Not a Good Start for Stocker

It wasn’t as painful as Mo Vaughn’s Angel debut, when the first baseman tumbled into the first-base dugout and suffered a severe sprain of his left ankle on opening night in 1999.

But Kevin Stocker did suffer a considerable blow to his ego Saturday when the first batter of the game, the Dodgers’ Todd Hollandsworth, lifted a popup to shallow left field and Stocker, the new Angel shortstop, lost it in the sun.

The ball dropped for an error and, after Mark Grudzielanek singled, Gary Sheffield hit the first of his two home runs in the Dodgers’ 8-3 victory. It did not cost the Angels the game, but it wasn’t the kind of first impression Stocker was hoping for.

“That’s not really the way I wanted to start here,” said Stocker, who was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on May 25 and signed with the Angels on Tuesday. “You lose a ball in the sun and look like an idiot, and then Sheffield hits a home run.”

The rest of the day actually went pretty well for Stocker. He fielded four attempts flawlessly, making a nice play on Grudzielanek’s grounder up the middle in the third and a back-handed stop of Kevin Elster’s sharp grounder in the fourth. He also reached base three times, with two walks and a single in five plate appearances.

“He’s a professional, and you can see that by the way he turned the page,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It wasn’t a story-book start, but he came back to the dugout, told [pitcher Brian] Cooper he messed up and said, ‘Let’s go.’ He played well after that. He’s going to be fine.”

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The Angels left 13 men on base Saturday, and 12 in Friday night’s 12-5 victory, but Scioscia does not see any disturbing trends. The Angels also left 14 on base in a 7-3 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday.

“Our team has hit very well in the clutch this season, and today we didn’t get it done,” Scioscia said. “But that’s not a concern of mine. I think you’re going to see three guys in the middle of our lineup with 100 RBIs this year, and if we keep getting on base like we have, I feel very confident about our offense.”

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Edison Field ranks third in the major leagues in home runs with 3.33 a game (100 homers in 30 games) behind Coors Field in Denver (3.68) and Enron Field in Houston (3.63). . . . Though Cooper took the loss Saturday, his seven-inning effort provided a break for an Angel bullpen that has been overworked in recent weeks. . . . Bengie Molina’s hitting streak ended at 14 games Saturday when the catcher, who entered the game in the top of the seventh, grounded to short in his only at-bat in the eighth. . . . Ken Hill and Jason Dickson will make minor league rehabilitation starts in the next week. Hill is scheduled to pitch for Class-A Lake Elsinore Saturday and Dickson for triple-A Edmonton the next day.