Gaetti Looks Up From the Downside : Angels: Despite the team’s slump and his own struggles, he tries to remain optimistic.

More than a decade in the major leagues has taught Gary Gaetti that all things change. The bad passes away, as surely as the good.

When, then, will this trouble be lifted from the Angels?

“It’s like, if you can, you try to find all the positive things you can,” said Gaetti, who became a religious man during his final years with the Minnesota Twins and has maintained a quiet faith as an Angel.

His team lost its manager, Buck Rodgers, to injuries in a near-tragic bus crash May 21, and has lost 14 of 18 games during a stretch that began before the accident.

Gaetti, struggling to avoid his third consecutive poor season, is batting .232 and leaving runners on base. He essentially lost the Gold Glove with four errors in his first four games of the season.

“If it doesn’t change, we’ll go down as the worst team in baseball history,” Gaetti said. “That’s not going to happen, though.”

The Angels’ third baseman has seen better times--a World Series title with the Twins in 1987. And worse--his rookie season with the Twins in 1982.

“I was on a team that lost 14 games in a row, and lost 102 games,” he said. “Being a rookie at the time, I was just glad to be in the big leagues.”

The Angels’ current stretch, he says, “is right up there,” with his most troubling.

Gaetti is still trying to adjust to contact lenses after learning last season that he is nearsighted. More recently he has been bothered by a sore left elbow. He was taken out of Wednesday’s game because of it, but X-rays were negative.

His own troubles aside, Gaetti keeps an eye on the team for signs of implosion.

“There’s always frustration, anger,” he said. “There’s a tendency to introvert. That’s not good for teams; that’s probably the worst thing that can happen. It’s not happening here.

“We’re one hit, one pitch away. The important thing is for the team to stay together as a team and concentrate on each pitch, each inning, each day, instead of looking at the stretch--what’s ahead or what’s behind.”

Gaetti, though not one to stage a loud clubhouse rally, hopes his presence is felt.

“I hope I would have a stabilizing effect in whatever way I can, because of who I am, what I stand for, the experience factor,” he said. “I want to be an encouragement to guys. I’m having a pretty tough time myself. I’m still coming out and playing the games.”

Though he doesn’t criticize interim manager John Wathan, Gaetti believes the team sorely misses Rodgers. Rodgers, whose commanding presence and aggressive managing style had the Angels playing better than expected earlier in the season, was released from the hospital Wednesday, and could miss two more months while recovering from surgery on his right elbow and left knee.

“It’s not a good thing to lose your manager in the way we did at the time we did,” Gaetti said. “That’s not saying anything against John, he’s done a fine job. We haven’t. To lose your manager--not to have him fired, but to lose him--is hard.

“There’s some adjustment period. To think that there wouldn’t be would be stupid. Besides that, we’ve got guys hurt, some guys who were going good.”

Second baseman Bobby Rose is has a sprained ankle suffered in the crash, and outfielder Junior Felix, whose 31 runs batted in lead the team, has a strained groin muscle. Both are on the disabled list.

“As a team, we’ve had a lot of adversity,” Gaetti said. “It was kind of all topped off by the bus accident.”

Gaetti’s own struggle has continued. He hit a career-low .229 in his final season with the Twins. Last year, in his first season with the Angels after signing a four-year $11.4-million free-agent contract, he hit. .246 with 18 home runs but had only 66 RBIs, his fewest since 1985.

Gaetti, who had a .255 average over his career going into this season, has had two 100-RBI seasons and seven of 75 or more.

This season he is lagging even farther behind.

“I don’t like looking at the numbers and seeing 11 RBIs,” he said.

Gaetti, who experimented unsuccessfully with eyeglasses last season, also had difficulty with contact lenses. But he got a new pair recently and hopes he has found the solution.

Without glasses, he cannot read lettering from 25 feet, particularly at night.

“I can’t look across this room and read the names clearly,” he said in the Angel clubhouse, pointing to the names over the lockers.

“If they don’t fit properly, the optics aren’t right. Quick eye movements can unseat the contact, and it doesn’t center. You run to the base and glance back to catch the ball, and it’s blurry.”

Gaetti, who has four Gold Gloves, has 13 errors in 46 games after making 17 all last season. He had 10 as of May 1 this season, but has made only one since May 12.

“There’s no doubt (the contacts contributed to the errors),” he said. “(But) I can’t come over and say I made an error because I have something in my eye.

“I don’t know if anything can make a difference at the plate for me right now. This should help--at least in my mind I’m not thinking, ‘This doesn’t feel right,’ or worrying if it’s going to blur out when the pitch is on the way.

“I’m still experimenting with the right fit, the right power. I’ve got something I can stay with. It’s still a process. There are still times when the weather can determine how they feel in my eyes.

“It’s been an ordeal. It’s something I had to deal with last season and this season.”

Last season and this season--a last-place finish and a terrible slump in the second month.

“There have been times when we felt like just cashing it in, even earlier (than the accident),” Gaetti said. “We’re still here playing, we’re here to go on playing and be men about it, be human beings about it.”