Angel Pitchers Get Rung Up by White Sox

CHICAGO — The Tony Phillips situation certainly is troublesome for the Angels, but Manager Terry Collins had more pressing concerns Tuesday night.

“We have bigger problems now,” Collins said. “Hanging sliders.”

They weren’t a problem for Chicago slugger Albert Belle, who ripped two of them into the left-field bleachers for home runs to lead the White Sox to an 8-5 victory over the Angels before 16,975 fans in Comiskey Park.

Chicago snapped a 4-4 game with three runs in the seventh, including Belle’s two-run homer off reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa. Belle, fighting a seven-for-37 slump, hadn’t homered since July 18, but he got 22nd and 23rd homers Tuesday night.

One consolation for the Angels: Seattle also lost, so they remained in a first-place tie with the Mariners in the American League West.

“You have to make pitches to great hitters, especially this time of year,” Collins said. “When you’re in a pennant race--and these guys [White Sox] are, regardless of what anybody thinks--you’ve got to make pitches. . . . We’re not going to win by giving up seven, eight runs a game.”

The Angels were only in this game because of two clutch hits, both of them two-out, two-run doubles into the left-field corner, by Garret Anderson in the sixth inning and Dave Hollins in the seventh.

Anderson’s hit, which followed singles by Darin Erstad and Tim Salmon, gave the Angels a 2-1 lead after Belle homered off starter Jason Dickson in the second.

The White Sox countered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth on Mario Valdez’s two-out, three-run double over the head of center fielder Orlando Palmeiro.

It appeared Dickson might slip out of a bases-loaded jam when he got Jorge Fabregas to pop to shallow right for the second out, and the runners held. But Valdez, who had only six RBIs entering the game, cleared the bases when his drive one-hopped the center-field wall for a 4-2 lead.

“One thing Jason has done all year is when he has to make a pitch he has risen to the occasion,” Collins said. “He couldn’t do that tonight. That pitch to Valdez was right over the plate, and we’ve got to stop that.”

The Angels, though, staged another rally in the seventh when Gary DiSarcina walked off Chicago starter Jaime Navarro with two outs, Erstad flared a single to center and Hollins followed with his double to left to tie the game, 4-4.

But Dickson, who gave up six runs on 10 hits in six innings to fall to 11- 5, gave up singles to Ray Durham and Dave Martinez to open the seventh, and Hasegawa couldn’t extricate the Angels from the jam.