Angels Still Slow Out of the Blocks : Baseball: California 0-3 after White Sox win series finale, 7-6. McCaskill beats former teammates.

They didn’t lose without a fight, and that was fine for their pride and for the entertainment of the 19,926 fans Thursday night at Anaheim Stadium.

But any encouragement the Angels might gain from the comeback they staged in a 7-6 loss to the White Sox has to be tempered by the flood of mishaps and mistakes they committed, too many gaffes for a club dependent on base-to-base offense and sound defense.

The White Sox raked Angel starter Joe Grahe for seven runs in five innings, building a 7-2 lead for Kirk McCaskill, who left the Angels last winter for a three-year, $7-million free agent contract. McCaskill, pitching on his 31st birthday, weakened in the middle innings and left after five innings with a 7-5 lead. Terry Leach and Scott Radinsky combined to hold off a late Angel surge and give the White Sox a series sweep.

The loss left the Angels 0-3 for only the second time in their 32 seasons. The first was 1976 when they were swept by the Oakland Athletics.

Hubie Brooks’ first home run as an Angel cut Chicago’s lead to 7-6 in the seventh, and the Angels put the tying run into scoring position when left fielder Tim Raines dropped Alvin Davis’ sinking liner for a double. However, Gary Gaetti popped to second and Bobby Rose flied to deep left to end the threat.

Pinch-hitter Chad Curtis walked with one out in the ninth, but Radinsky got Brooks to ground into a game-ending double play.

Grahe got into early trouble as the White Sox batted around in the first inning and scored four runs. The Angels’ seventh error in three games did not help, but all the runs were earned.

A two-out single by Robin Ventura, who drove in the winning run in Chicago’s 4-3 victory Wednesday, started the offense. Ventura went to second when Grahe walked Frank Thomas, who walked a league-leading 138 times last season. Ventura scored and Thomas took second when designated hitter George Bell lined a single past Grahe’s head and into center field.

Dan Pasqua hit a 1-and-1 pitch into left field for an RBI-double when the ball eluded Luis Polonia. Bell made it to third. Ron Karkovice then bunted softly toward third baseman Gaetti, who was charging the ball. He fielded it where the dirt ends and the grass begins, but his throw hopped past first baseman Alvin Davis for an error. Bell and Pasqua scored.

The Angels scored once in the inning, but stranded runners at second and third. Junior Felix singled with one out and moved to second on Von Hayes’ single to right. After Hubie Brooks flied to left, Davis dumped an 0-and-2 pitch into left field for a double, his first hit and first RBI as an Angel. Gaetti missed an opportunity to narrow the Angels’ deficit more when he flied to right.

The White Sox extended their lead to 5-1 in the second. Raines stroked a leadoff single to right but was forced at second by Steve Sax. Ventura got his sixth hit in 12 at-bats by lining a single to left-center, sending Sax to third. Sax tagged and scored after Thomas’ fly to foul territory in right.

More Angel fielding misadventures helped the White Sox take a 6-2 lead in the third. Pasqua reached on a hopper to short and took second when Grahe’s 1-and-0 pitch to Karkovice bounced to the backstop. Karkovice walked, bringing up Lance Johnson. Expecting the sacrifice, Davis crept in from first and was in position to play Johnson’s soft bunt--but no one was covering first. That loaded the bases for Guillen, who flied to right.

Bell’s first homer with the White Sox, a 376-foot shot to left, made it 7-2. Grahe didn’t retire the side until the fifth inning.

A three-run fifth brought the Angels close, and a bruising, home-plate collision between Gaetti and Karkovice brought the partisan crowd to life.

Polonia led off with a single and scored when Hayes doubled into the right-field corner. After Brooks struck out, Davis and Gaetti walked to load the bases. Rose then lined a double down the left-field line, scoring Hayes and Davis. Gaetti tried to follow them and crashed into Karkovice after he had caught the relay from Ventura. Karkovice went tumbling, but held onto the ball for the third out.