The View Is No Better Up Close as Angels Lose : Baseball: Rodgers’ new perspective reveals the same lack of offense as the Tigers win, 5-1.

Buck Rodgers, the new Angel manager, had been watching the team from afar since he was fired by the Montreal Expos on June 3. Until Monday night, he had only watched the Angels’ struggles on television in his Yorba Linda home.

But on his first night on the job, their problems became his problems.

Hampered by many of the same troubles that led to Doug Rader’s firing Monday, the Angels lost to the Detroit Tigers, 5-1, before 29,104 at Anaheim Stadium.

Unreliable pitching from the Angels’ fifth starter--Joe Grahe in this case--and the inability to advance runners ruined their chances to extend a three-game winning streak. It is nothing anyone who has watched the Angels this season isn’t accustomed to seeing.

Even a four-hit performance by third baseman Gary Gaetti couldn’t bail out the Angels, who once again made the least of their opportunities. Their only run came when Luis Polonia’s fifth-inning double drove in Luis Sojo, who had walked.

However, the reviews from Rodgers after the game were mixed.

“A lot of good things happened tonight,” Rodgers said. “(But) we couldn’t get a bunt down. We couldn’t get a guy in from third base. A lot of things made it an uglier ballgame than it was.

“We had a bad execution night tonight. I hope that isn’t typical. The key word with me is execution. Three-run home runs are icing on the cake.”

After a two-month layoff, Rodgers said he felt a little rusty at the outset.

“After the first few innings it felt comfortable again,” he said. “I was kind of staggering at first. I didn’t have my scorecard up to date. After the first couple of innings it felt normal again.

“I’ve got to learn more about these guys before I can make out an intelligent lineup. I’m going on the past and some of the coaches’ suggestions until I find out who can do what and especially who can’t do what.”

The victory kept the Tigers in a first-place tie with the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East, a spot few expected them to be in at this stage of the season.

Manager Sparky Anderson, who has been as surprised as anyone, said: “We’ve got the beginnings of a good franchise.”

But it appears that the Tigers like the present well enough. They took an early lead against Grahe and held it.

As has been his custom, Grahe pitched his way into trouble right away, walking leadoff hitter Milt Cuyler and giving up a run-scoring double to Lou Whitaker. Grahe got through the second inning, but back-to-back doubles by Whitaker and Lloyd Moseby left him trailing, 2-0, in the third.

The Tigers added a run in the sixth and two in the seventh to put the game away.

Later, Grahe (1-6) said it was difficult to take the field with Rader, who had scouted the pitcher at the University of Miami, gone.

“I’m going to miss Doug,” Grahe said. “I owe a lot to him. I’m sad to see him go. He’s done a lot from me. Obviously there was pressure (pitching for a new manager). As far as I knew, he (Rodgers) had never seen me pitch. But I was able to let the pressure go.”