Angels Lose, 9-3; Finley Sidelined : Baseball: Mariners hand them their fourth consecutive loss. Left-hander is suffering from an inflamed left big toe.

The Angels watched a few more of their dwindling opportunities slip away without too much argument Saturday night, this time in a 9-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners before 28,742 in Anaheim Stadium.

Kirk McCaskill said he has seen them get away before, too many times.

Too many times, in this season and others. Too many times with the Angels.

“This team has always lacked something, ever since I’ve been here,” said McCaskill, who was called on Saturday to fill in for Chuck Finley, whose availability is suddenly a concern after he was scratched from Saturday’s game because of an inflamed big toe on his left foot. “I can’t say I can put my finger on it. Just in terms of enthusiasm, or desire, there always seems to be something missing. Whether it’s the environment or what, I can’t put my finger on it.”

Only a loss by the last-place Kansas City Royals kept the Angels from losing their tenuous grip on next-to-last place in the American League West, a month to the day after the Angels were in first place for a day after a victory July 3.

And while the Angels lost their fourth game in a row and their 10th in their last 13 at home, they awaited word on another threat to their dimming dream of contention.

Finley, who would have been seeking his 15th victory, was scratched from the start late Friday night. Results of a bone scan conducted Saturday night at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange are expected to be announced today.

The Angels, who fell nine games behind the division-leading Minnesota Twins and remain a half-game ahead of the Royals, have spent the season in a futile search for a fifth starter, at times resorting to a four-man rotation. Suddenly, they were faced with the prospect of injury to one of their two 14-game winners as they begin a nine-game home stand against three of the teams they trail in the American League West. After the home stand awaits an 11-game trip against the same teams.

Two years ago, when the Angels fell from contention for the 1989 division title, a disabling foot injury to Finley was one of the reasons.

“There’s no team that can afford to lose a Chuck Finley,” McCaskill said.

Manager Doug Rader said Finley had first experienced the problem during spring training, but that it had become very painful Friday.

The pitcher had a similar problem in April, trainer Ned Bergert said, adding that it “resolved itself in about 48 hours.”

Other than concern about Finley, what troubled the Angels on Saturday was their continuing failure on the field.

This time there was a bases-loaded situation in the third inning that ended when Dave Winfield hit into a double play, and a two-run seventh-inning rally that ended when Bobby Rose struck out with runners on first and third.

Then there were three two-run homers the Angels gave up, to Alvin Davis, Jay Buhner, and Ken Griffey Jr.

“Whenever the opportunity arises where we need to be extremely competitive, we aren’t,” McCaskill said. “There’s just always something missing. I’m so tired of hearing, ‘on paper . . .’ That’s all we ever talk about, on paper this team has a lot of power. Maybe we’ll find it. Maybe we’ll get it going.

“How many games do we have left? Sixty? We’ve got to win a lot of those ballgames. We’ve got to do something different than we’ve been doing. It’s just extremely frustrating to know you have the talent to be better than you are, and not fulfill it. I’m not excluding myself, by any means. I’m talking about everybody.”

McCaskill (8-14) was pitching on three-days’ rest after ending a personal five-game losing streak last Tuesday by going seven innings in a 4-2 victory over Cleveland.

“Kirk came back on short notice,” Rader said. “Give him credit.

“Buhner hit a really good pitch, and Alvin Davis hit out a pitch he’s had trouble with all year.”

McCaskill left after 6 1/3 innings, trailing 5-1. He was charged with six runs, five earned on eight hits and walking three.

The Angels scored three runs or fewer for the 29th time at home this season, and for the 24th time, they lost.

The Angels were held in check by Randy Johnson (10-7), a former USC pitcher who had 11 strikeouts in seven innings. He held the Angels to two hits through six innings and left after seven, having given up two runs on six hits and walking only two. At one point, he struck out seven of eight.