Angel Attack Is Weak, No Matter Who Is Boss : Baseball: Navarro holds them to four hits in 3-1 Brewer victory over Finley. Joyner homers.

And Buck Rodgers thought he would need six weeks to learn his team’s capabilities.

It took the Angels’ new manager only six games to discover what had frustrated his predecessor, Doug Rader, for most of this long, tedious season.

“Right now, we’re not scoring any runs,” Rodgers said.

He meant that figuratively, but the Angels came within an out of scoring no runs Sunday against Brewer right-hander Jaime Navarro, who has two major league shutouts. Wally Joyner spared them that indignity when his poke down the left-field line snaked past the foul pole for a home run in the ninth inning, but it didn’t spare the Angels a 3-1 loss before 12,710 at County Stadium.

The Angels have scored 11 runs for Rodgers and hadn’t hit a homer until Joyner found the left-field seats with what Rodgers called “a shanked nine-iron.” Navarro (13-10) gave up only four hits and didn’t permit a runner to reach second until Joyner passed through while circling the bases on his 21st homer of the season.

“The few guys who got on base commented on how well Jaime was throwing,” said Brewer first baseman Paul Molitor, whose conversations with the Angels were limited to two infield hits and a bloop single by Donnie Hill.

Navarro pitched well, but the Angels’ impatience at the plate undermined their efforts. The Angels had no walks--they have drawn five in their past six games--and repeatedly hit the first pitch thrown by Navarro instead of making him labor.

Angel starter Chuck Finley (16-8) has been through this routine too many times this season to be perturbed. Finley’s attempt to become the American League’s first 17-game winner was derailed in the first inning when singles by Molitor and Willie Randolph set up Robin Yount’s run-scoring fielder’s choice grounder. Designated hitter Dave Sveum drove in Yount with the second run on a single to center.

Molitor, who has a 13-game hitting streak, made it 3-0 with a two-out homer to left field in the seventh inning. That represented an insurmountable lead for the Angels, who lost their seventh consecutive road game and matched their biggest deficit of the season by falling 15 games behind the AL West-leading Twins.

“The games are getting quicker, though,” Finley said, trying to find some saving grace in the 2-hour 16-minute contest.

“There’s no need for getting upset about it, tearing my locker up. We’ve seen (the offense) come and go. (If) you go out there and pitch defensively because you think the team’s not going to score runs, you’re going to get hammered. You concede the fact that whatever happens, happens. I’d like to win a few more games. If I don’t, maybe I can go home with the fact that I pitched well enough to squeeze out a few more wins.”