Angels Still Get No Help From Finley : Baseball: He falls to 0-3. Davis’ slam cuts Yankees’ lead to 6-5 in the eighth, but that’s as close as California gets.

Chuck Finley momentarily closed his eyes Tuesday night, allowing his mind to capture the feeling that’s threatening his sanity, and slowly shook his head in disbelief.

This night was going to be different, he kept telling himself before the game. He was going to put an end to this nonsense once and for all. There was no doubt in his mind he finally was going to win.

Instead, he was left standing in front of reporters after the Angels’ 6-5 defeat to the New York Yankees, trying to explain just what happened, once again.

“I know a lot of guys around here are waiting for me to kick it in,” Finley said, “and I’m trying to make it work. I really am trying to make it work.

“But it’s just not working right now.”

Finley paused, trying to gather his thoughts, and said almost in a whisper, “I’ve never had anything like this happen before. Never. To have this many starts and not win.”

Finley’s voice trailed off, unable to complete the sentence. Here he is, supposed to carry the pitching staff on his shoulders while Mark Langston is on the disabled list, and he cannot win a game.

Finley, considered one of the finest left-handed starting pitchers in baseball, has made six starts this season and the Angels have lost all of them. He yielded nine hits and six runs in six innings Tuesday, in front of 22,592 at Anaheim Stadium, dropping his record to 0-3 with a 6.81 earned-run average.

“He’s struggling big time,” Angel Manager Buck Rodgers said. “We’ve got to keep searching. He didn’t get in this (mess) in 15 minutes, and he’s not going to get out of it in 15 minutes.

“Our pitching just is not good right now. When your team ERA is around 5.00 (actually 5.34), your pitching isn’t good. You can’t expect this team to score six runs every game.

“The pitching is going to have to lead us out of the wilderness.”

The Angels (9-18), who have not won a game started by anyone other than Brian Anderson or Mark Leiter since April 6, have lost six consecutive games and 10 of their last 11. Their only saving grace is that the rest of their division is playing nearly as badly, leaving the Angels only three games back in the standings.

Perhaps the biggest crime is that the Angels continue to lose despite the offensive exploits of designated hitter Chili Davis, who’s batting .378 with six homers and 23 runs batted in. Davis hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to pull the Angels within 6-5.

“I really feel our pitching staff is going to come around,” said Davis, who went three for four. “Right now, I’m sure Chuck’s wondering what’s going on with his performances.

“All it takes is one good start from him, and then he’ll reel off some wins.

“Then again, our offense has to be there, too.”

Finley’s most serious problem, scouts say, is that they believe he has lost arm strength. His fastball is being clocked at 88-89 m.p.h., about five m.p.h. slower than a couple of years ago.

“He’s not throwing as hard since he had the toe surgery (Dec. 6, 1991),” Rodgers said. “We’re trying to make some adjustments. This is a project right now.

“He has to use that curveball a little more, and if he uses that, he has to go inside. You’ve got to back people off the plate, which he wasn’t doing.”

Finley’s woes began in the fourth inning, when he walked Paul O’Neill. Bernie Williams followed with a single to left. Mike Gallego, executing the hit-and-run to perfection, slapped a single through the hole at shortstop into left field, scoring O’Neill and advancing Williams to third.

Finley got ahead, 0-and-2, to No. 9 hitter Pat Kelly, but with a drawn-in infield, Kelly slapped the ball past shortstop Spike Owen into left field for another run.

Randy Velarde sacrificed the runners into scoring position, and on yet another 0-2 pitch, Jim Leyritz drove in two more runs with a single to left.

Just like that, with nothing harder than a single, the Yankees had a 4-0 lead.

“Usually when Chuck Finley gets a guy down 0-and-2,” Rodgers said, “he buries them. But he let both of those guys up, and they hurt us.”

The Yankees then put Finley away in the sixth inning when Leyritz’s two-run homer made it 6-0. It was Leyritz’s fourth homer and ninth RBI on this trip.