Despite His Slam, Chili Left With Hollow Feeling

Under different, happier circumstances, Chili Davis might have been giddy after slamming another ball over the outfield fence Tuesday night at Anaheim Stadium.

He might have smiled broadly, accepting post-game congratulations from teammates and Manager Buck Rodgers.

He have might entertained reporters with witty banter.

But Davis said Tuesday he can’t feel good when there’s chaos all around him. He can’t go home content that he has done his best to help the Angels (9-18) win when they keep losing.

He knows one man can’t carry a major league baseball team, even if he happens to be having one of the best starts of his career.

“It’s really frustrating,” Davis said after the Angels’ 6-5 loss to the New York Yankees.

“Losing is frustrating. You lose as a team. I can’t walk around and be all happy. It’s like when everybody in your house is sick, but you’re feeling good. You can’t be happy then.

“I feel for the rest of the team. I’m kind of pleased with the way I’m going. It’s gratifying to go home after you’ve played well and won. It’s not gratifying when you’ve played well and lost.”

This is Davis’ lot in early May, 1994.

He’s ripping the ball to all fields, terrorizing American League pitching with a .378 average, six home runs and 23 runs batted in. But the Angels are in a funk, losing six in a row and 10 of 11, and one can only wonder the trouble they would be in without Davis.

Tuesday, they were down, 6-1, when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two out in the eighth inning. Yankee starter Terry Mulholland was teetering on the brink of disaster, and Davis pushed him over the edge, hitting a grand slam over the 386-foot sign in left-center field.

It sent the crowd of 22,592 into delirium, and energized the Angels, but it couldn’t bring them back to win. Davis’ fourth career grand slam will be a pleasant personal memory to be sure, but he downplayed its long-term impact on the club.

“You can’t rely on that to happen to get us back in the ballgame,” he said. “It’s not going to happen all the time. We just have to do the little things to keep us in the ballgame.”

Davis wasn’t willing to elaborate further on what’s wrong with the team, saying only: “I’d like to see more of a team concept. Instead of guys trying to do everything individually, I’d like to see a walk, a single.

“It’s pretty tough to carry 24 other guys on your shoulders.”