Watson, Angels Drop Out Early

Angel pitching coach Marcel Lachemann and Allen Watson spent several hours this past week studying tapes of the left-hander’s best performances from 1997.

But instead of adding another installment to his highlight video, Watson turned Saturday night’s start into a Twins’ Greatest Hits album, lasting only 2 2/3 innings in a 9-5 loss to Minnesota before 31,036 at Edison Field.

“From a confidence standpoint, this was a very important game for him,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said before the game of Watson, who went 12-12 with a 4.93 earned-run average last season. “We know he’s going to be fine, but he needs to give us a good outing.”

Watson didn’t come close. He gave up five runs on five hits in the third inning alone, his ERA climbing to 7.69, his record falling to 3-5 and his stock in the eyes of the Angels, who invested $2.9 million in Watson this winter, following a similar course.

Watson, the fourth-highest paid player on the Angel roster, walked Brent Gates to open the third, and Pat Meares, the Twins’ leadoff batter, followed with a homer to left. Matt Lawton walked and, after Paul Molitor’s popup, Marty Cordova singled to left.

Ron Coomer’s infield single loaded the bases, and Alex Ochoa’s infield single drove in a run. Terry Steinbach lined out to short, but Jon Shave, recalled from triple-A Salt Lake City on May 11, knocked a two-run double to left for his first RBIs in a major league game since 1993.

Collins had seen enough. He pulled Watson, who was ripped for seven runs on 10 hits in three innings of his last start against Detroit on Monday night, and replaced him with Shigetoshi Hasegawa, who struck out Gates--the 10th batter of the inning--to end the rally.

The Angels countered with two runs in the bottom of the third on singles by Justin Baughman and Gary DiSarcina and Darin Erstad’s two-run double to left, and they trimmed the lead to 5-3 on Garret Anderson’s triple and Baughman’s RBI single in the fourth.

But the Twins added two more runs in the fifth, which started with Coomer’s single and Ochoa’s double off Hasegawa. Coomer scored on a passed ball, and Ochoa scored on Steinbach’s sacrifice fly.

Minnesota took advantage of reliever Rich DeLucia’s control problems in the sixth, scoring another run on a single, a walk and two wild pitches to make it 8-3.

Erstad’s RBI double--his 30th extra-base hit of the season--off Twins’ starter LaTroy Hawkins, and Jim Edmonds’ RBI double off reliever Eddie Guardado made it 8-5 in the seventh, before Twins’ right-hander Mike Trombley came on to strike out Tim Salmon to end the inning.

Trombley struck out Cecil Fielder and got Edmonds to fly out in the eighth, and left-hander Greg Swindell came on to retire Anderson on a groundout.

The Twins added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Shave singled and Gates doubled off reliever Pep Harris, and Swindell added a scoreless ninth to close out the Angels.

The loss ended what had to be an exasperating week for the Angels. They won four straight from Tuesday through Friday, three over the Oakland A’s and one over the Twins, and didn’t gain a game on first-place Texas, which won its sixth in a row Saturday night.

Then the Angels lose Saturday night for the first time in five days, and they drop another game to the Rangers, who are now six ahead of the Angels in the American League West.

“Sure, it’s disheartening,” Angel third baseman Dave Hollins said. “You just shake your head and say, ‘Whoa, [the Rangers] have everything going for them.’ They’re hitting . . . the ball, [Juan] Gonzalez has 59 RBIs, a bunch of other guys are tearing it up.

“You just have to hope we can stay close until they cool off.”