He’s Experienced When It Comes to Making a Pitch

There were grown men talking into the sleeves of their sports coats, a bunch of guys holding mini-cams on their shoulders and a heavy security detail around the batting cage in Comerica Park an hour before the Angel-Tiger game Wednesday night.

All this for batting practice? Yes, when the pitcher is Vice President Al Gore, who made an unscheduled detour from the campaign trail, threw for about five minutes to the Tigers--a little BP from the VP--and impressed the big leaguers with his repertoire.

“He threw good for a guy who’s been running around in a plane and a car all day,” Angel pitcher Tim Belcher said. “I was just worried someone was going to hit him in the forehead.”

Actually, Gore hit Tiger utility player Robert Fick in the hip with a pitch that probably wouldn’t have broken the speed limit on a radar gun. Fick almost returned the favor, sending a soft liner inches past the presidential candidate.

What would have happened had Fick hit Gore in the head? “They would have locked me up and thrown away the key,” Fick said.

Belcher and Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn hoped Gore would visit the Angel clubhouse--”I told him to get over here and change our luck, we need something,” Washburn said--and Belcher thought the chances were good after speaking with Gore’s briefing coordinator.

“He said, ‘We gotta get him over there with some Angels, because California is a swing state,’ ” Belcher said. “It’s all about the photo ops.”

Gore didn’t have time for a clubhouse visit, but he did shake hands with several Angels in their dugout before heading off to a fund-raiser in Detroit.

“If he’s elected, I will have shaken hands with the last four presidents,” said Belcher, who will start for the Angels today. “No matter what your politics are, that’s pretty cool.”

*

Like many young pitchers from the Dominican Republic, Angel right-hander Ramon Ortiz idolizes Pedro Martinez, the Boston Red Sox ace who is a national hero in the Dominican.

This winter, Ortiz’s idol will also be his mentor. During the Angels’ last visit to Boston, Martinez told Ortiz to call him when he gets home this winter so the two can work out together.

“He told me, ‘I need to work with you,’ and he knows what I need,” Ortiz said. “I’m going to ask him a lot of questions. He’s a very nice person. I love this guy. He’ll work with everybody.”

*

Troy Glaus has 27 errors, tops among American League third basemen, but the Angels will still take him over just about any other third baseman in baseball. At least a dozen of his errors have come on errant throws after making great stops.

“You have to look at his range and how many runs he saves rather than his errors,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “To me, we’re way ahead of the game along those lines at third base. He’s saved a lot more runs than he’s given up.”

TODAY

ANGELS’

TIM BELCHER

(2-2, 9.69 ERA)

vs.

TIGERS’

DAVE MLICKI

(4-10, 5.61 ERA)

Comerica Park, Detroit, 4 p.m. PDT

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

* Update--Belcher will look to salvage what’s left of his most disappointing season, one in which the veteran right-hander has been limited to four starts because of elbow injuries. Mlicki, the former Dodger right-hander, is making his first start since July 22 after sitting out six weeks because of a chronic sinus infection. Mo Vaughn leads the Angels with 106 runs batted in, and the Angels have four others--Garret Anderson (96), Darin Erstad (90), Troy Glaus (90) and Tim Salmon (87)--on pace for 100 RBIs. No Angel team has ever had three players with 100 RBIs in the same season.