A limping Vaughn joins Angels' walking wounded

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Welcome to the club, Mo. The jinxed club known as the Anaheim Angels.

It took Mo Vaughn mere minutes to initiate himself as a member of the Angels' walking wounded.

Two batters into the season opener, Vaughn sprinted to the Cleveland dugout for a foul pop, tumbled down the steps and sprained his left ankle.

After a few moments, Vaughn got from the dugout floor, made it up the steps and onto the field. But he was limping.

His next time at-bat, the Angels first baseman hit a fly to left and crumpled in a heap in the batter's box, his ankle giving way. Then he told manager Terry Collins he couldn't go any more.

By the time Troy Glaus hit an RBI double in the eighth for the go-ahead run in Anaheim's 6-5 win Tuesday, Vaughn was at the hospital being X-rayed.

"No one likes to go to the hospital," he said. "A lot of things go through your mind on the drive."

"Fracture" was probably one of those things. But the X-rays were negative and the diagnosis was a sprain.

Collins is accustomed to players getting hurt in weird ways.

"It's a possibility he will miss a few days," he said. "We're lucky (it wasn't broken), but sprains can be no fun. Sometimes a sprain can be almost as bad as a break."

Vaughn doesn't know how long he will be sidelined.

"I won't commit until I know for sure, but I guarantee you it won't be too long," said Vaughn, who went 0-for-2 in his debut after signing a six-year deal with the Angels during the winter.

"There are 161 more games and the most important thing is it's not broken and we've got a win."

The Angels already were without shortstop Gary DiSarcina, who broke his forearm when struck by a fungo bat in spring training, and center fielder Jim Edmonds, who has a cyst in his right shoulder. DiSarcina isn't expected back until July, and Edmonds is on the DL.

Despite the Angels' history, which includes a host of debilitating September injuries, Vaughn said he isn't buying the star-crossed angle.

"I don't want to hear any talk about curses," he said. "Things just happen."

Vaughn could be used as the DH until he's completely well.

Still, Collins fretted about a lineup already being shredded.

"We've got Jim Edmonds down. If we lose Mo for any extended period of time ... You can only take so many body blows," the manager said. "Somebody's just going to have to step up and do the job."

Glaus did it in Tuesday's opener.

"This game it was me, next game it will be somebody else," Glaus said. "This team has maybe 12 guys who are capable of carrying the load for a game, or for a week.

"I don't think you can really depend on one player to do it all."