Angels Winning Games Easier Than Winning Fans

I considered going to the Angel game Sunday at the Big A, but, like most people in Greater Anaheim, I found other things to do.

I did, however, call the team’s assistant general manager, Tim Mead, at one point during the 9-5 victory over Toronto and was surprised to hear:

Crowd noise.

Crowds at the Big A have been so quiet (except when the Dodgers were there), catcher Jim Leyritz said earlier that playing for the Angels is like “playing 162 road games.”

But just as I was wondering if Disney had considered bringing back cheerleaders, the Angels had a boisterous crowd Saturday night that must have reminded Leyritz of his former home in the Bronx Zoo.

Maybe the Angels finally have made believers of fans who go to the ballpark.

The question now is how to make believers of those who don’t.

Even after Saturday night’s dramatic, 5-4 victory gave the Angels 11 victories in 12 games and moved them within half a game of first place in the AL West, only 19,671 came to see them play on a marvelous Sunday afternoon.

Two nights earlier, the Angels passed one million in attendance. Seventeen teams beat them to it.

The Angel marketing and public-relations departments met earlier Friday to discuss solutions--a “think tank,” Mead called it--and thought of some ideas to help next season, including a return to Spanish-language radio broadcasts to appeal to Latino fans.

As for the rest of this season, the Angels, despite the changes in management, name, logo and uniforms, have to convince the public they are not the same old Angels.

The strike in 1994, the collapse during the ’95 pennant race, the collapse during the entire ’96 season, the trade of the popular J.T. Snow have contributed to their credibility gap.

But Mead remains optimistic. The Angels have put together an aggressive, entertaining and winning team that he believes will bring back the fans.

They’re out there. Not that many have moved to Norway.

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Upon Justin Leonard’s British Open victory, William Hill bookmakers in London immediately established Tiger Woods as a 7-1 favorite for next year’s tournament at Royal Birkdale. . . .

The odds on a Leonard repeat are 25-1. . . .

Don’t look for him to react with a stiff upper lip. Asked about Woods in an interview earlier this year, he responded testily, “Why don’t you ask me about Justin Leonard?” . . .

Most of the time, Leonard exudes the same gentle charm of fellow University of Texas alum, Ben Crenshaw. . . .

When it comes to golf, though, Leonard reminds Tom Kite, another former Longhorn, of former UCLA Bruin Corey Pavin. . . .

“He’s really got some fight in him,” Kite says. “He really sets that jaw and gets

after it.” . . .

Kite, the Ryder Cup captain, obviously is considering Pavin and Payne Stewart for his two wild-card selections in the September match against the Europeans. . . .

But the two Ryder Cup veterans didn’t help their causes in the British Open, finishing much closer to last than first. . . .

“I had been wondering where he’s been,” Vin Scully said after noticing Sunday that Peter O’Malley finished tied for seventh in the British Open. . . .

No, Scully said later, it wasn’t that Peter O’Malley. . . .

About the time I decided the Dodgers can’t beat good teams on the road, they won their second in a row in Atlanta. . . .

Chan Ho Park has as many victories as last season’s Cy Young winner, John Smoltz. . . .

While Terry Collins is establishing his manager-of-the-year credentials, credit for the Angels’ success also should go to pitching coach Marcel Lachemann. . . .

A staff riding on broken wings and a prayer, it entered Sunday’s game tied for fourth behind New York, Baltimore and Toronto in the American League in earned-run average. . . .

The Angels also are getting scheduling breaks. Hideki Irabu started Sunday night for the Yankees, meaning he won’t pitch against the Angels in New York this week. . . .

They missed Roger Clemens by one day last week. . . .

Leonard, his friends say, was embarrassed when Cosmopolitan listed him last year among its top 25 bachelors. . . .

He might be eager to knock Woods off magazine covers, but not Brad Pitt.

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While wondering if Jesper Parnevik will return home for some much-needed rest, I was thinking: I’m pretty sure he has a place in Roswell, N.M., I hope Andre Agassi intends to hang around here longer than he did in Washington last week, maybe missing Irabu isn’t such a good deal for the Angels after all.