Angels Full of Praise in Victory

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Angel clubhouse turned into Superlative Central on Monday night, with players practically tripping over themselves while hurling compliments after a 1-0 victory over the Texas Rangers before 41,984 at the Ballpark in Arlington.

The Angels’ fifth consecutive victory--and the Rangers’ sixth straight loss--included Jim Leyritz’s fifth-inning homer off Darren Oliver and a game-saving catch by Jim Edmonds, who made a long run into left-center field and made a diving grab of Juan Gonzalez’s eighth-inning drive with a runner on base.

But that catch paled in comparison to pitcher Allen Watson’s assessment of Edmonds, who made an even more spectacular catch at Kansas City on June 10.

“He’s unbelievable, he’s in a league of his own,” said Watson, who threw six shutout innings before departing because of biceps tendinitis. “He’s got to be the best center fielder ever.”

Tony Phillips, who made a nice play of his own, crashing into the left-field wall after his lunging catch of Mike Simms’ shot with two on to end the sixth, is getting used to such highlight-reel plays.

“To me, that’s like a fair catch,” Phillips said. “It’s almost routine. He catches anything and everything.”

Edmonds wasn’t the only object of Watson’s worship. Next was reliever Rich DeLucia, who could barely feel his ring finger a few days ago and was one of Manager Terry Collins’ few late-inning options because of the unavailability of Troy Percival, Mike James and Pep Harris, who were suffering from fatigue.

But DeLucia struck out the side in the ninth--Dean Palmer looking, Warren Newson swinging, Lee Stevens looking--for his second save, ending the 3-hour 16-minute game, the second longest 1-0, nine-inning game in major league history. The record is 3:20, set by Milwaukee and Oakland on May 7.

“That’s the best I’ve every seen him throw,” said Watson, a teammate of DeLucia’s at St. Louis and San Francisco. “He was banging the ball right on the black.”

Watson wasn’t so bad himself, giving up only six hits, striking out four and walking one. First baseman Darin Erstad helped him out of a third-inning jam, stopping Will Clark’s bases-loaded, one-hop smash with his chest, picking up the ball and outracing Clark to the bag to end the inning, and Phillips’ catch in the sixth saved one, possibly two runs.

But Watson bailed himself out of a second-inning bind. After Clark led off with a triple, the left-hander got Palmer to pop to short and struck out Simms and Damon Buford.

“I had better stuff my last game and gave up six runs,” Watson said. “Baseball is a funny game.”

Collins, whose team has been ravaged by injuries and illness, wasn’t laughing as Watson warmed up for the seventh, though. Watson felt a slight pop in his shoulder and had to be replaced by Shigetoshi Hasegawa.

“Lach [pitching Coach Marcel Lachemann] looked at me and said, ‘I don’t want to tell you this, but I think he hurt his shoulder,’ ” Collins said. “So I said, ‘Don’t tell me.’ I figure if something bad is going to happen, it’s going to happen to us.”

Watson, however, said he had biceps tendinitis in each of the past two seasons, and the swelling usually subsides with anti-inflammatory pills.

“I always get this,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m weak because I haven’t pitched in a while. Hopefully it won’t affect me for my next game.”

There was a point last weekend when Edmonds thought his next game might not be until late July or August. The center fielder has been suffering from torn cartilage in his left knee, and surgery, which would have sidelined him for a month, was being strongly considered.

But Edmonds, who said last Friday he could barely walk, took Friday and Saturday off and was feeling well enough to play a designated hitter’s role Sunday. Monday he was back in the outfield, as the Angels began a crucial nine-game trip to Texas, Seattle and Colorado.

“That kid in center field is remarkable, people are going to run out of things to say about him,” Collins said. “We thought about scoping his knee last week. He would have been in pre-op [Monday] and surgery [today] . . . that was an unbelievable catch. We definitely need him.”