Mariners’ Offensive Display Adds to Angels’ Problems

The latest Disney release--Too Many Angels in the Outfield--premiered in Anaheim Stadium Thursday night, but all 22,780 fans got was another tired summer rerun.

The Angel pitching staff, which has played the key role in a four-week disaster flick, got bombed again in a 15-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners. The Angels gave up 21 hits while losing for the 18th time in the last 25 games.

This is some statement the Angels are making in the American League West. They’re now 5-14 near the end of a 22-game stretch against division opponents, and Angel starters are 3-9 with a 9.28 earned-run average in those 19 games.

“You just can’t give up that many runs early in the game and expect to keep your energy level up,” Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “You’ve got to take charge of the game from the mound.”

The focus early Thursday night wasn’t on pitching as much as it was center field, where Jim Edmonds returned to the Angel lineup for the first time since June 11, pushing Darin Erstad to left field and Garret Anderson to the bench.

Edmonds broke up Rusty Meacham’s shutout with a home run in the eighth, eliciting an almost laughable fireworks display considering the Angels still trailed by 14 runs.

But Edmonds, sidelined because of a sprained right thumb, could have added two grand slams to his 14th homer of the season, and the Angels still wouldn’t have beaten the Mariners, who are 6-1 against the Angels this season and trail first-place Texas by three games.

“I’m not going to come back and make the team win,” said Edmonds, the Angels’ best all-around offensive player who has been limited to 49 games because of injuries this season. “I just hope I can add a little life.”

But it’s kind of tough to spark your team when the opponent’s No. 5 hitter (Jay Buhner) has a double, a home run and five runs batted in before your cleanup batter (Tim Salmon) even makes a plate appearance.

Or when the opponent has nine runs and 10 hits before you get your first runner. Or when your starter throws 59 pitches . . . and records only four outs.

That’s the kind of night it was for the Angels, who got a surprisingly subpar start from the pitcher who has been their most pleasant surprise this season.

Shawn Boskie lasted only 1 1/3 innings, giving up seven earned runs on seven hits to fall to 10-4. He walked two batters before Buhner’s two-run double in the first and gave up Ken Griffey’s two-run single in the second.

When Lachemann pulled Boskie in the second, the Mariners pummeled the two relievers who followed. Buhner drilled a three-run homer (his 26th) off Shad Williams in the second, Griffey lined a two-run double off Ryan Hancock in the fifth and Alex Rodriguez hit a towering, two-run homer to center off Hancock in the sixth.

Hancock, Saturday’s scheduled starter, pitched 4 1/3 innings, so the Angels will have to call up a pitcher from triple-A Vancouver--probably Pep Harris or Dennis Springer--to take Hancock’s spot in the rotation.

The Angels, meanwhile, managed only eight hits off Meacham, a converted reliever who went 7 1/3 innings to notch his first victory as a starter since July 4, 1991.

Boskie was asked if the lack of Angel offense had bothered him. “I’d be asking an awful lot,” he said, “to ask for 16 runs.”

Rodriguez led the Mariner barrage with four hits, including his 21st home run, two doubles and four runs.

Griffey had four RBIs, and Joey Cora had three singles and three runs for Seattle, which put away the game with three runs in the first and six in the second. It was the fourth time this season the Mariners had 20 hits or more.

Seattle Manager Lou Piniella emptied his bench by the sixth inning, pulling five starters. But Pirkl, a former Los Alamitos High School standout, had a home run and a single in relief of first baseman Paul Sorrento, and Darren Bragg, who replaced Buhner, had two doubles.

“They have an awfully solid lineup and you have to fight the temptation to pitch too carefully,” Boskie said. “I think my pitches were just up enough and caught just enough of the plate that what might have been outs turned into hits.”