Angels Come Up Empty : Baseball: Three-run ninth wasted as Yankees rally for a 4-3 victory amid increasing strike talk.

The Angels were acting so giddy in the dugout Friday night that you’d have thought major league baseball had just decided to let the entire American League West into the playoffs.

It was looming as one of those melodramatic, zany comeback victories, the kind that can carry a team for weeks, let alone provide relief for their miserable first half.

Instead, the Angels were left with an all-too-familiar result, losing 4-3 to the New York Yankees, and believing that the players’ strike can’t come soon enough.

Instead of celebrating a dramatic ninth-inning comeback--scoring three runs in the top of the ninth--they were left consoling one another after the Yankees’ Bernie Williams capped a two-run rally with a one-out, bases-loaded single against Joe Grahe.

Their only consolation is that their torment won’t last an entire season, convinced after their latest briefing Friday of a work stoppage in August.

The Angels, according to several players, informally voted to strike and have provided that authorization to the Major League Players Assn. They are scheduled to vote within two weeks on a strike date, which is expected to be in August, according to one source.

“I can’t tell you the strike date,” said Angel second baseman Harold Reynolds, one of several players who attended a negotiating session Friday, “but I can tell you that we’re very unified on this.”

Meanwhile, the Angels (36-51) are left trying to figure out what they can do with the season that still remains, showing the crowd of 23,770 at Yankee Stadium just why they have the worst record in the American League.

Their entire offense for 8 2/3 innings consisted of a first-inning infield single by Rex Hudler and three walks. The only saving grace was that Angel starter Brian Anderson had limited the Yankees to two runs.

Then, inexplicably, it happened. Chili Davis hit a ball off the wrist of Yankee starter Melido Perez. Greg Myers doubled to left. Tim Salmon, in his first big league pinch-hitting appearance, hit a two-run single to left, tying the score. Two batters later, Mark Dalesandro singled to center, scoring pinch-runner Reynolds for the go-ahead run.

Now, all the Angels had to do was stop the Yankees. Reliever Mark Leiter retired the only batter he faced in the eighth, but Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann summoned closer Grahe.

“I don’t jump ship just because a guy has a bad day,” Lachemann said. “I know (managers) that like to do that, go with the front-runner, but I don’t play that game.”

Grahe, successful in his last four save situations, opened the ninth by yielding back-to-back singles to Mike Stanley and Paul O’Neill. Pinch-hitter Matt Nokes then hit a routine double-play ball to shortstop Gary DiSarcina. He flipped the ball to Reynolds for the first out, and watched in horror as Reynolds’ relay throw was high and wide, allowing Nokes to reach first.

“You sit there thinking, ‘Oh, man, I hope that doesn’t cost us,’ ” Reynolds said. “I was hoping they’d hit another one right to me. It never happened, and that’s tough to swallow.”

Now, with runners on first and third with one out, Grahe needed a strikeout. He got ahead 1-and-2 on Daryl Boston, and tried to get him to swing at a curveball in the dirt. Instead it hit Boston’s right foot, loading the bases.

If Grahe wasn’t frustrated enough already, pinch-hitter Jim Leyritz hit a high chopper to the right side of the infield. First baseman J.T. Snow fielded the ball, but no one was at first. Grahe had forgotten to cover until it was too late.

Whether he could have thrown out Leyritz is debatable.

“There was no play on that ball,” Lachemann said. “It wasn’t a high-chopper. It was almost an infield fly.”

Said Grahe: “I got so upset that they were going to tie the game on a ball like that, I didn’t even cover first. I don’t care if it’s Babe Ruth running down the line or Lou Brock, I should have been there.”

It was all over two pitches later when Williams slapped a single up the middle, scoring Nokes for the game-winner. The Yankees (49-33) went into a frenzy, with only Perez left disappointed for not not securing the victory.

“He may feel bad,” Grahe said, “but I’m sure he doesn’t feel as bad as I do.”