Angels, Standing Pat, Lose to White Sox, 8-5

They met Monday afternoon and debated the ramifications of rising earned-run averages, lowered standards and the possibility of replacing one of their struggling starters.

In the end, they decided the best course of action was no action. It seems Angel Manager Buck Rodgers, General Manager Bill Bavasi and assistant GM Tim Mead can’t get anyone out either.

So, for the time being at least, the Angels’ rotation remains the same and Monday night it was Phil Leftwich’s turn. In this time of reduced expectations, he came through with what might be considered a quality start, California style. Leftwich gave up three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.

After all, the Angels have scored 40 runs in the last five games and have managed to win only twice. This time, it was the Chicago White Sox who discovered that batting practice lasts about five hours when you face the Angels these days. They pounded five Angel pitchers for 12 hits en route to an 8-5 victory in front of 21,387 at Anaheim Stadium.

“Everybody’s either trying to pitch too fine or they don’t have control, but it seems like we’re always behind (in the count) 2-0 or 3-1,” Rodgers said. “I can’t believe their control is that bad.”

Angel starters may not be sticking around that long, but they’re getting in plenty of work. In the past two games, Joe Magrane and Leftwich have combined for 9 2/3 innings of work . . . and 239 pitches.

The White Sox countered with Scott Sanderson, who jumped out to a 7-2 start with a 2.82 earned-run average for the Angels last year then lost nine of his next 11 starts before he was released in July. The White Sox signed him as a free agent in February and the 37-year-old right-hander has been doing exactly what Rodgers wishes he could persuade most of his beleaguered pitching staff to do: be aggressive. In 30 1/3 innings this season, Sanderson has walked only two batters while striking out 16.

“Scotty will go at you,” Rodgers said. “He isn’t afraid to pitch inside. He’s a gamer.”

Leftwich, on the other hand, was almost a goner a week ago. On the brink of losing his spot in the rotation, he got a reprieve when Brian Anderson broke his thumb while trying to field a ground ball bare-handed. Leftwich responded to the opportunity by giving up only one run in his last start, but he wasn’t quite as sharp Monday night.

“I started out getting ahead of the majority of the guys and I felt real strong,” Leftwich said. “But I was trying not to let their RBI guys hurt me and I started pitching around them a little bit instead of making quality pitches early in the count.”

Robin Ventura gave Chicago a 1-0 lead when he hit his ninth homer of the season leading off the second. The White Sox got two more in the third when Tim Raines singled, Joey Cora walked and both scored when Dwight Smith misplayed Julio Franco’s double to left.

Smith got back the run he gave away in the bottom of the third, however, hitting his first home run in Anaheim Stadium. One out later, Chad Curtis evened the score, 3-3, with an opposite-field rocket to right-center that could be considered more evidence for the juiced-ball theory.

The White Sox regained the lead in the fifth and Rodgers probably went through a roll of antacids along the way. Raines and Cora singled with one out and then Leftwich walked Frank Thomas to load the bases. Franco lined out to center to score Raines, but when Leftwich walked Ventura to reload the bases, Rodgers stomped to the mound and delivered an animated throw-a-damn-strike lecture.

“I just told him to stop beating himself and to make them beat him,” Rodgers said.

The Angels went ahead, 5-4, in the sixth when Bo Jackson, putting together his first three-hit game of the season, led off with a single and eventually scored on Jorge Fabregas’ single to center. Fabregas stole second and scored on Harold Reynolds’ double to right-center.

That was it for Sanderson, who failed to improve to 4-0 at his former teammates’ expense, but it wasn’t the end of the Angel pitchers’ misery. Cora and Thomas opened the seventh with back-to-back singles off Mike Butcher and both scored and Franco ended up on third when Curtis let Franco’s single to center get past him.

“You’re not going to get very good defense when your infielders and outfielders have to get set and then back off for a 100-some pitches in the first five innings,” Rodgers said. “We thought we had gotten over the hump there when we got the lead in the sixth. We were heading into the home stretch with a lead.

“That takes a little starch out of you.”