Angels Not Yet Worried : Baseball: Players still confident of winning AL West title despite 5-0 loss to Kansas City. Royal starter Kevin Appier pitches three-hitter.

Perhaps the Angels are in a state of denial. Their magic number is stuck at 11, where it has been since Tuesday night, their lead in the American League West has shrunk to four games, their smallest cushion since July 21, and still they insist there’s no reason to worry.

“We have a four-game lead with 14 to play--I’ll take my chances with that,” infielder Spike Owen said after the Angels lost to the Kansas City Royals, 5-0, Friday night.

“I can’t speak for anyone else, but it doesn’t worry me. We’re the ones in control, Seattle and Texas are chasing us. There’s no doubt we have to readjust our thinking or something and put some wins on the board. But you’d drive yourself crazy if you go home every night and worry about it.”

Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said he didn’t think there was a sense of doom in the Angel clubhouse.

“You worry about things you’re afraid of, and our guys aren’t afraid to go out and play,” he said. “If we’re going to worry about [blowing the lead] then we’re in deep . . . We’ve just got to go out and play, and if something happens, it happens.”

Virtually nothing happened when the Angels were up Friday night. Angel center fielder Jim Edmonds gave an Anaheim Stadium crowd of 33,930 a thrill with a spectacular defensive play, but Kansas City ace Kevin Appier put an equally impressive chill on Angel bats.

The Royal right-hander continued his mastery of the Angels with a three-hitter and a career-high 13 strikeouts. Appier, who was 2-0 with a 2.81 earned-run average in two previous starts against the Angels, gave up only three singles, two of which didn’t leave the infield.

Mixing his fastball, curve, sinker and changeup, Appier (14-8) caught Angel hitters looking at called third strikes five times. He struck out lead-off batter Tony Phillips four times. Angel starter Jim Abbott (10-8) gave up 10 hits 8 1/3 innings.

Edmonds’ play came during a semi-chaotic fifth inning, which featured Royal first baseman Wally Joyner wearing an Angel cap, Phillips, the Angel third baseman, covering first and first baseman J.T. Snow running a Royal player back to third.

Confused? The Angels appeared to be, but they made it out of the inning with minimal damage.

With runners on first and second and no outs, Gary Gaetti chopped a grounder to Phillips, who tagged Joyner on his way to third. Joyner rolled to the ground and upended Phillips in the process, as hats and helmets flew.

Joyner, the former Angel, wound up with Phillips’ hat and put it on his head as he ran toward the dugout, not realizing it was an Angel cap until Phillips yelled at him. Phillips had the Royal helmet, and the two shared a chuckle as they exchanged headgear.

Royal designated hitter Joe Vitiello, whose bases-empty homer off Abbott gave Kansas City a 1-0 lead in the second, then drove a ball to deep center.

But Edmonds, after a lengthy run, made a leaping catch about a foot or two above and behind the wall. Edmonds caromed off the fence, and his throw made it all the way to the pitcher’s mound, where Snow fielded it and ran Gagne, who had tagged from second and had visions of scoring, back to third.

Where was Phillips? While Edmonds’ throw came in, he had sprinted to first in an attempt to double up Gaetti, but the Angels had no play. Abbott then shattered Les Norman’s bat with a pitch, but Norman got enough wood on the ball to send it into shallow left for an RBI single and a 4-0 lead.

Second-place Seattle completed its 3-2 victory over Chicago Friday just as the Angels took the field against the Royals, but the Angels were at least buoyed by this:

The Mariners and Texas Rangers, the two teams within striking distance of the Angels in the West, will play each other seven times in their final 14 games, including a season-ending, four-game series at Texas.

“That’s outstanding,” Phillips said. “Those are the two teams trailing us, so if they can beat up on each other, we’ll be in pretty good shape. If they split, it would be great.”