Only the Details Change as Angels Lose Again, 4-2

Owners of the worst winning percentage in baseball after their 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, the Angels were at a loss to explain the silence of their bats.

Of course, being at a loss is a familiar position for them after five consecutive defeats and 21 in 26 games, their worst stretch since they were 4-20 to end the 1988 season.

Only the minor details vary. Tuesday’s twist before 29,906 at Comiskey Park featured the Angels scoring first against Greg Hibbard (6-4), scoring two unearned runs during the second inning after Steve Sax dropped shortstop Craig Grebeck’s throw on a force at second on Rene Gonzales. But that outburst, the first time the Angels had scored first in eight games, was negated during the third on two walks and singles by Tim Raines and Frank Thomas.

After tying the score with an infield hit, Thomas homered to put Chicago ahead during the fifth and tripled to score Robin Ventura with the fourth run.

“He’s got long arms and a big bat,” Angel starter Julio Valera (2-5) said of Thomas.

The Angels, who have been outscored, 30-10, in the first five games of this trip, haven’t scored three runs in an inning since May 23 or four in an inning since May 13 and have scored four runs in a game only once in their last 14.

They dropped into last place in the American League West on Tuesday for the first time this season with a .393 winning percentage; the Indians, their AL East counterparts, are at.397.

“It’s tough,” said second baseman Luis Sojo, who drove in the second run with a fielder’s choice grounder.

“Every time you go on the field and they score a run, you feel like you lost the game already.”

And the Angels’ pitchers, knowing they can’t afford to give up more than a run or two, are under duress each game. Valera pitched creditably Tuesday, working into the seventh inning, but he knew his chances of winning were slim after the White Sox tied the score. The last victory by an Angel starter was Bert Blyleven’s on May 30, and he pitched seven shutout innings to do it.

“You feel the pressure sometimes,” Valera acknowledged. “You try to get away from thinking that, but it comes into your mind.”

Interim manager John Wathan pointed to Raines’ steal of third during the third inning as a key moment because that enabled Raines to score when shortstop Gary DiSarcina bounced his throw to first on Thomas’ grounder. However, Wathan acknowledged that the Angels didn’t lose the game there.

“It still boils down to scoring more runs and trying to stick to a game plan,” he said.

“You can’t pull (the ball against) a guy like (Hibbard), a guy who sinks the ball, and that’s what we were doing sometimes. We need to be a little smarter.”

And a lot more productive. Trading for a big bat is rapidly becoming imperative, but the Angels are adamant about not trading a pitcher to make a deal.

“I know Whitey’s trying, but you try to deal in this kind of situation and everybody wants . . . to get a good player from you, steal from you,” Wathan said.

“I know he’s on the phone a heck of a lot.

“I don’t think I would trade (a pitcher). You’ve got to stick with your strength and trade (to fortify) your weakness. I don’t think that’s the way to do it.”

They aren’t sure exactly how to do it, however. Thomas, whose team lost 10 of 11 games before defeating the A’s on Sunday and winning the first two games of this four-game series against the Angels, sympathizes with the Angels.

“I can understand what they’re going through,” Thomas said. “For a while, we were coming to the ballpark wondering how we were going to lose that day.

“Nobody was saying it, but you could see it in everyone’s eyes. You’ve just got to keep battling.”

Which they say they will do. Said Valera: “It’s going to get better. It can’t be much worse than it’s been.”