No Solace as Angels Lose Fourth in a Row

Their 1989 “stopper” can’t stop serving up home runs or falling behind in the count.

They can’t stop striking out, which their hitters have done 71 times--more than any other American League team except the Texas Rangers--or giving up walks, which their pitchers have done 16 times in the last two games and 53 times in 11 games.

Which explains why the Angels can’t stop losing.

They were defeated twice by the Oakland Athletics and have lost two in a row to the Minnesota Twins, but there is a difference. Their consolation after being swept by Oakland was that in both games they were in contention. There was no such solace Saturday in an 8-0 loss to Minnesota at the Metrodome.

“The effort was there. We’re just not playing particularly well right now,” said Manager Doug Rader, whose team has been outscored, 31-7, and outhit, 42-28, in its four consecutive losses and has fallen below .500 for the first time since April 14, 1989, when it was also 5-6.

“We need more than one good day,” he said. “When you get into these kinds of things, you’ve got to put together a good series, a good week. A good ballgame doesn’t get you over the hump, as one poor ballgame doesn’t mean you go into the dumper.”

The Twins got into double figures in hits (12) for the second consecutive day and got to Bert Blyleven for five runs in the first inning, including two on a 421-foot home run by Kent Hrbek and two more on a 387-foot shot by Randy Bush.

Nine times last season, Blyleven won a game after an Angel loss. In two such situations this season, he hasn’t recorded a victory. In his previous “stop” opportunity, last Saturday, he gave up three runs to the Twins in six innings and wasn’t involved in the decision.

The Twins decided Saturday that Blyleven (0-2) wasn’t the same pitcher he was a week ago, let alone the same pitcher who won 17 games last season.

“We’ve faced him twice this year, and this time, he didn’t seem to be throwing as hard,” said infielder Al Newman, who singled and scored in the two-run fourth. “He was having some problems with his pitches and getting behind, and we were ready to hit.”

The Angels, who were held to six hits by David West (1-2) and John Candelaria, aren’t ready to panic.

Said the Angels’ Brian Downing, a 16-year major league veteran:

“We’re not scoring runs, we’re making errors and we’re giving up a lot of walks. All phases of our game have been off so far. I’d rather lose games where we play well. It’s one thing to lose. It’s another thing to lose this way . . . I have some concern because we finished so (badly) last year. It kind of carried through the spring and the first two weeks this year.

“We need a couple of games where we do what they did today, score some runs early and take the stress off our starting pitchers and let them do the work. We’re a power team and power is something that takes a little time to develop. With a lot of your power hitters, especially the older ones, it takes a little bit more time to get that swing established.

“I wish we did walk more. People are throwing strikes and getting ahead on the counts. We’re a team that needs to hit ahead of the count, as most home run-hitting teams are. Everybody’s getting ahead of us. When you see a losing streak, that’s generally what happens: other pitchers getting ahead of you and your pitchers getting behind them.”

Blyleven, who has given up four home runs this season and 402 in his career--seventh all-time--declined to comment after the game. Rader said the 39-year-old right-hander’s pitches “aren’t real good right now and he threw a couple of pitches in poor locations.” Catcher John Orton’s view was slightly different and potentially more worrisome.

“He got a couple of pitches up and maybe his slider didn’t get down and in to Hrbek,” Orton said, “but the Twins hit some pretty good pitches, too. His location wasn’t that far off.”

Not as far off as the next victory might seem to a team that is hitting .217 and has an earned-run average of 3.76.

“I’m not concerned with the overall picture. Really I’m not,” Rader said. “It’s just upsetting when you go into these things. You need to exercise a certain degree of patience, but to the same degree be demanding. You have to be gentle but brutally honest.

“When the Twins were at our place, they looked very much the same (as the Angels do now). They went up to Seattle (where they won two of three games), got some confidence and look like a totally different ballclub. It’s really a matter of three or four days, that’s how quickly it can turn around.

“It’s difficult to deal with for all of us, but we shall.”

Angel Notes

Devon White left the game in the fifth inning because of a sore left thumb and swollen left ankle. Manager Doug Rader said White suffered the thumb injury while sliding into second base Wednesday; the ankle injury occurred when White was hit on the left foot in the first inning Saturday. White will be sidelined today and will be re-evaluated in Boston Monday. No X-rays of either injury are planned, according to trainer Ned Bergert.

Brian Downing was the leadoff hitter Saturday, the first time White has started and not hit in that spot (White hit second). Rader said he made the change to create more intensity among the players, which he felt they lacked in Friday’s 13-1 loss.

Downing was one for four Saturday. Players who have hit in the leadoff spot are eight for 47 (.170). . . . Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann made three trips to the mound Saturday, after making four Friday.

Jack Howell popped up to second with the bases loaded in the sixth, the second consecutive time he has failed to drive in a run with the bases loaded. He grounded to the pitcher in the sixth inning against Oakland Wednesday. Howell doubled leading off the ninth Saturday, giving him five doubles among his nine hits. . . . In throwing Gene Larkin out at home in the fourth, Dante Bichette earned his sixth assist of the season.