Gamble Doesn’t Pay Off

It was Terry Collins’ mandate from the minute he was named Angel manager last November: his team would pressure opponents with aggressive baserunning and would not rely on the three-run home run.

But the Angels were burned by that approach Sunday when Jim Edmonds, attempting to go from first to third on Dave Hollins’ two-out single in the seventh inning, was thrown out by center fielder Dave Martinez.

The score was tied, 2-2, and the heart of the Angel order, Jim Leyritz and Tim Salmon, was coming up. There’s no predicting what Leyritz and Salmon would have done in the seventh, but both singled to open the eighth.

Edmonds said he was trying to catch Martinez by surprise but admitted the gamble was a mistake. “You’re not supposed to make the last out at third,” he said.

Collins, though, could hardly fault Edmonds for the effort. “If he left first base and busted his butt from the time he went from first to third, then it was a good gamble--Martinez just made an outstanding throw,” Collins said.

“The problem with [second-guessing] those decisions is the minute you make a big issue about it, the next time he won’t go . . . and I want them to go. We’ll be safe more than we’ll be out on plays like that.”

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The White Sox said they would have a kinder, gentler Albert Belle, one who would actually cooperate with the media, but the outfielder who is off to a .221 start has been as surly as ever. He has spoken to reporters only three times--and not since April 11--blown off an autograph session and failed to appear on a radio show he’s under contract to do.

“I just heard about that, and I’m going to speak to him about it,” White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said Sunday. “It’s not optional. Players have to cooperate with the media.”