Angels Go From Bad to Worse

Just in case he wasn’t paying close attention, the Angels showed their new manager why their old manager quit.

They didn’t pitch well, couldn’t hit in the clutch, made physical and mental errors and looked like the last-place team they are.

The Angels got it all wrong again, losing to the Minnesota Twins, 4-0, in front of 18,611 Wednesday at Anaheim Stadium.

It was the Angels’ eighth loss in the last nine games, another dismal performance in a season filled with them. In the end, it seemed they were bent on showing interim Manager John McNamara all their faults.

“This is only my second game, but obviously we haven’t got the key hits,” McNamara said. “When a team is going like this it’s because they’re trying too hard. I’ve seen it every place I’ve been.”

Perhaps that’s the way it looked to McNamara, but the Angels’ listless play drew nothing but boos from the crowd at game’s end.

Later in the clubhouse, McNamara asked reporters if they would skip their usual interviews with the players. It was an unusual request.

“They’ve been under enough pressure lately,” he said. “Please. As a favor to me, guys.”

This latest Angel pratfall couldn’t be pinned entirely on starter Chuck Finley. He gave up four runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts, two walks, one hit batter and one wild pitch.

But again, there were plenty of gaffes to go around.

McNamara started Finley instead of Shawn Boskie, following through on what proved to be Marcel Lachemann’s final move as manager.

Lachemann, who announced his resignation Tuesday, wanted the right-handed Boskie to break up the left-handed trio of Finley, Mark Langston and Jim Abbott.

So, Boskie will pitch today against Minnesota’s Rick Aguilera.

McNamara said he won’t consult Lachemann further.

“I think he’s had enough of it,” McNamara said. “I think I’ll just let him get away from it [managerial decisions].”

Instead, McNamara will continue to rely on advice of his coaching staff. First-base coach Joe Maddon has been helpful in filling out the lineup card and with statistical information. Catching coach Bill Lachemann aided McNamara by suggesting the relief pitchers to use.

All of that help did little to make the Angels look better on the field, however.

They couldn’t score with the bases loaded and less than two out in the first inning for the second consecutive game. They bungled routine plays, made poor decisions and made Minnesota starter Rich Robertson look like an all-star.

Robertson improved to 5-10 by pitching his third shutout this season. He gave up only four hits and allowed only one runner past second base.

The Twins helped ease Robertson’s burden by making the most out of the least in building an early 2-0 lead against Finley.

They scored their first run on a double steal in the third inning. A heads-up play by rookie catcher Todd Greene might have saved Finley a run.

But instead of letting Pat Meares have second base with two outs and Chuck Knoblauch at third, Greene decided to throw to second.

Knoblauch broke for home the instant Greene went into his windup.

To underscore the mistake, Finley then got the batter, Marty Cordova, to pop up on the next pitch to end the inning.

“[Greene] said he looked at third [to check Knoblauch], but said the hitter blocked his view,” McNamara said.

When Tim Salmon couldn’t cleanly field Knoblauch’s single to right field in the fifth, Matt Walbeck scored easily from second for the Twins’ second run.

And there was more.

Jim Edmonds struck out and Greene flied out with the bases loaded and only one out in the first.

The Angels got the leadoff runner on in the fourth, but Greene grounded into a double play on the first pitch from Robertson.

After third baseman George Arias’s fielding error, Dave Hollins dropped a bunt down the third-base line for a single in the sixth.

After Walbeck walked to load the bases, Rich Becker and Knoblauch delivered run-scoring singles for a 4-0 lead.

And so it went.