Angel Order May Change After 3-2 Loss : Baseball: Rader probably will take Davis out of left field after error costs team a game against Yankees.

Seeing Chili Davis come close to catching Steve Balboni’s third-inning line drive on a play that brought in the go-ahead run Saturday ended Manager Doug Rader’s claims that the Angels needed only luck to break out of their doldrums.

Today, he will revamp the lineup to maximize the club’s limited offensive potential and minimize the suddenly large potential for error.

The Angels’ 3-2 loss to the New York Yankees Saturday at Yankee Stadium was their third in a row by one run, their fourth in five games, sixth in eight on this 13-game trip and eighth in 10 overall. Promise will take a back seat to production and defense on a club that last season had the American League’s second-best fielding percentage, but has already has committed 15 errors in 17 games and doesn’t score enough runs to compensate.

“This points out our offensive shortcomings more than anything else, and we’ve got to do something about it. We’re going to address it (today), and we might do some different things with the lineup,” Rader said after conferring at length with coaches Deron Johnson and Bobby Knoop and scheduling a noon meeting with his players today.

“The way we’re getting things done now is not acceptable . . . We’re slowly heading toward a platoon situation, an even more stringent one. As much as I’d like to afford certain individuals the opportunity to develop as hitters, I don’t know that we’re in a position to do that any longer. It’s great for Chili to try to play left field, but it might be a situation of full-time (designated hitter) for him and put a better defensive outfielder out there. I think we have an obligation to the (pitchers) to put our best defensive people out there . . .

“I don’t like it. I’m sure the people involved won’t like it. But the bottom line is productivity. Some things have to be done.”

The Angels got to Greg Cadaret (1-1), a reliever turned starter by the pitching-poor Yankees, with a walk, a single and a double by their first three hitters.

Wally Joyner, who drove in Brian Downing and Devon White with a double down the left-field line, tagged up and went to third on Davis’ fly to right. But Joyner was left when Cadaret bracketed striking out Dante Bichette and Lance Parrish around a walk to Johnny Ray. “We needed that third run. That was a big, big run,” said Rader, whose team’s batting average is a league-low .226.

The third strike Cadaret blew past Parrish began a streak of 15 consecutive outs for the 28-year-old left-hander, who had lasted only 3 1/3 innings against Texas in his previous start.

The Angels might still have prevailed if not for errors in the third inning by Davis and shortstop Kent Anderson.

Only the Yankees’ first run off Chuck Finley (3-1) was earned. Singles by Bob Geren, Mike Blowers and Steve Sax--and a passed ball charged to Parrish on Finley’s first pitch to Sax--cut the Angels’ lead to 2-1. Finley got Blowers in a rundown on Alvaro Espinoza’s ground ball to the mound, but trouble came when Finley fielded Don Mattingly’s grounder and threw to Anderson covering second.

Espinoza’s slide caught Anderson as he was planting his leg to throw to first, causing him to make a wild throw for his third error of the season. Sax scored on the error, and Mattingly made it 3-2 when he scored when Balboni’s sinking liner fell short of Davis’ outstretched glove in medium-deep left field.

“It should have been caught. I (messed) it up, simple as that,” Davis said.

Finley accepted the explanation offered by Davis, who was charged with his second error of the season. “He said the ball was ‘knuckling’ on him,” Finley said.

Finley felt no discomfort from the triceps tendinitis that had given him a scare earlier this week. He felt only regret that he couldn’t end the Angels’ skid, which has dropped them three games under .500 (7-10) for the first time since 1988.

“I hung around long enough to see what was going on,” said Finley, who lasted into the eighth inning and owns a still-sparkling earned-run average of 0.96. “I thought we had it going in the first inning, but we flattened out. My job was to go out there and keep it close. I didn’t go out there to try to dazzle anybody--to just keep it close and let the guys regroup and get it together.

“I’m sure sooner or later we’re going to put together five or six wins in a row. I’m not sure what part of the season it’s going to come. We’ve got to work through it . . . I can’t sit and say the score should have been 2-1. It didn’t work out that way, so I’ve got to pitch with it being 3-2. I’ve got to get deep into the game and hope we score some runs.”

Hope is turning to action for Rader, and that actionprobably will include Davis, hitting .262, taking over as the DH from Brian Downing, who is hitting .186; more appearances by Max Venable and Claudell Washington and fewer leadoff appearances by Devon White, who is hitting .179.

“These are measures we need to take to win some close games,” Rader said. “Offensively, (Chili) is doing more than Brian, and we definitely can put in Max and Claudell, who can do a better defensive job. I don’t mean to suggest (these changes) are for ever and ever. But until we right the ship, we might have to take these measures.”

Angel Notes

As a measure of the Angels’ weakness, consider that their ninth-inning pinch-hitter for Jack Howell against left-hander Dave Righetti was Mark McLemore, who was hitting .095 before grounding out to end the game . . . The Angels have lost seven consecutive games at Yankee Stadium . . . Wally Joyner is seven for 19 (.368) in his last five games. Against the Yankees in his career, he’s 51 for 163 (.313) . . . Righetti pitched the final inning to earn his fifth save in as many opportunities.