ANGELS : Lockout Takes Harsh Toll as Angels Suffer

It was opening night for the Angels and the Seattle Mariners and the Anaheim Stadium crowd lived the moment.

Beach balls bounded on the warning track, heavy metal music pounded on the Jumbotron speakers and more than 38,000 fans waved their free neon baseball caps with joyous abandon.

Major league baseball entered the 1990s Monday night and the Angels, try as they might, couldn’t keep up. They officially opened the new season with a thud, 7-4, and unofficially extended their latest losing streak to eight games.

That takes into account the Angels’ last seven exhibition games, which Angel Manager Doug Rader reminds, don’t count. Never mind that the Angels were winless in Palm Springs--when’s the last time that happened?--and swept in the Freeway Series, Rader kept saying.

A little preseason swoon means nothing once the real games begin. It was just a weak week. No carryover.

Except when that meaningless losing streak also claims the left side of your infield and numbs the batting strokes of most of your starting lineup.

Third baseman Jack Howell and shortstop Dick Schofield missed this opener. Camp life claimed both early. Howell suffered a sprained ankle while tripping over a base. Schofield strained a hamstring while running at home.

So the Angels began their 1990 schedule with Mark McLemore at shortstop and Rick Schu at third. McLemore is a second baseman. Schu is a retread, late of Philadelphia and Detroit, two teams that normally welcome retreads, not dispatch them.

Schu did what he could, blooping a single to right field in the third inning and diving into first base to beat out an infield dribbler that starter Brian Holman mishandled in the fifth.

Defensively, however, Schu was vexed by a pair of hard groundballs that prolonged a five-run Seattle fifth inning. First, Edgar Martinez’s sharp one-hopper skidded past him for a single, driving in Pete O’Brien for the Mariners’ first run. Then, Schu bobbled Brian Giles’ grounder long enough to take the Angels out of an inning-ending double play.

Schu got a force out at second base--nothing more--and Seattle immediately followed with a single by Harold Reynolds and a three-run home run by Ken Griffey Jr.

Bert Blyleven looked every bit the part of a 38-year-old pitcher testing the regular-season waters after only three weeks of spring training. Strong for four innings and then a wash in the fifth.

A smooth two-hitter blew up in Blyleven’s face like one of his own practical jokes, turning a 2-0 Angel advantage into a 5-2 deficit.

Both of those runs were delivered by the same man, Johnny Ray, who homered in the first inning and produced a sacrifice fly in the third. Ray also walked and singled and, in short, was the Angel highlight film for Day 1.

Only three other Angels managed hits--Schu with his bloop single, Wally Joyner and Chili Davis with line drive singles.

“We have a number of people who are not anywhere near their (regular) operating level,” Rader said. “There are four or five older guys who, offensively, take longer to get into their rhythm and a couple of guys on the pitching staff need extra work.

“They’re just not ready. They’re not hitting on all cylinders.”

Rader’s hand was further weakened by Brian Downing’s ribs, which kept the veteran designated hitter sidelined for his second consecutive opener. Different seasons, same sore rib cage.

With the Angels, that’s what passes for tradition.

So, too, does the losing of season openers. The Angels are 1-5 in openers since 1985 and, as Rader noted, “We lost our first game last year and went on to win 91.”

So the Angels have that going for them.

Obviously, the lockout was quick to be cited as a culprit. Rader used five pitchers Monday and it was clear that each of them could use more work. And that combined five-hitter by Seattle’s Holman, Billy Swift and Mike Schooler, who had the same span for preparation?

The Angel hitters simply need to see more live pitching.

Of course.

“It looks like things are not coming together the way everyone would like,” McLemore said. “Everyone could’ve used the extra week, but we didn’t have it. We have to go with what we have.”

Looking on the bright side, he added, “One game, or one week for that matter, is definitely no reason to worry or speculate.”

At least no one lost a ball in the neon caps, which had to count as an accomplishment. Boston has its Green Monster, 38,000 Angel fans had their florescent green monstrosities.

The fans weren’t complaining, though. They came, they saw, they cringed.

They had to come home with something.