Sanderson Has Angel Bats in Near Eclipse : Baseball: They lose their fifth in a row. Yankee pitcher fires a one-hitter in a 2-0 victory that improves his record to 10-3.

Dave Winfield offered a novel explanation for the Angels’ getting only one hit off Scott Sanderson Thursday in a 2-0 loss to the New York Yankees at Anaheim Stadium.

“I think we must have looked at the eclipse today and messed our eyes up,” Winfield said.

Nice excuse, but it can’t be used again in this lifetime.

Winfield and his Angel teammates could come up with few other reasons why Sanderson (10-3) mastered them so easily, or why they have been shut out three times in their last four games and held to three hits in their last two games.

They had only two baserunners Thursday: Luis Polonia bounced a double down the first-base line past a diving Don Mattingly to lead off the fourth inning and Gary Gaetti reached on shortstop Carlos Rodriguez’s error with one out in the eighth.

The Angels have been shut out for 22 1/3 consecutive innings, since Dave Parker’s RBI single Saturday in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers at Arlington Stadium.

Sanderson was in complete control Thursday, deflating the Angels’ hopes for a good start to their 10-game home stand and the second half of the season.

“We offered no offense at all,” Winfield said. “I would daresay we’ll be strong the next few days.

“I’d rather come out of the chute quickly, but we must have gotten stuck in the chute somewhere.”

The Angels began the second half of the season much as they ended the first half. Thursday’s defeat extended their losing streak to a season-high five games and dropped them into fourth place in the AL West, three games behind the Minnesota Twins.

Kirk McCaskill (7-11) also continued the trend he set before the All-Star break, giving up 10 hits over seven innings to absorb his third consecutive defeat and sixth in his last seven starts. He contributed to his own downfall with a throwing error in the sixth inning on a ball Mattingly had lined off McCaskill’s shin. That put Mattingly in position to score New York’s second run after singles by Mel Hall and Matt Nokes.

“My arm feels good, and I’m excited about the second half,” McCaskill said. “The reason I’ve given up some hits the last few games is they’re hitting good pitches. I really feel that way. I have to maintain that attitude and keep making quality pitches and it’ll work itself out.”

According to Polonia, Sanderson’s first pitch to each hitter was the same as in the hitter’s previous at-bat, a tendency Polonia thought the Angels should have exploited. “It’s not like he was unhittable,” Polonia said. “I don’t think we were thinking too hard tonight.”

Thinking too much about representing the Yankees in the All-Star game made Sanderson too nervous to be effective in his last start, last Saturday. He gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings and considered himself lucky to get no decision rather than a loss.

“I had a lot of time to think about my last start, which I wasn’t very happy with,” he said. “I tried so hard to validate being picked for the All-Star team that I threw too hard and made some rookie mistakes. I was determined not to let that happen again.”

Although he didn’t get into Tuesday’s All-Star game at Toronto, he pitched like an All-Star Thursday in his second career one-hitter, the first coming May 8, 1979 against the San Francisco Giants while he was with the Montreal Expos. The one-hitter was the 13th pitched against the Angels and the first since Detroit’s Walt Terrell did it Aug. 20, 1986 at Tiger Stadium.

Mattingly came within inches of sustaining Sanderson’s chances for a no-hitter when he got a piece of Polonia’s bouncer.

“It nicked the end of my glove. I thought I had it,” Mattingly said. “The ball took a hop up, but I thought I was going to get to it.”

Still, he and the Yankees were happy to settle for a victory that moved them within a game of .500. They haven’t been there since they were 1-1 on April 10.

“(Sanderson) did a nice job tonight,” Mattingly said. “Starting off the second half with a one-hitter is pretty nice.”

Angel Manager Doug Rader hopes his offense starts producing again, and soon.

“It’s gracious to give the opposition credit, but by the same token, we’ve got to swing the bats better than we have,” Rader said. “This kind of thing is going to happen. . . . It’s no fun to watch, it’s no fun to write about and I’m sure it’s no fun for (his players) to go through. But it happens. It’s something you go through.”