It’s Ugly as Angels Lose, 9-7 : Baseball: Tigers get off to 7-0 lead, then hang on--in the kind of game that Lachemann dislikes.

Marcel Lachemann steals glances at the Florida Marlins’ scores during Angel games. He talks with his brother, Rene, their manager, several times a day, sometimes until 3 a.m. He studies their box scores.

This may be Marcel Lachemann’s dream job, managing the Angels, but watching the Marlins flounder since his departure as their pitching coach--losing five of seven games--is painful.

“We know what the Marlins are going through,” Angel reliever Joe Grahe said after the Angels’ 9-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, “because we went through the same thing when Lach left us in ’92. You hate to use it as a crutch, but the man definitely helps your psyche.”

While Lachemann would love to remedy the Marlins’ woes, the Angels coldly reminded him that there are problems on the home front, losing to Tigers in front of 13,305 at Tiger Stadium.

Lachemann, who cherishes a fine pitching duel, watched the teams combine for 21 hits--nine for extra bases--off nine pitchers. It was ugly, with only the Angels’ five-run eighth inning keeping the score respectable.

“There’s some things that we need to fix, obviously,” Lachemann said. “You just can’t pitch behind and let bases on balls beat you. As intimidating a park as this is, you have to make them swing the bat.”

Lachemann, showing his intolerance for walks, yanked starter John Farrell after only 1 1/3 innings. Farrell gave up two hits, but after his fifth walk, Lachemann had seen enough and replaced him with Mark Leiter.

“I was thinking I almost had to pitch perfect,” said Farrell (1-1), who yielded four earned runs. “Pitching with the stadium on your mind is not the way to go about it.”

Farrell might be forced to have a strong performance in his next outing simply to avoid being removed from the rotation. Brian Anderson is scheduled to return from the disabled list in two weeks, and someone will have to go.

“I’m not worrying about that,” Farrell said. “All you can do is do your best, and hopefully your performance will influence those decisions.”

It figures to be Lachemann’s first major personnel decision, but as he was forewarned by friends and family, there will be plenty of nights like these.

“I sure hope I don’t take them any harder than I did before,” said Lachemann, who is 4-2 on the job, “because I didn’t take them very good as a pitching coach.”

Lachemann, who took each defeat personally as a pitching coach, certainly had difficulty accepting this loss. The Angels at least made it close after getting only one hit in the first six innings against Tiger starter John Doherty and falling behind, 7-0. But it was little consolation.

“Marcel loves good pitching,” Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson said. “So I’m sure this wasn’t his cup of tea. Gene Mauch used to tell me Marcel Lachemann is the best pitching coach he’s ever seen, which is quite a compliment.

“But I guarantee you one thing, the guy will never get carried away. He comes from a great family. He will not change. Marcel will always be successful.”

Anderson, who has known Lachemann since they were kids, sat down with him Wednesday and discussed the nuances of managing. He offered advice, told him to call whenever he wants, and most important, reminded him to have fun.

“You can’t stop them from worrying, stop them from the pratfalls,” Anderson said. “If you don’t worry about getting fired, you’ll never have the fear of being manager.

“I’ve done a lot of things wrong in 25 years, but I’ve never been afraid of any general manager or owner. I don’t align myself with the owners.

“I don’t want to be here because I’m their buddy. If they don’t want me here, give me a call.

“That’s why I told Marcel. ‘Do your best. If that isn’t good enough, it’s no big deal.”

Lachemann, of course, has one distinct advantage over Anderson and all but three of his peers in the game. He is managing in the American League West, where the Angels’ 21-26 record is good enough for first place.

The Tigers, meanwhile, are last in the American League East at 20-22. In the West, that record would give them a 1 1/2-game lead.

“It’s (lousy) for anyone to complain,” Anderson said. “That’s a cheap out, is all that it is. These are the rules. We knew what the divisions were going to be before the start of the season.

“Whoever wins that division deserves to be in the playoffs just as much as anyone else does. The (AL West champion) could win it all. Nobody’s going to want to play that team in a short series.”