Angels’ Casualty Ward Filling Up

MINNEAPOLIS — Finding a spot in the Angels’ training room these days is about as easy as getting a table in a five-star restaurant--reservations are definitely recommended.

The long list of Hobbling Halos grew by one Friday night when shortstop Gary DiSarcina had to leave in the seventh inning of a 9-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins when he was hit on the back of the left hand by a pitch.

Initial X-rays were negative and doctors said DiSarcina has a bruised hand, but Angel Manager Terry Collins, stung by a series of disabling hand injuries at Houston, feared the worst.

“I watched the National League most valuable player [Jeff Bagwell] go down two years in a row, and both times he was hit on the back of the left hand,” said Collins, the former Astro manager.

“I saw the big black mark on Gary’s hand, and that’s exactly what Bagwell had. I said, ‘Oh no, don’t tell me . . . ‘ Bagwell was out for six weeks both times [he got hit]. And X-rays on his hand were negative at first.”

DiSarcina was leading off the seventh when he was drilled by Twins’ reliever Frank Rodriguez. DiSarcina crumpled in the batter’s box and said his hand was already discolored and swollen by the time he looked down.

“I could read [American League President] Gene Budig’s name on my hand,” said DiSarcina, who will likely sit out tonight’s game, and possibly more. “It was real numb at the time, but it felt better after the game.”

Center fielder Jim Edmonds (torn knee ligaments) and second baseman Luis Alicea (tight hamstring) sat out Friday’s game, and reliever Mike James was unavailable because of elbow tendinitis.

Angel pitchers Mark Langston (elbow injury) and Mark Gubicza (shoulder injury) are on the disabled list, and now DiSarcina, who suffered disabling hand injuries in 1993 and ‘95, is hurt.

“We haven’t even played 60 games yet, and we’ve got four key players injured,” Collins said. “This is incredible.”

So was Twin designated hitter Paul Molitor’s game-winning, three-run home run in the eighth inning Friday night. It was 6-6 when Molitor, who hadn’t homered since April 3, golfed Pep Harris’ ankle-high fastball into the first row beyond the left-field fence.

“That pitch was basically on the ground,” Harris said. “Somehow he got it in the air. I don’t know how. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Another perplexing question: How can the Angels score seven runs and lose with their ace, Chuck Finley, pitching against the lowly Twins? Finley gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings, walking three and striking out six.

Five of those hits came in the third inning, when Finley threw 36 pitches and gave up four runs, on Ron Coomer’s two-run double and RBI singles by Molitor and Darrin Jackson.

“That was terrible, absolutely terrible,” Finley said. “If I can’t win with seven runs. . . . What’s frustrating is I feel great and all my stuff is working, but it doesn’t mean a damn thing if you’re not getting results.”

Still, Finley was in position to gain a victory thanks to Jim Leyritz’s two-out, two-run double in the top of the seventh off Rodriguez, who was on the verge of slipping out of a first-and-third, no-outs jam before Leyritz’s clutch hit gave the Angels a 6-5 advantage.

But Minnesota eventually won when its 40-year-old designated hitter got good wood on a pretty good pitch.

“Heck,” Collins said, “you don’t get 3,000 hits without hitting some pitcher’s pitches once in a while.”