Glaus Atones Mightily for Errors of His Ways

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. â€”  Strikeouts often make Troy Glaus angry, as evidenced by the bat and helmet he hurled toward the Angel dugout when he went down swinging in the first inning Monday.

But nothing infuriates the Angel third baseman like fielding mistakes, and when Glaus, who has played Gold Glove-caliber defense all season, made two errors in the first three innings Monday against Tampa Bay, pitcher Scott Schoeneweis almost could see the steam rising from the hot corner.

“That kind of stuff makes him mad,� Schoeneweis said. “The next thing you know, he hits one off the catwalk.�

That would be the C-ring catwalk, which is 115 feet above the playing surface at Tropicana Field, the destination of Glaus’ seventh-inning home run that helped catapult the Angels to a 3-1 victory over the Devil Rays before a crowd of 11,127.

The Angels trailed, 1-0, when Glaus led off the seventh by driving an 0-and-2 Ryan Rupe fastball to deep left field for his 13th homer.

That sparked a three-run rally that backed Schoeneweis’ seven-inning, four-hit effort and helped the Angels win three of four games from baseball’s worst team.

“Obviously when you make a mistake you want to atone for it,� Glaus said. “The home run tied the game and gave us an opportunity to get the offense rolling.�

After committing 33 errors last season, tying Texas’ Mike Lamb for the most among major league third basemen, Glaus has made tremendous strides on defense this season.

He has bare-handed several slow rollers and made off-balance throws to first. He has back-handed balls deep behind the bag and made long throws to first. He has ranged far into the shortstop hole to rob players of hits. He made only four errors in the Angels’ first 48 games.

“He’s been playing a very good third base,� Manager Mike Scioscia said before Monday’s game. “Actually, he’s played a great third base.�

That’s why Monday’s two-error game was so out of character. His first miscue, on Greg Vaughn’s first-inning grounder that took a bad hop and bruised the ring finger of his throwing hand, ended the Angels’ seven-game, 71-inning errorless streak dating to May 18.

That didn’t cost the Angels, who did not allow a run in the first, but Glaus’ next mistake did. With runners on first and second and one out in the third, Glaus made a nice lunging stop of Gerald Williams’ grounder to his left.

He had trouble getting a grip on the ball, costing him any chance of a force at second, and by then it was too late to get Williams at first. All Glaus could do was stand there with the ball as the Devil Rays loaded the bases.

Aubrey Huff’s RBI fielder’s choice gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead. Center fielder Darin Erstad prevented the Devil Rays from extending that lead by making a nice running catch of Mike DiFelice’s sinking liner to end the inning.

“I couldn’t find a grip, and I didn’t want to throw the ball into right field,� Glaus said of his third-inning error. “Then I thought I’d go to first, and he was just flying down the line. Unfortunately, I had to eat it.�

Glaus had a couple of innings to digest the mistake, because Rupe blanked the Angels on two hits through six. But the change-up specialist tried to slip a fastball by Glaus in the seventh, and Glaus clobbered it for a 1-1 tie.

After Scott Spiezio’s groundout, Devil Ray Manager Hal McRae lifted Rupe for reliever Rusty Meacham, despite the fact Rupe had thrown only 84 pitches and had fooled the next hitter, Garret Anderson, in two previous at-bats, striking him out twice.

Anderson drew a walk and Tim Salmon doubled to left, putting runners on second and third. Adam Kennedy lifted a sacrifice fly to left for a 2-1 lead, and Jorge Fabregas’ RBI single to right made it 3-1.

Schoeneweis, who walked four and hit one batter in the first three innings, struck out Fred McGriff swinging with runners on second and third to end the seventh.