ANALYSIS : Angels Contending in a Pennant Race That’s Pretending

It seems ludicrous. Take a glance at the American League West standings and what do you see? Aside from four teams with losing records, that is.

Yes, those really are the Angels (42-58) firmly entrenched in a playoff race.

OK, so they’re on a pace to lose more than 90 games for the third consecutive season.

So they’re a season-low 16 games below .500.

So their 58 losses are the second-most in the major leagues; the Padres have lost 62.

So every team in both the AL’s East Division and Central Division has a better record.

So their pitching drops the ball far too often.

Despite all that, the standings reveal that the Angels are within striking distance going into a nine-game stretch tonight against AL West rivals Oakland, Texas and Seattle.

Although it may seem laughable, far-fetched and simply too much to expect, the Angels could be in first place by the end of those nine games.

But judging by recent performances, this season has amounted to little more than a big tease.

Last week was a perfect example. The Angels swept three games from the Boston Red Sox, including a rare victory over longtime tormentor Roger Clemens. Spirits soared.

Then they were swept in four games by the New York Yankees. A pall enveloped the clubhouse.

The Yankees exposed all of the Angels’ shortcomings, particularly their weak pitching.

The Angels as playoff contenders? After Sunday’s 6-4 loss to New York it was a tough sell.

“My only concern is how we’re playing,” designated hitter Chili Davis said. “I don’t look at the scoreboard. There’s nothing we can do about teams we aren’t playing. We’re inconsistent. You have a series like we had against Boston, then you come back and have a series like this. I hate to admit it, but you look at a team like New York and they have a better team than we do.”

Manager Marcel Lachemann said closer Joe Grahe’s role was in serious jeopardy. Mark Leiter appears to have the best shot at replacing Grahe.

After giving up a three-run home run to Don Mattingly in the ninth inning Sunday, Grahe greeted reporters with gallows humor, wondering if Lachemann decided to walk off the field with him to shield him from bullets. He was smirking, not smiling.

“We’re not on top of the mountain, but they haven’t buried us yet,” Grahe said.

Outside the clubhouse, starter Mark Langston, whose strong 8 1/3 innings were wasted, shrugged off the day’s disappointment.

“That’s the game of baseball,” Langston said.

To be sure, that’s the Angels’ brand of baseball in 1994.

Mattingly’s homer marked the 17th consecutive game in which Angel pitchers had given up a homer. The staff’s earned-run average is 5.39, one of the highest in the league. Among starters, only rookie Brian Anderson has a winning record, at 6-5.

Last week, the Angels were forced to start Anderson and Andrew Lorraine, another talented but raw rookie, in consecutive games against New York. The results were predictable; the Angels were soundly beaten twice.

The Yankees said they didn’t think much of Lorraine’s stuff, didn’t believe he was ready for the majors.

What’s more, Langston and Chuck Finley--expected to be the backbone of the rotation and indeed the team--haven’t found the form that carried them to 16 victories apiece last season.

And the Angel offense isn’t exactly making anyone forget the 1927 Yankees.

Aside from Davis, who is having another excellent year with a team-leading .335 average, 21 home runs and 70 runs batted in, there isn’t much punch.

Jim Edmonds, a rookie-of-the-year candidate, has been the most surprising performer among position players.

Bo Jackson limps around with an artificial hip, gamely playing against all medical odds.

Tim Salmon has been slowed by a pulled hamstring. Chad Curtis and Damion Easley have been criticized by batting coach Rod Carew for trying to be sluggers when they should be hitting singles.

J.T. Snow, riding a career-best 10-game hitting streak, finally seems to have emerged from a prolonged run of disappointment following his eye-catching April of 1993.

Depth is a problem, too.

“I’m not sure we could contend in any division in baseball,” rookie General Manager Bill Bavasi said during spring training. “But believe me, I know we’re good enough to contend in this one.”

Perhaps that is still true, but the Angel clubhouse was hardly overflowing with confidence the past few days.

Sunday, players spent as much time carping about the Anaheim Stadium crowd’s support of the Yankees as they did discussing their future in the divisional race.

“They were playing some song and the cheers for the Yankees drowned out the music,” Davis said. “(The fans) came in our stadium with brooms. You would not do that in New York or Boston or Candlestick (Park in San Francisco). Someone would take that broom and . . . .

“Sometimes it’s almost like they’re cheering against us. I’ll tell you, when we do win here, it will be for the Angels and the people who work with us and for us. When I sign autographs, I look to see who has a Yankee shirt on and (if so, I say,) ‘You’re not going to get one.’ ”

Mattingly got his 2,000th career hit and Davis his 1,000th RBI Saturday night, but Mattingly received a longer, warmer ovation from the crowd of 29,354.

“It’s been like that ever since I’ve been here,” Davis said. “It’s weird, but I don’t expect anything different. I don’t care about ovations. I (reached 1,000 RBIs) and I’m proud of it. I never needed acceptance before and I don’t need it now.

“We just go out and play our butts off. (It would) be nice to see a little more support.”

Additionally, attendance is off by 121,598 at Anaheim Stadium. After 52 home games, the Angels are drawing an average of 24,722, compared with 27,060 last year.

Against this backdrop, the Angels will begin perhaps one last run at the top of the division when they play host to the Athletics tonight. And no matter how unlikely it seems, no matter how much the Angels may appear to be overmatched, anything is possible in the AL West.