COMMENTARY : From Out of Control to Out of Contention?

Forty-nine days and 29 Angel defeats later, Gary DiSarcina made his much-prayed-for return to the starting lineup Friday night, which had teammates greatly enthused until they noticed DiSarcina arrived at The Ballpark minus the rumored white stallion and without a single six-gun a-blazing.

No, DiSarcina simply shuffled over to his old position, booted a ground ball, went hitless in three at-bats and did all the things Spike Owen and Dick Schofield and Damion Easley had managed during their individual trials as Stretch Drive Shortstop For A Day.

Up to and including failing to save the Angels from themselves as their runaway downward spiral reached an eighth consecutive defeat, 8-3.

What now?

Which straw do the Angels grasp at next?

What missing ingredient do they bring back tomorrow?

Nolan Ryan?

Leon Wagner?

The always useful late September rain postponement?

If the Angels discovered anything new Friday, it’s that the current crisis runs far deeper than the hole at shortstop.

DiSarcina is only one man. He has only two hands, both of them only recently functional.

And besides, when’s the last complete game DiSarcina actually pitched for the Angels?

The crux of the Angel crisis is this: With three starting pitchers allegedly equipped to step up and stop tailspins of this ilk, not one of them--not Chuck Finley, not Jim Abbott and, especially, not Mark Langston--have taken the baseball from Marcel Lachemann and taken a chunk out of this debacle.

The seventh inning Friday was just another imperfect example.

Desperate for a emotional jolt, the Angels seemed to receive just that when long-lost Eduardo Perez strode out of the doghouse long enough to send a two-run, game-tying pinch-home run over the left-field wall.

It was the Angels’ first pinch home run of the season and Perez’s first home run, of any kind, since 1994.

Out of the blue.

Out of left field.

Totally unexpected.

Just what the Angels needed.

And what does Langston do with this CARE package?

He gives up a first-pitch single to Benji Gil, the No. 9 hitter in the Texas Rangers’ order, largely because of his .101 batting average against left-handed pitchers. Before this cosmic event, Gil had been hitless in his previous 15 at-bats.

Following a first-pitch passed ball (of course) to Otis Nixon, Langston jams Nixon and coerces the ugliest swing seen in this state since, well, Benji Gil. Nixon torques his wrists and cues the ball up the middle, scoring Gil with the tiebreaker.

Then Langston walks Mark McLemore.

And Will Clark after him.

No outs, bases loaded, Juan Gonzalez due up.

Lachemann figures he has to do something, so into the fray is tossed Mike James, rookie long reliever.

James’ first pitch is crushed to the center-field warning track, bounding over the head of Jim Edmonds, falling 10 feet short of a grand slam.

This time, the Angels get lucky.

Only three Rangers score on Gonzalez’s hit.

From 3-3 and a potential streak-breaker to 8-3 and an eighth consecutive defeat, leaving Lachemann somberly shaking his head.

Was Langston tired? Lachemann was asked.

“No.”

Had the tendinitis in Langston’s left elbow and shoulder flared up again?

“No.”

So why couldn’t the Angels’ supposed stopper stop a rally spearheaded by a .210-hitting shortstop named Benji?

Lachemann stared blankly at a stat sheet on his desk.

“He was trying to reach back and try to get something extra,” he finally responded. “You can call that overthrowing, I guess. . . . Sometimes competitiveness can force you into something where you’re trying to do something you might not be capable of doing. It’s a tough thing to control.”

Right now, the Angels’ season is out of control and Chuck Finley gets thrown underneath the tires tonight. Can he at least serve as a speed bump?

“We have to stop the momentum,” said Preston Gomez, the Angels’ assistant to the general manager. “To do that, we have to win a game.

“We have to win a game.”

Easier said than done.