Angels Stagger Home After 3-1 Loss to Oakland

Manager Gene Mauch is still referring to his team’s recent slump as a “snag,” but the Angels are beginning to resemble a vaudeville act on the verge of getting hooked around the neck and dragged out of the spotlight.

The Angels lost for the sixth time in seven outings Thursday, falling to the A’s, 3-1, before 25,197 fans at the Oakland Coliseum. Their once-comfortable lead in the American League West--which was 6 1/2 games just 10 days ago--is down to two. Kansas City is second with Oakland trailing by four in third.

Afterward, Mauch was calmly and quietly lamenting the subtleties of the game in the visiting manager’s office while one of his players was not-so-quietly trying to dismantle the visiting clubhouse training room.

The frustration of a 14-game trip (during which the Angels were 5-9) is finally beginning to emerge.

“There were so many subtleties in this game that there’s no use trying to describe them or even enumerate them,” Mauch said, pausing between crashes emanating from the training room.

Reggie Jackson had already flung his helmet (twice) and his bat against the bat rack after striking out in the ninth, and he reportedly came out on top after a couple of rounds with a garbage can in the training room.

The Angels didn’t make much noise on the field, though.

Brian Downing led off the game with a home run to left field and was a total of about six feet short of two more, but the Angels were never heard from after the first as A’s right-hander Chris Codiroli went 7 innings to get the win, and relief ace Jay Howell finished to pick up save No. 21.

“This game boiled down to base on balls,” Mauch said. “It was a tough day to play for everyone, after a tough game last night, and it turned out to be a gift from us to them.”

Rookie starter Urbano Lugo walked Dwayne Murphy with one out in the first, and Murphy reached third on Bruce Bochte’s double and scored on Dave Kingman’s ground out. Lugo walked Mike Gallego to lead off the third, and Gallego scored on Murphy’s double. Then Lugo gave up a single to Kingman to open the fourth and Mauch walked out to the mound and summoned another pitcher.

“I don’t like walks to lead off innings,” Mauch said. “Lugo’s got better control than that.”

Lugo (3-4) may not get many more chances. Veteran left-hander Geoff Zahn is scheduled to come off the disabled list and pitch Saturday, and someone will have to be moved to open a spot on the roster. Mauch said he hasn’t made a decision yet, but with the strike deadline approaching, he may want to send Lugo down to get in more work.

Codiroli, however, thought his team’s defense was the difference in the game, and Dusty Baker’s catch of Downing’s drive in the third was certainly a pivotal play.

With Craig Gerber on second and one out, Downing ripped a line drive to left. Baker raced back and stabbed the ball near the top of the fence before crashing face-first into the wall and collapsing on the warning track.

“I just needed some time to get some oxygen back in me,” Baker said. “If I try to make that catch 10 times, I don’t make it at least half the time.”

It wasn’t the only scoring opportunity the Angels blew before blowing town to open a six-game home stand tonight. They left five men on base and hit into double plays in the fourth and sixth after getting the leadoff batter on base. They also stranded Ruppert Jones at second after he led off the fifth with a double.

Rod Carew picked up a pair of singles to increase his career hit total to 2,996, but with two on and one out in the eighth, he bounced into a double play.

“This game wasn’t about failure to get a hit,” Mauch said. “I guarantee you we hit the ball better than they did. It was walks and those subtleties.”

The A’s managed just five hits, but that was enough to beat the slumping Angels. And there was nothing subtle about the final score or the standings.

“We’re 101 games into it (the season) and we’re still in first,” Mauch said. “The rest is up to us.”

Angel Notes Manager Gene Mauch hadn’t heard that Minnesota had acquired Cleveland pitcher Bert Blyleven, but he wasn’t surprised. “I didn’t think we had any chance to get him,” Mauch said. When informed Blyleven would start against the Angels Saturday in Anaheim, he said, “I wonder if Seattle will have him in time for Wednesday’s game.” The Mariners open a three-game series at the Big A Monday.

Reggie Jackson was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying that A’s reliever Jay Howell was “very hitable.” Jackson says he never said it. “I’m not stupid,” Jackson said. “The guy throws 93 miles an hour. You think I want him throwing 96 against me? I don’t even want to face a guy like that. I want to hit against a guy who is 2-20 with no fastball, no hook and earned-run average like a California zip code.” Howell, who said he thought Jackson was just trying to make him mad so he would throw him fastballs, struck Reggie out with a curve in the ninth Thursday.

The A’s have been getting tremendous crowd response from a series of scoreboard videos promoting upcoming series. Each begins with an A’s bobble-head doll next to an opponent doll. Then, the opponent doll is decapitated with a golf club, smashed with a bat, crushed with a bowling bowl, blown up with a firecracker, hit with a pie or set afire, in scenes reminiscent of the “Saturday Night” Mr. Bill Show. The slow-motion instant replays elicit the biggest cheers. Some even draw boos when they’re not violent enough. . . . Angel pitchers Ron Romanick and Kirk McCaskill will be taping cameo appearances on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” Tuesday. . . . Doug DeCinces is scheduled to appear with Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday morning, with the topic of conversation the pending baseball strike. . . . Today’s game against the Twins, originally scheduled for 5:20, has been changed to a 7:30 p.m. start.