Abbott Needs to Join Support Group : Angels: His record falls to 4-11 as hitters again fail to help him. Blue Jays’ Guzman stifles them, 3-0.

The Angels finally found something they could hit: the halfway point of the season.

Their 3-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays Monday dropped their record to 32-49, their worst 81-game record since they were 30-51 in 1980. With only two singles off Juan Guzman (11-1) in the first seven innings and two more singles in the eighth off reliever Duane Ward, the Angels did their usual feeble job of supporting Jim Abbott (4-11). They have scored two runs or fewer in 12 of his 18 starts and have been shut out three times.

“We almost never had a chance,” Rene Gonzales said.

Guzman, who has won 21 of his last 25 decisions, didn’t give the Angels much to work with. When he wasn’t startling them with his changeup, he was overpowering them with a 92-m.p.h. fastball.

“His changeup was his best pitch. He got everybody with that,” Luis Sojo said.

In racking up 10 strikeouts and reducing his earned-run average to 2.01, Guzman passed Boston’s Roger Clemens for the AL lead in both categories and made a strong case to be the starter in next week’s All-Star game.

“I think about it, sure,” said Guzman, a former Dodger minor leaguer. “I want to go there, even if I don’t start.”

He started Monday’s game with four hitless innings, delighting the SkyDome crowd of 50,406. He let only two runners reach scoring position in his seven-inning stint: Junior Felix got to second on a two-out walk and a wild pitch in the first inning and Gary DiSarcina singled and stole second in the sixth, but Guzman ended both threats with inning-ending strikeouts. Ward outlasted a two-hit flurry in the eighth and Tom Henke pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 15th save and clinch the Blue Jays’ 50th victory, a franchise record for the first half of a season.

“A lot of nights you don’t know if it’s us or the opponent, but tonight Guzman really impressed me,” interim Manager John Wathan said after the Angels’ eighth consecutive loss and 12th in their last 14 games.

“Both times we’ve seen him (a 4-1 Blue Jay victory May 10 at Anaheim Stadium) he’s pitched well. He threw changeups on 3-and-2 counts and has that fastball, so he’s for real.”

The Angels’ scoring problems are just as real. Monday marked the 46th time they have scored three runs or fewer, putting immeasurable pressure again on their pitcher. Abbott blamed himself for the loss, saying he shouldn’t have walked Manuel Lee in the third to put Jeff Kent in position to score on Devon White’s single, and regretting the slider he gave Derek Bell leading off the seventh, a pitch Bell slammed 429 feet to left.

“I did some things to hurt myself and it cost us the ballgame,” said Abbott. “Juan Guzman was real impressive. He’s established himself this year as a very, very good pitcher. He made some great pitches in crucial situations that hurt us.

“I can’t place blame and say we didn’t get any runs. More so, I’m upset with myself. Walking Manny Lee cost me a run. Hitting Roberto Alomar (in the eighth) cost me a run (when Joe Carter doubled). You do those type of things against Toronto, you’re going to get hurt. I paid the price.”

But Ron Tingley, Abbott’s batterymate, said Abbott shouldn’t expect to pitch perfectly every time out.

“He says he made some bad pitches, and yeah, we made some, but that’s still not enough reason for him to lose this ballgame. We’ve still got to give him some run support, and we didn’t,” Tingley said. “If pitchers could pitch without making mistakes, everybody would throw shutouts every game. We made a mistake to Bell that cost us one run. That should not be enough to beat Jim Abbott or any other pitcher on our staff if we give him the run support, but haven’t been doing it. That’s the frustrating thing.

“We had Guzman in a situation where we could have scored some runs on him, and he got out of it. We had Jack Morris on the ropes (Saturday), and we didn’t put him away, either. As hitters, it’s just endlessly frustrating for us.”

Even Guzman sympathized with Abbott’s plight.

“I feel for him,” Guzman said. “He doesn’t get any help from his team. If you pitch like that, you should win more than you lose.”

So far, he hasn’t. “It’s been a frustrating season,” Abbott said, “but somewhere, somehow this will all pay off. I hope.”