kansas City. While that did not affect him, the area around it was raw and exposed and it flared up Tuesday. ``I think it affected him,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``Still, if he gets through the fifth, we have a chance to win.'' Before the game, Scioscia said closer Troy Percival's inability to pitch more than three times a week won't affect the bullpen at large, so long as they can ``get away from using three or four bullpen guys a night. That will drain us pretty quick.'' Consider them somewhat drained. Escobar's injury forced Brendan Donnelly to enter in the fifth, and he struck out three of the five batters he faced to keep it a 5-3 game. Kevin Gregg followed by striking out three of the first four men he faced, but issued a walk and hit a batter with one out in the ninth. The Devil Rays (54-64) made him pay, as Upton's ground-rule RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in double and Huff's two-run single put it out of reach. Gabe Lacques, (626) 962-8811 gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): box Box: GAME RECAP |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion