COUNTDOWN TIME? Even with the Angels in...

COUNTDOWN TIME? Even with the Angels in a tailspin--winning just one of their last 10 games--time is on their side. With a six-game lead over the Seattle Mariners--and 21 games left--their magic number is 16. That’s the combination of their victories and Seattle’s losses needed for the Angels to clinch the division title. . . . The Angels open a nine-game home stand tonight against Minnesota. Game time is 8:05--an hour late because it’s on national television (Channel 4).

DON’T WORRY: It was more than just the bad guys on District Attorney Michael R. Capizzi’s mind when he spoke at a Grand Jury Assn. luncheon in Costa Mesa on Thursday. It was bankruptcy. Capizzi’s solution: less county government, more control to cities. . . . The former grand jurors brought the issue home: How will cutbacks to his office affect grand juries? Capizzi: “That’s one of the last areas that will be cut back. The grand jury is a top priority.”

NO EASY RIDER: What would former Irvine mayor Sally Anne Sheridan’s political opponents say if they knew she was active in the skateboard world when the sport boomed here in the ‘70s (E1)? “They’d kill me. They get you for everything.” . . . Sheridan was executive director of the International Skateboard Assn. One of her headaches: to accompany pro skaters on appearances, where they often acted like rock stars. Says Sheridan: “They wrecked more hotels. I just fined the hell out of them.”

DUKE’S BIG FAN: Fame goes on in different ways for Orange County’s most famous resident, 16 years after his death. Country singer-turned-mystery writer Kinky Friedman’s latest novel--his eighth--is “God Bless John Wayne.” Friedman says Wayne actually does figure into the story, “in a very spiritual, subliminal fashion.” . . . Friedman has another reason he’s fond of the Duke: It was at John Wayne Airport, he says, that he saw someone reading one of his books. “It was the only time it’s ever happened,” Friedman says. “It was a good feeling.”

WEATHER: Mostly sunny today. Highs: near 90; lows: mid-60s. (B8)