Mo Falls, Angels Get Up

For those who insist this Angel franchise is not cursed--and the number of those folks seems to dwindle by the hour--just how would you explain the horror of Mo Vaughn, barely five minutes into his $80-million Angel career, tumbling into the first-base dugout in pursuit of a foul popup Tuesday night?

That the Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5, in a scintillating season opener in front of 39,936 in Edison Field seemed secondary to the fact that while the Angels rallied in the last two innings, Vaughn was on his way to a hospital for X-rays--they were negative--on what was diagnosed as a sprained left ankle.

“When I saw him go down, I was just hoping he’d pop back up out of that dugout,” Angel Manager Terry Collins said. “Hopefully he’s going to be all right. Fortunately it’s a sprain, but a sprain can sometimes be as bad as a break. If he’s out there [tonight] it will be in a designated hitter role.”

While Vaughn was en route to the hospital, the Angels tied the score, 5-5, with two runs in the seventh. Then third baseman Troy Glaus, who struggled mightily with the Angels last season, ripped a two-out double in the eighth to drive in Garret Anderson with the winning run.

Troy Percival then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth against his longtime nemesis for the save. The Angel closer, who entered with an 0-5 career record and 7.50 earned-run average against Cleveland, faced the heart of the Indian order, retiring Roberto Alomar on a groundout, Jim Thome on an infield pop, and punctuating a strikeout of Manny Ramirez with a triple-pump of his fist.

“I don’t know what the velocity was on that last fastball, but he had a lot on it,” Collins said. “Troy was really pumped. The key guy was Thome. He has a lot of power and just has to get his bat on the ball to drive it out. That’s what has happened in the past, but Troy made a good pitch tonight.”

Angel reliever Mike Holtz, who squelched a potential rally in the eighth by retiring Kenny Lofton on a fielder’s choice and getting Omar Vizquel to fly out with the go-ahead run on third, got the win, and Mark Petkovsek added three scoreless relief innings for the Angels.

Tim Salmon opened the eighth with a single off Indian reliever Steve Karsay but was ruled out when Anderson’s grounder nicked him on the foot between first and second. With Anderson running from first on a 2-2 pitch, Glaus doubled to the gap in left-center to score Anderson with the go-ahead run.

“Someone has to step up and drive in some runs,” Glaus said, alluding to the possible absence of Vaughn. “You can’t expect one guy to carry you all year.”

Glaus also had a hand in the two-run seventh. Trailing, 5-3, he blooped a one-out single to right off Cleveland starter Jaret Wright, and Matt Walbeck followed with an infield single off Wright’s glove.

Andy Sheets, who has the daunting task of replacing injured shortstop Gary DiSarcina, followed with an RBI single to left-center, Glaus scoring, Walbeck hustling to third and Sheets taking second.

Darin Erstad then lofted a fly ball to shallow left, where Richie Sexson, who replaced the injured David Justice (strained left calf) in the second, made the catch. Walbeck tagged and Sexson threw high to the plate, as Walbeck slid in with the tying run.

“With all the things that have happened to us,” Collins said, “this was a huge win.”

The Angels opened the season with eight players on the disabled list, and they’re hoping Vaughn isn’t No. 9. As the first baseman drifted to field Vizquel’s first-inning popup, he ran out of earth at the tip of the Indian dugout.

Vaughn fell three steps, from the top of the dugout all the way to the dugout floor. He miraculously landed on his feet but twisted his left ankle.

Vaughn appeared to exacerbate the injury on his first-inning flyout, and when Angel starter Tim Belcher finished his warmups in the second, there was no Mo. Vaughn was getting a quick tape job on the ankle, and when he popped out of the dugout he hobbled to first, grimacing every time he put weight on his left foot.

Vaughn remained in the game, but the ankle stiffened in the sixth, and Collins replaced him with Jeff Huson.

“It’s a high-ankle sprain, but it’s not broken, so that’s all right,” Vaughn said. “I’ll put some tape on it, and who knows what will happen [today]? I seem to heal pretty fast. Miracles can happen overnight.”

By then, the Angels had squandered a 3-2 lead, as the Indians scored three runs in the fifth to make it 5-3.

Sandy Alomar, Lofton and Vizquel opened the fifth with singles off Belcher, Vizquel’s broken-bat flare to right scoring Alomar with the tying run, and Ramirez capped the inning with an RBI single that knocked Belcher, who gave up five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings, out of the game.

The Angels scored a run in the second on singles by Walbeck and Sheets and Erstad’s RBI groundout, and took a 3-2 lead on back to back home runs by Salmon and Anderson in the fourth.

Asked if this was not the way he wanted his season to start, Vaughn shot back: “Yeah, it is. We got win No. 1. That’s the most important thing. That’s one less win we’ll need to win the division.”