No Surface Charm to Angel Loss

MINNEAPOLIS —  The way things are going for the Angels, with their cleanup hitter on the disabled list, their designated hitter possibly headed there, their shortstop out with a groin strain and their right fielder nursing a tender knee, Friday night’s 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins could actually be seen as a positive.

Sure, pitcher Ramon Ortiz looked wobbly, getting roughed up for six runs and 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings in front of 21,279 in the Metrodome, and the Angels were shut down for most of the night by right-hander Carlos Silva, a 25-year-old who gave up two earned runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings.

But at least the Angels’ most productive hitter, third baseman Troy Glaus, was still standing -- and playing -- after giving the Angels a considerable scare when he slumped over and clutched his left shoulder after diving for Torii Hunter’s double down the line in the fifth inning.

Glaus suffered a partial tear in his right shoulder last July 21 -- an injury that ended his season -- when he fell awkwardly on a similar artificial surface in Tropicana Field, and it appeared he might have suffered a similar fate after his awkward landing Friday night.

But Glaus, who leads the team with seven home runs and 20 runs batted in, remained in the game after being checked by an Angel trainer. Afterward, he said he was sore, but it was the new FieldTurf in the Metrodome -- and not Glaus’ shoulder -- that took the biggest pounding.

“When you dive, your glove should not stick on the ground,” a perturbed Glaus said. “That doesn’t happen on dirt, and it didn’t happen on the old turf here. This is one of those things that shouldn’t have happened.”

The Twins’ new playing surface, which looks like plastic grass and is considerably softer than the old turf, has been the subject of controversy in Minnesota, with Twin outfielders Hunter and Shannon Stewart attributing hamstring injuries to it.

Add Glaus to the list of critics.

“You can’t simulate grass,” Glaus said. “No matter what you do, you can’t fake it. At least with the old turf, it was consistent. This stuff has hard spots, soft spots, sometimes your cleats stick to it, sometimes you slip. It’s not good to play on.”

The Metrodome mound remained the same, but it didn’t seem good for Ortiz on Friday. The right-hander lost his command in the middle innings, giving up five runs and eight hits in the third through fifth, and seemed to lose his composure in the sixth, barking at home-plate umpire Chris Guccione after walking No. 9 batter Nick Punto with two out.

That brought Manager Mike Scioscia out of the dugout for a heated argument with Guccione, one that centered around pace-of-game issues and was confusing to Ortiz.

“The umpire said, ‘Let’s go, let’s go,’ but I told him I had to wait for Bengie,” Ortiz said, referring to catcher Bengie Molina. “I can’t throw to the plate if Bengie is not ready.... It was unbelievable. It was a crazy day today.”

Said Scioscia: “I was wondering why [Guccione] was jumping up into our pitcher’s face.”

After the argument, Ortiz threw wildly to first on a pickoff attempt, allowing Punto to go to second, and Punto scored on Stewart’s single for a 6-1 Twin lead. Scioscia summoned Ben Weber to replace Ortiz, who fell to 1-3 with a 9.28 earned-run average in five starts.

“I didn’t think he was flustered ... but he’s dealing with a frustration level that is there,” Scioscia said of Ortiz. “He has to try to keep his perspective; go out there and repeat pitches on a consistent basis. He also wants to win, and when that doesn’t happen, he gets frustrated.”

Minnesota took a 2-1 lead in the third on Doug Mientkiewicz’s two-run double, added two runs in the fourth on RBI singles by Cristian Guzman and Punto, and another in the fifth when Corey Koskie crushed a 414-foot home run to right.

After scoring on Punto’s error in the third, the Angels finally got to Silva in the eighth when Jose Guillen doubled, Jeff DaVanon tripled to knock in Guillen and scored on Molina’s sacrifice fly, trimming the Twins’ lead to 6-3.

The Angels threatened against closer Joe Nathan in the ninth when Chone Figgins reached second on Mientkiewicz’s error and took third on Vladimir Guerrero’s single. But Glaus bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game and a frustrating all-around evening for the Angels.