Only Thing Right Is Game for Angels

The bad news just kept coming for the Angels on Wednesday.

In the morning, their center fielder and RBI leader had a test that revealed tears in the cartilage of his left knee. At midday, a pitcher they were counting on to eventually help solidify their starting rotation underwent an operation that could mean the end of his season. And in the afternoon, the team announced that the most consistent reliever has an elbow so sore he can’t pitch for a few days.

Then Wednesday night’s starter, left-hander Allen Watson, was removed in the sixth inning because of tightness in his left hip. He had just struck out the side.

All in all, it was the kind of day that made a 7-3 victory over Kansas City in front of 13,220 at Anaheim Stadium seem kind of hollow.

Jim Edmonds underwent an MRI exam Wednesday that showed cartilage tears, but was still in the lineup and had a single in four at-bats before giving way to Orlando Palmeiro in the ninth inning. Edmonds will receive therapy and anti-inflammatory medication and continue to play on a regular basis as long as the knee will tolerate it.

Right-hander Mark Gubicza, who has been on the disabled list since April 12, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder. Team medical director Lewis Yocum made repairs in the joint and trimmed the underside of the rotator cuff. There is “no timetable” for Gubicza’s return, according to a club spokesman.

And right-hander Mike James, who had five saves while Troy Percival was sidelined, will be out of action for three to five days because of an inflamed elbow. James said the problem is merely a flare-up of tendinitis that bothers almost all pitchers from time to time, but admitted it was time to give his aching elbow complete rest.

“It’s something I’ve dealt with on and off for a couple of years,” said James, whose only stint on the disabled list with the Angels came in 1995, when he suffered a strained neck. “But it’s really inflamed right now. I usually feel it only when I’m getting loose, but Sunday [in his last appearance], I felt it when I was pitching in the game.”

Wednesday night’s game did provide some positives for shell-shocked Manager Terry Collins, although you can bet he was holding his breath when pitching coach Marcel Lachemann sprinted out to the mound to talk to Watson with one out in the sixth. Watson finished the inning and then retired to the clubhouse having given up six hits and two runs and struck out eight.

The Angels also came through with some timely hitting, bunching together five hits for three runs in the third inning and four hits for four runs in the sixth.

Tony Phillips and Darin Erstad singled to center field with one out in the third. Dave Hollins then blasted a pitch 381 feet into the right-field seats for a three-run homer.

Watson has had an up-and-down season, and he looked like a different pitcher almost every inning this time out. He faced only three batters in the first and second innings, had to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the third, retired the side in order in the fourth and surrendered three hits and two runs in the fifth.

Mike MacFarlane smacked a one-out single to center and, one out later, Jose Offerman chased him to third with a double into the right-field corner. Bip Roberts’ single to left drove them both home and pulled Kansas City to within one run, 3-2.

But the Angels gave reliever Pep Harris an increased comfort margin in sixth on a run-scoring single by Chad Kreuter, an RBI double by Gary DiSarcina and a two-run single by Phillips.

And Percival came on to work a 1-2-3 ninth inning.