A 4-3 Defeat by Royals Eliminates Angels : The Loss Drops Club 19 Games Behind A’s With Only 17 Left to Play

The Angels had seen this night coming way back in April--and maybe earlier. They became all but resigned to its inevitability by early June, when the Angels slipped into last place and 16 games under .500.

Tuesday night at Anaheim Stadium, the Angels were finally and officially eliminated from the 1988 American League West playoff race. With their their 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals before 22,522 at Anaheim Stadium, the Angels fell 19 games behind the first-place Oakland Athletics with only 17 games left on their schedule.

Preparations for Opening Day, 1989, commence tonight.

“Actually, I think everybody’s eliminated,” said Angel Manager Cookie Rojas, alluding to Oakland’s ravaging of the division. “Numbers-wise, that’s over for us. But we can still go for second place or third place.”

Said Angel reliever Greg Minton, who worked the final two innings Tuesday: “I’ll be honest with you. The only thing on my mind right now is getting into third place. I kind of lost hope a couple weeks back with Oakland.

“But I still believe we can get third place. There’s a little money that goes with that and I still think we’re a better team than Kansas City. We’ve proven it the last three months. Now, we just have to prove it to them.”

Consider the Royals unconvinced. With Tuesday’s victory, the Royals are 6-5 in head-to-head meetings with the Angels this season and now lead the fourth-place Angels by 3 1/2 games.

Kansas City used seven strong innings from starting pitcher Bret Saberhagen (14-14) and a couple of weak defensive plays by the Angels to widen the gap. Saberhagen, 7-3 in 10 career decisions against the Angels, yielded just 2 runs on 6 hits--Johnny Ray’s RBI double and pinch-hitter Jim Eppard’s run-scoring ground-out producing the runs.

In turn, the Royals were handed two runs by a pair of Angel errors and a wild pitch by Minton.

Angel shortstop Dick Schofield misplayed the first ball of the game, a grounder off the bat of Kansas City leadoff hitter Willie Wilson. Wilson reached first on Schofield’s bobble and took second on a passed ball by rookie catcher Brian Dorsett.

Wilson then scored on a ground-rule double by Kevin Seitzer. Seitzer scored on a single by Pat Tabler, giving the Royals a quick 2-0 lead against Angel starter Chuck Finley (9-14)

A RBI single by Bo Jackson in the sixth inning gave the Royals their third run of the evening--before another defensive breakdown by the Angels in the eighth resulted in eventual winning run, also unearned.

With two out and George Brett on second base, Jackson hit a chopper toward third baseman Jack Howell. Howell charged the ball, got caught in between hops and the ball short-hopped his chest, putting Kansas City runners on first and third.

Minton then faced ex-teammate Bill Buckner and unleashed a wild pitch to score Brett.

The Angels scored their third run off reliever Steve Farr in the ninth inning, when Mark McLemore doubled, tagged and took third on a fly ball and scored on an infield out by Devon White.

But, with two out, Farr came back to strike out Brian Downing and for the Angels, again, it was a case of too little too late.

And now, all that’s left is the carrot dangling over third place in the AL West standings. Rojas is hoping that’s enough of a motivation for his players over the next three weeks.

Angel Notes

Making an 11th-hour bid to keep the Angels as spring training tenants, officials of Palm Springs met with members of the Angel front office Monday. The purpose of the meeting, according to Angel manager of stadium operations Kevin Uhlich, was to re-assert Palm Springs’ interest in the Angels, who are actively seeking a new fulltime training site in the Phoenix area. Absent was Palm Springs Mayor Sonny Bono, who was out of town on business, which didn’t exactly thrill the Angels. But Uhlich still termed the meeting “positive, although we won’t know how productive it was for a couple of weeks. We’re still waiting for Palm Springs to give us a solid proposal. But at least this meeting started some things that might get Palm Springs off the dime.”

The Angels are seeking a new complex with 6,000- to 8,000-seat stadium and at least four practice fields by the spring of 1990, meaning construction would have to done in less than 17 months. “Obviously, we’re running behind our ideal timetable,” Uhlich said. “The intentions of the people of Palm Springs are good, but their actions are very slow by our standards. We’re starting to get some concepts, some proposals from Arizona and unless Palm Springs shows they can match them, I’m afraid they will be left behind.”

Bob Boone was a late scratch from the Angel starting lineup Tuesday because of a strained left thigh muscle. He was replaced by rookie Brian Dorsett. . . . Tony Armas returned to the Angel lineup for the first time since Sept. 3, having been sidelined with tendinitis in his right knee. Armas went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts.