ROYAL PAIN FOR ANGELS SANTANA WALKS 8 IN LOSS TO LOWLY K.C. KANSAS CITY 9, ANGELS 4.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA  Staff Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The problems started with the starting pitcher and spread out like a disease Thursday.

Ervin Santana had nothing for the Royals and yet somehow the Angels still were in the game. When bad defense, poor relief pitching and a bevy of bizarre incidents happened, the Angels were well on their way to a 9-4 loss to the hapless Kansas City Royals.

It got so bad that it ended up costing Tommy Murphy his spot on the roster. Murphy was optioned back to Triple-A Salt Lake so that pitcher Chris Bootcheck could be recalled. The Angels needed another arm in the bullpen this weekend after three relievers were used and because two pitchers who had their starts skipped will jump back into the rotation.

``We haven't had a game like that in a while, and that might have been one of the ones you definitely want to turn the page on,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``Not only turn the page but rip that out of the folder and crumple up and throw away.

``We've been playing great baseball. Tonight was really something you wouldn't have expected. We'll move forward.''

Santana walked a career high eight batters, two shy of the club record set by Nolan Ryan and Andy Hassler. He threw 103 pitches and only 46 were strikes.

``You know, every day is not a happy day,'' Santana said. ``Today was not my day. I was struggling with my performance today. Everything was all over the zone. I didn't have command of the fastball or the slider, nothing. I tried and kept battling and battling and did my best. No excuses.''

For the Angels, it was shades of May, when they went through a short spell of poor starting pitching mixed in with bad defense and no offense.

``Physically, (Santana) was fine, I thought he was focused, he just had trouble not only getting the ball into good zones but getting it over the plate,'' Scioscia said. ``That was probably the most erratic any of us have seen Ervin. He has to turn the page too.''

The Angels looked nothing like a team that carried an eight-game win streak into play Wednesday and had won 13 of its previous 15 games.

The current road trip was supposed to be an opportunity to put more pressure on the first-place Oakland Athletics, since the Angels are playing the Royals and then the Tampa Bay Devil Rays before heading to Boston. But one game into the trip, and all the Angels have is their worst defeat in over three weeks.

The Angels committed four errors, the pitchers had three wild pitches and Mike Napoli had a passed ball. Napoli was also called for catcher's interference ... on a pitchout. It happened on a hit-and-run in the sixth inning when Doug Mientkiewicz reached out on a wide pitch from Kevin Gregg while trying to protect the runner.

Mientkiewicz hit the ball out of Napoli's glove to Maicer Izturis, who caught the ball on the fly, but Mientkiewicz was awarded first base. Napoli was shaken up on the play but said he was fine after the game.

Mientkiewicz again was a part of an odd play when he crashed into Angels first-base coach Alfredo Griffin while running after a foul ball.

Oddest of all was that the Royals looked like the team that had been on a roll.

Near the game's end, the sparse crowd was chanting for free doughnuts that are earned when the team has 12 hits. If the Angels did anything Thursday by holding the Royals to 11 hits, it was to spare Kansas City residents a sugar rush.

Despite Santana's struggles, the Angels managed to tie the score 4-4 in the fifth inning and had runners on the corners with nobody out. But Napoli flew out to short left field against reliever Elmer Dessens and Garret Anderson lined into a double play.

Dessens (5-7) allowed just one hit over three innings as the Angels had 12 consecutive batters retired from the fifth inning until the ninth, when Howie Kendrick walked.

``It's not fun playing games like this,'' Napoli said. ``We just have to let it go, which I'm pretty sure everybody in this clubhouse will. We'll come out and play hard and try to get on a roll again.''

The last time the Angels lost consecutive games was June 28 and 30 to wrap up a three-game losing streak.

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Photo:

The Angels' Vladimir Guerrero can't track down a ball hit by Kansas City's Mark Grudzielanek on Thursday.

Ed Zurga/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS at KANSAS CITY

-Doug Padilla