Angels Keep Up the Magic, 4-3 : Baseball: They get only three hits, but beat Kansas City and move into a tie for first with the Royals and White Sox.

Left fielder Luis Polonia is convinced this scenario has caught Angel management by complete surprise. He wonders if anyone in the front office has faith in the Angels even now, and not believing this is a crazy fluke.

So, keeping the club’s best interest in mind, he decided to make his own deal Monday. He went shopping in the Westport area of town, found a voodoo doll to replace the one he burned a week ago and says now that “Mughambi” will lead the Angels to the promised land.

Who knows what role the doll played, but certainly something strange happened Monday in the Angels’ 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals in front of 27,757 at Royals Stadium.

The Angels were outhit, 13-3. They had only one hit by the first seven hitters in the lineup, but a homer by No. 8 hitter Greg Myers and a two-out, run-scoring single by No. 9 hitter Gary DiSarcina. They threw out Greg Gagne at the plate on a potential two-run swing in the fourth inning, and then saw him ejected from the game for brushing home-plate umpire Derryl Cousins.

The Angels, consensus picks for last place in the American League West, find themselves sitting in a three-way tie for first place with Kansas City and Chicago.

“We’re shocking our own front office,” Polonia said. “They just threw this team together, hoping we can be decent in two years. If they thought we had any chance, they wouldn’t have gotten rid of (Bryan) Harvey.

“But we always believed in ourselves. Maybe we didn’t think we’d be in first place in June, but I guarantee you we thought we’d be better than everyone else thought.

“The time has come that if they really want us to go all the way, it’s time for them to get us some help.”

Angel starter Chuck Finley (8-5), who yielded baserunners in all but one of his six innings, pitched just well enough to win. Finley and Mark Langston are 9-1 in 10 starts since May 29 with a 3.76 earned-run average, while the rest of the rotation is 0-11 with an 11.00 ERA.

“I felt I was in a Rocky sequel,” Finley said. “They had me on the ropes all night. I came into the dugout, and they asked me if I was cut yet.”

Much more astonishing is that the Angels (35-32) are still standing three weeks before the All-Star break, with no team in the American League West looking dominant.

“There’s no way it’s going to stay like this,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “There’s no way. Teams are going to start busting out.”

Considering the Angels’ weaknesses, particularly in the rotation, when is it time to make the big acquisitions that could enable them to be the team that leaves the pack?

“I think the time will be the road trip after the All-Star break,” Rodgers said. “If we’re still close, then that will be the barometer reading.”

Said Finley: “Hey, we’ve come this far, let’s see if we can get one or two things done to help us get into this thing. You have to take advantage of the situation because you never know when we’ll be this close again.”

Meanwhile the Royals, who have lost seven of their last 10 games to help create this logjam, are hoping that Angel castoff Gary Gaetti can be the key acquisition for their struggling offense.

Gaetti started at third base in his first game for the Royals since being released by the Angels on June 3, going three for four with a double and run batted in.

“I’m not going to worry about revenge and all that, it’s just a weird situation, that’s all,” Gaetti said, his voice starting to rise. “There’s a lot of emotions. I’m getting a legitimate chance to play, and that didn’t happen with the Angels.

“They based everything this year on last year (when he batted .226, with 12 homers and 48 RBIs). I just sat, and sat, and sat, and sat. You ask me if that’s a legitimate chance?”