Opportunity Knocks but Angels Can’t Hear

I don’t know who’s going to win the American League West this year, but I have a pretty good idea who won’t.

(Hint: What’s red, white and blue and went two weeks without hitting a home run?)

Dave Winfield says August is the month that is going to make or break the Angels. Winfield needs to get faster sand in that hourglass of his. The month that makes or breaks the Angels is happening now and, as you may have noticed, the Angels aren’t happening now.

July was the month when the door finally opened for the Angels. The A’s were in bandages. The White Sox were in disarray. The Twins were in over their heads, with their best buoy, Scott Erickson, on the disabled list with a strained shoulder.

On the second, the Angels were in first. At their feet lay the yellow brick road--18 consecutive games, beginning after the All-Star break, against three of the least from the East: Cleveland, Baltimore and New York. “Ninety-eight pound weaklings,” Angel CEO Richard Brown calls them. It was time to kick some sand.

Since July 2, the Angels have had a beach of a time. They went 3-11 before boarding the plane that deposited them in Baltimore for the opener of a 10-game trip. The Indians, Orioles and Yankees combined to beat them seven of 10 times. The Angels dropped into a sixth-place tie with Seattle, seven games out of first, and lost to every rookie pitcher who wandered into Anaheim Stadium--Scott Kamieniecki, Jeff Johnson, Denis Boucher, Charles Nagy.

Confusion reigned: Where did the hitting go? What does a home run look like? How can a lineup with so many proven commodities shrivel up into nothingness at the drop of a resin bag?

Could it be, oh, I don’t know . . . old age ?

Dave Parker, 40, is batting .225. Lance Parrish, 35, is at .229. Gary Gaetti, four weeks shy of 33, has only eight RBIs since May 31. Even Winfield, 39 going on 29 in the first half, is back pushing 40 again; he is hitting .175 with three RBIs since the All-Star break.

Ninety-one or bust?

Once again, Operation Win-One-For-The-Cowboy appears to have made its selection from column B.

On to the great typographical error in the AL West: Minnesota in first. Basically, the Twins are there because neither the A’s nor the White Sox are all there--reverse gravity: Somebody has to land in first--but a four-game lead and a .585 winning percentage in late July is worthy of further research.

Black magic hasn’t been ruled out yet; those ugly socks of Erickson’s keep walking out there and winning. Erickson could well be halfway to a Cy Young/MVP sweep, but the Twins survived without him for a 15-day disabled stint--and actually added to their lead.

This has been accomplished with the resurgence of Jack Morris (13-6) and Mike Pagliarulo (.291), the emergence of Scott Knoblauch (.272) and an everyday lineup that was vastly underrated from the day pitchers and catchers reported. Minnesota has Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Chili Davis, Brian Harper and Shane Mack--and it’s a shock that the Twins lead the league in hitting?

The Texas Rangers have the best half-team in baseball. Four .300 hitters in the batting order--Rafael Palmeiro, Julio Franco, Ruben Sierra and the multinationally titled Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez. Another .283 hitter in center field--no, not Gary Pettis--Juan Gonzalez. A breakthrough year from third baseman Steve Buechele, who leads the team lead in home runs with 15.

But you know what they say about Nolan Ryan? There’s only one of him.

More than anyone, the Rangers don’t need reminding.

With Bobby Witt and Scott Chiamparino on the disabled list, the Rangers have been grasping at straws to fill out their rotation. Reliever Kenny Rogers got a tryout. He picked a fine time to roll a 7.00 ERA. Gerald Alexander has been less than great. Now, they’re planning to hand the ball to Oil Can Boyd, who liked Montreal a lot more than Montreal liked him.

The Rangers and the Angels are the oldest American League teams to have never won a pennant. Is it too late to consider a merger?

The White Sox have made a recent run; it’s nice to know they’re back in the league. The signing of Bo Jackson was more than a PR stroke for this franchise. It was a metaphor for the season.

When is Bo going to show up?

When are the White Sox going to show up?

Apparently, all it took was Tim Raines getting the Rock out of his system, and the White Sox getting Cory Snyder out of theirs. Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura have prodded the White Sox into 16 victories in their past 19 home games, Ron Kittle is back on board for, what, his 13th go-round, and Bo has begun to take batting practice. The offense is breathing again.

But Chicago has a rotation problem--it rotates from Jack McDowell to Charlie Hough and then stops--which is not the recommended way to close a four-game deficit. At the new Comiskey, waiting for Alex Fernandez (the phenom is 4-7 with a 5.42 ERA) has been as fruitless as waiting for Godot.

All of this sets up much too nicely for Oakland, clinging on for so long with cast-encased hands. Mike Moore just became DL casualty No. 13--following Dave Stewart, Eric Show, Carney Lansford, Walt Weiss and the entire middle-relief corps. Mark McGwire might as well be there. At .189, his batting stroke has been begging for a rehab assignment.

As of Sunday, the A’s ranked 10th in fielding, 11th in batting and 12th in pitching. Yet, they remain in contention--through “sheer arrogance,” says Parker--and are within five games of the Twins with Jose Canseco and Rickey Henderson only starting to warm up.

Lansford and Show have recently returned. If rookie Mike Bordick can keep picking up groundballs at shortstop and Stewart and Bob Welch can rejoin the land of the winning, the A’s stand as good a chance as anyone amid this hodgepodge of flawed challengers.

If that happens, this summer will haunt the Angels unlike any other.

There was the welcome mat of opportunity, with the A’s out of able bodies, the Rangers and the White Sox out of starting pitchers and the Twins out of their class.

There was the AL West championship, swinging in front of them like a stuffed pinata.

And there were the Angels, holding the stick and forgetting how to use it.