Angels Don’t Go Left and It Proves Costly

Mike Holtz makes a healthy living because of a singular skill: He can get left-handed hitters out.

When opposing teams send their best left-handed hitter to the plate, Holtz is the Angels’ trump card. In the American League West alone, Holtz is the Angels’ antidote to Rafael Palmeiro of the Texas Rangers, Jason Giambi of the Oakland Athletics or John Olerud of the Seattle Mariners.

With the game on the line Sunday, Olerud striding to the plate and Holtz warming up in the bullpen, Angel Manager Mike Scioscia did not play his trump card. Olerud ripped a game-tying double against Shigetoshi Hasegawa in the eighth inning, the key hit during a six-run rally that propelled the Mariners to a 7-5 victory before 20,733 at Edison Field.

Pat Rapp offered the Angels seven innings of encouragement, rebounding from two poor starts by holding the Mariners to one run and five hits and retiring the final 10 hitters he faced.

Rapp handed a 3-1 lead to the bullpen, and the game plan was simple: Hasegawa would pitch the eighth inning, closer Troy Percival would pitch the ninth, and the Angels would win. Percival never made it into the game.

Hasegawa started the eighth by walking Mark McLemore, but Ichiro Suzuki grounded out. Mike Cameron singled McLemore to third, and Edgar Martinez singled him home. So the Angels led, 3-2, but the Mariners had the tying and go-ahead runs on base, with Olerud coming up and Holtz available.

“What it came down to was, did we like Holtz vs. Olerud or Hasegawa vs. Olerud? We felt comfortable with Hasegawa,” Scioscia said.

The case for Hasegawa: He is the setup man, a proven reliever who won 10 games and saved nine last season. The eighth inning is his.

The case against Hasegawa: He is a right-hander, and Olerud is a career .307 hitter against right-handers, .275 against left-handers. Last season, he hit .297 against right-handers, .242 against left-handers.

“We have confidence in Hasegawa against lefties and righties,” Scioscia said. “He got us through the eighth inning virtually every time last year. He’s a cornerstone of our bullpen. We feel very comfortable with him in that role.”

Left-handers hit .246 against Hasegawa last season, .213 against Holtz. And this would be Scioscia’s best and perhaps only chance to use Holtz against a left-hander, since Seattle Manager Lou Piniella would not pinch-hit for Olerud but would for the lefties that followed.

“With [Al] Martin and [Tom] Lampkin, I felt they were going to pinch-hit,” Holtz said.

Scioscia nonetheless stuck with Hasegawa. Olerud doubled home the tying run. Bret Boone singled home two more runs.

Then Scioscia summoned Holtz, and Piniella played Scioscia like a fiddle. David Bell batted for Martin and walked. Stan Javier batted for Lampkin and doubled in a run. Carlos Guillen squeezed home another run.

Piniella declined to discuss whether he was surprised Holtz did not face Olerud.

“We like Hasegawa, but everybody has days when they get hit,” Piniella said.

With the Angels and Mariners playing 19 times this season, Holtz will certainly get his chance at Olerud.

“When Shiggy’s on, he gets lefties and righties,” Holtz said. “I expected him to stay in there.

“There’s no disappointment. I’ll see him [Olerud] a lot of times this year.”

The Angels’ 6-6 start, while not cause for celebration, is not cause for overwhelming concern either. As the middle of the lineup heats up, the Angels believe, so will the team.

Garret Anderson is hitting .224, though he had two hits Sunday, including his second home run. Glenallen Hill is hitting .162, with 11 strikeouts and no walks in 37 at-bats. Tim Salmon is hitting .140 and is hitless in his last 16 at-bats.

“With some of the outings we’ve seen from our starting pitching, particularly Ramon [Ortiz] and [Scott] Schoeneweis, this is exciting,” Salmon said. “And we’ve taken advantage of the bottom of our lineup being hot.”

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DEFINING THEIR ROLES: Angels don’t expect Rapp and Valdes to be No. 1 starters. D8