Punchless Angels in Form in 2-1 Loss

Luis Polonia can’t bear to look at the standings anymore.

“Why? So I can get more disappointed every day?” the Angel left fielder said.

The Angels’ disappointment grew with their American League West deficit Thursday. Oakland’s Bob Welch, the American League’s 1990 Cy Young Award winner, shut them out on three hits until Wally Joyner hit a leadoff homer in the ninth inning. Welch finished with a swift and efficient 2-1 victory at the Oakland Coliseum.

The 2-hour 21-minute complete game by Welch (11-8) kept the Athletics six games behind the Minnesota Twins and dropped the Angels a season-worst 15 games out of first place, making Polonia’s decision to skip the standings understandable.

“I just keep hoping a miracle will happen,” Polonia said after the Angels’ fourth consecutive loss, which gave them a 5-6 record on their trip to Minnesota, Seattle and Oakland.

“We still have a chance, but we don’t do anything. We come here and we don’t do anything,” Polonia said. “It’s a weird feeling. They’re not even throwing strikes to us and they win. They go out and throw bad pitches and we swing at them. I’m pretty sure they threw four times more balls than strikes. . . . We don’t seem to think when we’re out there. They know what is your weak point, and they’re going to go after it.”

The A’s found enough weaknesses in the Angels to win 12 of the teams’ 13 games this season.

“It’s like the bully at school that says, ‘Give me your lunch money,’ ” Dave Winfield said. “We didn’t eat all year.”

Chuck Finley (15-7) was starved for offensive support Thursday. He pitched well in his attempt to join Minnesota’s Scott Erickson as the second 16-game winner in the major leagues, giving up a run in the first inning on a walk to Jose Canseco and a double by Terry Steinbach and another run in the eighth on Mike Gallego’s leadoff homer.

But Finley’s teammates were nearly helpless against Welch.

“We’re not in the same league with Oakland,” Finley said. “You can look on paper and say we match up in this and this, but we’re just not as good as a team. They do the small things they need to do to win. We do them at times, but not enough. . . .

“The days are going now, thank God,” he said, with a small smile. “It’s hard to explain. We play good for a while and then we don’t. As pitchers, we can’t concern ourselves with hitting and base stealing. We can only cover ourselves. We’re in control of what we do as pitchers. All you can ask for is to keep the team in the game.

“I don’t think anybody in here is bitter with anybody for not getting it done, but it’s frustrating at times. You just want to go and tear something up. I know everybody in here is trying, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.”

Everything worked out well for the A’s against the Angels this season. Oakland’s earned-run average against the Angels was 2.29, compared with the staff’s overall ERA of 4.49.

“Either they have a very good book on us or we’re not responding at the proper time,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “When you get beat by a club 12 out of 13 times, there’s nothing to do but take your hat off.”

Dave Parker unloosed a tirade against the umpiring, claiming that Welch got strike calls on pitches that were “a foot and a half off the plate,” but discipline might have served the Angels better than criticism.

The Angels had only two concerted threats against Welch Thursday: They put runners on first and third in the second inning, only to have Luis Sojo pop up; and had runners on first and third with one out in the seventh inning. On that occasion, Welch struck out Shawn Abner and got Dave Gallagher to pop to second.

“I stayed with my fastball and moved it around the zone,” Welch said after his 10th victory over the Angels in 11 decisions. “I wanted to finish this one. We had Dennis (Eckersley) in the dugout with tennis shoes on. I’m not looking to the bullpen. I wanted to throw a shutout, but I wanted a complete game more.”

He got it with help from the Angels, who drew only two walks Thursday and five for the three-game series. They have 331 walks this season, lowest in the major leagues.

“It’s hard to explain the discipline it entails to walk,” Rader said. “We know it’s a glaring deficiency.”

It’s part of an even larger deficiency that is the cause of their being 15 games behind.

“We haven’t been scoring runs, and that’s the bottom line,” Rader said. “Our pitching and defense deserve all the credit in the world. Talking about our offense, there’s no sense in beating a dead horse.”

* RADER UPDATE: Will the Angels fire Manager Doug Rader? Club President Richard Brown has a pat answer: It’s a ‘non-issue.’ Mike Penner’s commentary, C3.