Yankees Get to Abbott, Angels, 4-2

It’s not too late for the Angels to reverse the course that has already put them 8 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics, yet it’s not too early for them to be concerned by their failures at the plate and on the mound.

Their 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees Sunday dropped them another game behind the A’s, on whom they haven’t gained an inch since April 22. With a four-game losing streak, 13 losses in their last 18 games and a league-low team batting average of .229, the Angels are in sixth place on merit.

They haven’t trailed a division leader by this much this early since 1981, when they were nine out after 24 games.

“I’m not going to say it’s early anymore because it’s not,” outfielder Dante Bichette said after the Yankees completed a three-game sweep before a season-high crowd of 50,717 at Anaheim Stadium. The sweep left the Angels with a 5-7 home record. “We need to start playing ball and winning. We’ve got to get something going if we’re going to win this. I think we have a good enough team to do that.

“I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy to catch (the A’s), because it’s not.”

Jim Abbott (1-2) couldn’t stop their tumble Sunday, allowing four earned runs in three innings and never establishing his rhythm or inside pitches. Not that he was pounded: Two singles and a stolen base produced the first Yankee run in the first inning; and a walk, a double and a groundout by Mike Blowers produced one of two in the third.

But whether the result of blasts or bloops, the runs put the Angels into too deep a hole for a team tied for last in the league in runs scored. The Angels scored twice in the sixth inning against Andy Hawkins (1-3) when Luis Polonia led off with a home run and Devon White doubled, stole third and scored on Chili Davis’ grounder. The inning could have been more productive, but pinch-hitter Rick Schu grounded out with men on first and second.

The Angels left five runners on base and have stranded 185 this season.

“The effort’s there, and there are some signs people are doing the right things. We’re just going through a tough time,” Manager Doug Rader said. “I continue to believe in these people, and they should believe in themselves. I don’t think it’s time to jump off the ship for any of these people.”

The Yankees jumped on Abbott whenever he fell behind in the count, “and you know what the results of that are going to be,” he said. “I get myself in trouble throwing like that.”

Mike Witt pitched 4 1/3 strong relief innings, with Bryan Harvey left to finish up. Abbott was left to state his regrets.

“I hate saying it’s one of those days. If you’re mentally disciplined and in control, you should be able to stay away from those things,” the 22-year-old left-hander said. “I blame myself for not getting the ball over the plate, but you have to give the Yankees credit for their hitting. They’re a solid-hitting team.”

The Angels are far from that. Jack Howell is two for 18, Wally Joyner is two for 25, Bichette was 0 for three to end his 11-game hitting streak and cleanup hitter Chili Davis was hitless in four at-bats Sunday. “It’s frustrating enough what I’m going through,” Joyner said, “as opposed to having it magnified by eight or nine of us going through it at the same time. It’s no fun.”

The only Angel having fun is Polonia, who has one hit in each of his four starts and has scored five runs. “I don’t feel I’m hitting yet,” Polonia said. “I’m getting one at a time. I’m not hot. When I’m hot, I’m hard to stop. I’m just getting in a groove. The way I see it is if I get on base a little bit more, we’ll score more runs.”

His teammates want to adopt the same resolve. “If we go out tomorrow and start a big winning streak we’ll be all right,” Bichette said, “and that’s not out of the question. We’re a good enough team.”

Abbott concurred. “We’ve had all the meetings and talks we could possibly have,” he said. “We have to work through it. We may be pressing, but we have the talent. . . . It’s 25 games into the season. We can’t start looking at Oakland. We have to look at our own games and start playing well. We can’t compare ourselves with anybody--we have to start winning.”

Angel Notes

Manager Doug Rader, eager to generate more offense, dropped Wally Joyner to fifth in the batting order and Devon White to third Sunday. White had three doubles to tie a team record. White, who had said during spring training that he wasn’t comfortable hitting leadoff, was the leadoff hitter in nine of the Angels’ first 10 games. He walked only twice and struck out 12 times before the experiment ended. “He had a very nice day,” Rader said of White, who raised his batting average from .182 to .207. “Very encouraging. I hope he feels comfortable, because if he does, he’ll be productive.”

Rader joked that Luis Polonia’s sixth-inning leadoff home run might be a mixed blessing. “I hope that doesn’t screw up his swing,” Rader said. “He’s got legitimate extra-base power, but for him to hit home runs, he’d have to pull it and that gets him out of his most productive stroke.”

Although Brian Downing said last week that he was “waiting for the ax to fall,” the Angels apparently don’t plan to drop it on him. Downing hasn’t appeared in eight consecutive games, but General Manager Mike Port said that doesn’t mean Downing won’t play again. “He’s been an important member of this club for many years,” Port said. “He’s part of the 25-man cast. Sometimes things have a way of changing. There’s 25 men available and Doug is trying to put things together in a way that’s going to get us some results. Over the space of 100-odd games, things can change.”

Catcher Lance Parrish sat out Saturday and Sunday because of a sore left knee. . . . Including Sunday’s game, Angel leadoff hitters have walked six times and struck out 26 times in 25 games.

ANGEL ATTENDANCE Sunday: 50,717

1990 (12 dates): 410,253

1989 (12 dates): 307,163

Increase: 103,090

1990 average: 34,188