Rams Caught in Bad Copying Machine : Pro football: They lose to the Cardinals, 20-14, in much the same way they have lost four of their last five games.

The Rams are being redundant, they are repeating themselves, they are doing things over and over, again and again and again.

It’s the same game, the same way, the same result: Loss, loss, loss. . . .

On Sunday, they rallied from a deficit, pulled ahead in the late going, then stumbled when it mattered, losing two Cleveland Gary fumbles in the second half and falling to the Phoenix Cardinals, 20-14, before 40,788 at Anaheim Stadium.

Is there an echo? Heard this before? Sound familiar?

Well, yes. The Rams (3-6) have lost four of their last five games in just this fashion, which seems to have pushed Coach Chuck Knox, never particularly chatty after games anyway, to near-silence.

“Turnovers hurt us,” Knox said. “They always do.”

Little else could be said that hadn’t been said in so many post-game gatherings before, although this loss--unlike the others--came at home to a team not destined for the playoffs.

Before Sunday, the Rams had been undefeated at home and had lost tight ones on the road to San Francisco, New Orleans and Atlanta.

But on this day, Anaheim Stadium was just another place where the Rams almost won, and the Cardinals still weren’t anybody’s idea of a super team. And the Dallas Cowboys, in Dallas, are next week’s Ram opponent.

“We’re going through some tough times,” said cornerback Todd Lyght. “We’re not able to win, you know what I mean?

“It’s tiring. It’s very tiring. Every week, we always go into the game with a good plan, and we execute the plan. But then we have breakdowns.”

Sunday, there were Gary’s key fumbles--he had three and lost the two, after going through most of the season having quieted his reputation as a fumbler. There was an offense that found trouble getting into the end zone, and there was a defense that couldn’t stop the Cardinal running attack at the end.

The Rams, as is their habit, did plenty of positive things, from Gary’s 115 yards from scrimmage on plays on which he wasn’t fumbling; to Henry Ellard’s first touchdown reception of the season, a 33-yard strike from Jim Everett in the second quarter for a 7-3 lead; to a defense that didn’t allow a Cardinal drive of longer than 59 yards.

But the overall picture was bleak.

Linebacker Roman Phifer, trying hard to stay positive, summed up his team quite clearly: “I feel like we’re a better team than we used to be, but we make the mistakes and we lose the close games.”

In a seesaw game, the Rams led, 14-13, with 12:15 to play.

They got the ball back after a Phoenix (3-6) missed field-goal attempt and went right down the field to the Cardinal 27 as the clock wound down, with Gary running and receiving for 39 yards.

“I strongly thought we had the upper hand and were probably going to go ahead and win it at that point,” Lyght said.

But he should have figured differently. Gary, who had lost a fumble in the third quarter that set up Phoenix’s first touchdown, crashed into Cardinal linebacker Ken Harvey on the drive’s eighth play and fumbled again.

Defensive back Aeneas Williams picked up the loose ball at the 31 and took off, running past Ram quarterback Jim Everett and into the end zone. A clipping call on defensive end Eric Swann brought the ball back to the Rams’ 40, only delaying the Rams’ agony.

“We had to stop them there,” said strong safety Anthony Newman. A Phoenix field goal would have put the Rams within a kick of their own of pulling it out.

“We still had a chance,” Newman said.

Six plays and three Ram timeouts later, Johnny Johnson cruised in for his second score of the day, from 10 yards out with 2:04 to play.

The Rams got the ball back, with only one timeout remaining, and faced a Phoenix defense that knew it only had to keep the Rams out of the end zone to win.

On the sixth play of the panicky possession, Everett threw in the direction of Ellard inside the Phoenix 10-yard line, but linebacker Jock Jones cut in front for the game-sealing interception.

The loss ends any real Ram hopes of playoff consideration, and was more than a little reminiscent of the frustrating beginning to their disastrous, season-ending 10-game losing streak of a year ago.

“We keep saying it’s going to come, going to come,” said tight end Jim Price, “but we’re running out of time here, you know?”

But, though the mistakes were familiar--just flash back to last year’s season-opening, seven-turnover loss to the Cardinals at Anaheim Stadium--the Rams swore the team was distinctly different than last year’s 3-13 club.

“This team is so much different than last year’s,” said Everett, who continued his own solid individual play with a 21-of-32 passing day for 248 yards and a touchdown.

Said tackle Jackie Slater: “I think the experiences that we’re going through, it’s character-building. There are a lot of young people who are realizing just how difficult it is to win at this level.”

For the Cardinals, this game was another step up from the ditch they buried themselves in early this year. After their 1-6 start, Phoenix rose to beat the San Francisco 49ers last week.

Now, pulling out a fourth-quarter nail-biter against the Rams, despite making several mistakes--including 11 penalties and the weird clip on Williams’ fumble return--gives Phoenix a reason to believe in something other than going home for Christmas.

“This game was satisfying because we overcame all the errors,” Coach Joe Bugel said. “Our defense was ball-hawking, but we believed we were going to make something happen.”

Phoenix, behind quarterback Chris Chandler’s 21-for-30 day and Ricky Proehl’s slicing up of the soft Rams zone defense for 126 receiving yards on nine catches, was precise when it had to be.

Knox said the Rams have to regroup again and continue to play hard. But the lingering effects of this one, after all the other close losses, may be harder to shake off.

“When we fumble,” Slater said, “we fumble as a team.”

And the fumbles continue.

Ram Notes

Starting defensive end Bill Hawkins sprained ligaments in his right knee in the first quarter, did not return and could be out for several weeks. Hawkins badly damaged his left knee in 1989 and missed the rest of that season. . . . The Rams won the coin toss for the first time this season before Sunday’s game. They received the opening kickoff for the first time and punted after three plays.