It’s Elementary for Watson: He’s Shelled

Pitcher Allen Watson has not had one good Cactus League start. He was rocked for eight runs and 11 hits in Tuesday’s 16-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, his earned-run average is 12.18 and his attitude toward it all is: What, me worry?

“If things are going like this in the fourth game of the season, I’ll be concerned,” Watson said. “But I’m not walking four or five guys or giving up a bunch of home runs. My velocity is there, and I’m getting three pitches over. . . . I’m not a guy who’s going to lose confidence because of this.”

Watson gave up seven runs and eight hits in a second-inning barrage that might have been prevented had left fielder Orlando Palmeiro not lost Mark Lewis’ fly ball in the sun.

Manager Terry Collins yanked Palmeiro from the game an inning after his miscue, but losing the ball in the sun wasn’t the outfielder’s biggest mistake. Collins was fuming because Palmeiro’s sunglasses were on the bill of his cap--and not over his eyes--when he lost track of the ball.

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Reserve outfielder Kevin Bass, who sat out about two weeks of spring training because of an Achilles’ tendon injury, was returned to minor league camp. Bass, 38, who did not play professionally last season, will probably open the season at triple-A Vancouver. . . . Relievers Mike James and Mike Holtz retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively. Veteran reliever Steve Frey also came to Tempe from minor league camp and pitched a scoreless seventh inning. . . . The Angels are 7-19 in Cactus League play and have given up 10 runs or more in 12 games.