Angels Still Trail in the Arms Race

Perhaps reports of the Angels’ demise Friday night haven’t been greatly exaggerated.

Sure, they’re still in first place in the American League West after a 7-2 loss to Boston in front of a sellout crowd of 43,390 at Edison Field in which Garret Anderson extended his hitting streak to 28 games. But today, they’re facing one heck of a trade deficit.

While the Texas Rangers, who trail the Angels by one game, added quality starting pitching, power hitting and defense in a couple of trade-deadline-day deals, the Angels stayed pat and talked about how the possible return of disabled pitchers Ken Hill and Jack McDowell and second baseman Randy Velarde will be as good as a trade.

“As a GM, you know the guys in the clubhouse are counting on you to get something done, so I’m disappointed,” General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “[The Rangers] got better, a lot better, no doubt about it. But if they hadn’t made a deal, I’d still feel disappointed. I had a job to do and I didn’t get it done.

“You don’t want to start comparing yourself to other teams and do something foolish, so I thought that if we were unable to make a deal, I would be able to feel good that we didn’t pull the trigger. But I don’t feel good. I’ve created a void. Hopefully, it’s short-lived and as we get guys back, we’ll be more powerful.”

Manager Terry Collins’ first reaction was to say that he didn’t care what any other team did to improve themselves, but quickly admitted the Rangers’ trades for pitcher Todd Stottlemyre, shortstop Royce Clayton and third baseman Todd Zeile could have a huge impact on the Angels holding the West lead.

“A couple of years ago, to be honest, I loved Todd Stottlemyre,” he said, “but I haven’t seen him pitch in two years. When I saw Royce Clayton play in St. Louis two years ago, he could play on my team. I know Todd Zeile, I like Todd Zeile, but I don’t know any of them are going now.”

He might not want to look. Zeile is hitting .276 with 13 home runs and 66 RBIs and Stottlemyre is 9-9 with a 3.51 earned-run average.

Friday night’s starter, Omar Olivares, may have made the Angels feel a little better about their failure to deal for a starting pitcher. His earned-run average had ballooned from 2.70 to 4.27 in the last the last six weeks and he had failed to earn a victory since June 17. He appeared to be on his way to breaking a string of five consecutive defeats, holding the Red Sox to one hit through six innings.

After Olivares left the game in the eighth, however, the Angels looked like a team more in need of relief pitching than a starter. Reliever Greg Cadaret threw one pitch, which Mo Vaughn ripped into right for a run-scoring single. Nomar Garciaparra pounded a three-run homer off Cadaret’s replacement, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and Rich DeLucia was tagged for a two-run home run by Jason Varitek in the ninth.

The Angels, meanwhile, were held to five hits and one run over seven innings by rejuvenated two-time Cy Young Award winner Bret Saberhagen (11-5), who gave the streak-extending single to Anderson in the seventh. Tom Gordon retired four of five batters for his 30th save.

It was as if the lack of news about a trade by the midnight (EDT) non-waiver trading deadline deflated the Angels, who had a 1-0 lead when Bavasi had to put down the phone and accept that he wasn’t going to be able to swing a deal.

Bavasi, who said this season’s payroll was not an issue, had serious discussions about five separate deals--with Toronto’s Roger Clemens and Juan Guzman, Montreal’s Carlos Perez and Stottlemyre being the most prominent in the talks. The asking price proved to be far too much in most instances.

“We can’t be concerned with what’s out of our control, but if I was a GM, the No. 1 thing I’d be after is a pitcher,” Cecil Fielder said. “I’ve been on teams that scored 800 and 900 runs and finished last.”

Said Collins after the game: “I know [the Angels inability to make a deal] is a story, but it cannot be a story in here. Now I hope some of the guys who did not get traded pick it up.”