A’s Trade of Canseco No Big Deal to Valera : Angels: Rookie beats Oakland for third time this season, 3-2.

The Oakland Athletics lost some of their swagger when they traded Jose Canseco to the Texas Rangers, but they deemed it a calculated loss, balanced by the additions of pitchers Bobby Witt and Jeff Russell along with Ruben Sierra.

They just didn’t figure that when Canseco departed, their offense would disappear, too.

Angel right-hander Julio Valera became the first pitcher to defeat the A’s three times this season, holding them to a run and five hits over six innings Monday, the foundation of a 3-2 victory before 21,251 fans at Anaheim Stadium.

The A’s got to Valera (7-9) only on a bases-loaded walk to Sierra in the fifth, but Valera ended the threat by striking out Harold Baines and Dave Henderson.

Lance Blankenship tagged reliever Chuck Crim for a leadoff homer in the seventh, but splendid defense and 1 2/3 innings of relief by Joe Grahe allowed the Angels to prevail over Mike Moore (13-11).

Oakland lost for the sixth time in seven games since the Canseco trade.

The A’s--whose AL West lead over the Minnesota Twins dwindled to 4 1/2 games--have scored 12 runs in those seven games. Before the deal, they averaged 4.77 runs per game.

“I think they’re still kind of in shock,” said Angel first baseman Lee Stevens, whose flare single over the head of shortstop Walt Weiss scored Chad Curtis with the Angels’ third run, in the third inning.

“(Canseco) is definitely an intimidating figure. Then with (Mark) McGwire hurt, that’s two big guns out of their lineup.”

McGwire, who has a strained rib-cage muscle, took about 20 swings Monday but isn’t ready to return. Oakland Manager Tony La Russa is closely monitoring his team’s ability to weather this run-scoring drought.

“The big thing to do is don’t get tight, just don’t get tight,” he said. “Tight to me means, ‘Uh-oh, I’m going to start worrying. I’m paralyzed.’ I’m tight all the time, but I like to be. But not to the point where I can’t pull the trigger.”

La Russa pulled the trigger on several hit-and-run plays and a double steal in the seventh. The double steal failed when Jerry Browne was thrown out at home, but La Russa had no regrets over the attempt.

“We did stuff all afternoon that could have won the game,” La Russa said. “It’s tough to believe we lost this one, but Buck (Rodgers) is just as aggressive as we were. Hell, maybe even more. The other side’s got talent, and they’re trying too.”

“We’re a better team right now and I don’t know if we’re going to win, but we’re a better team.”

Stevens and John Orton are trying to salvage a positive ending from seasons replete with disappointment. Orton, plagued by a shoulder injury that kept him from winning the starting catcher’s job in spring training, doubled his season total of runs batted in when he singled to left in the second on a 3-and-0 pitch, scoring Stevens and Rob Ducey.

“That’s not saying much,” Orton said.

Still, the two runs gave Valera a bit of a cushion, and he went into what has become a routine against the A’s. In four starts against Oakland, he has given up four earned runs in 25 innings, an earned-run average of 1.08. Overall, his ERA is 3.72.

“I don’t know what it is,” Valera said of his success against Oakland. “It’s got to be something, but I don’t know what it is.”

A nasty forkball and tantalizing slow curve were his weapons Monday, and he made them work despite falling behind in the count more often than in his three previous encounters with Oakland.

“I guess I just made the right pitch when I had to,” said Valera, who left because he slightly re-injured the cut on his right index finger that forced him to skip his last turn.

Moore also made a lot of good pitches when he had to and he had the benefit of a dazzling double play begun by Walt Weiss in the sixth, on a grounder by Orton.

“That’s the greatest play I’ve ever seen,” Stevens said. “That’s on the highlight films.”

But Moore could have used another run or two.