That Ring at Last, or Jilted Fans?

The Angels set a franchise record with 22 wins in June, they’re in first place in the American League West coming out of the all-star break, and Angel fans are:

A) Filling Edison Field on a nightly basis, thinking nothing but positive thoughts about their paragons in periwinkle?

B) Tracking division leaders New York and Cleveland, projecting how the Angels will match up against them in the playoffs?

C) Bracing for the worst?

You don’t have to be a smooth-fielding, .313-hitting Angel shortstop to know the answer to that one.

“Dude, I know the mentality here,” veteran Gary DiSarcina said. “I know we’ve never been to the World Series and we haven’t been to the playoffs in 12 years. But I liken it to the concept of marriage.

“Even though the divorce rate is 50%, are you not going to take a chance on the woman you love? If you like the way we play, if we’re a good team, wouldn’t you want to support it? Wouldn’t you want to give it a shot?”

You can’t blame Angel fans for being hesitant. They’ve taken the plunge before, putting their heart and hopes into this team, and they’ve been burned so many times.

There was the 1982 American League championship series, when they blew a two-games-to-none lead to the Milwaukee Brewers, and the 1986 championship series, when they were one strike away from the World Series before blowing a three-games-to-one lead.

There was the great collapse of 1995, when the Angels had an 11-game lead on Aug. 3 and blew it, and the tease of 1997, when the Angels were at or near the top of the division for much of the summer before fading in September.

DiSarcina can’t speak for 1982 and ‘86, but he was around for 1995 and ‘97, and he senses something different about this year’s team.

“There’s a quiet confidence here,” he said. “In 1995, we were like a bunch of kids coming out of high school and going to college for the first time. We were crushing teams by eight and nine runs, yelling and screaming. We thought, ‘This is easy!’ We weren’t worried about the little things, but when we hit the skids, we didn’t know how to react. We didn’t know what to do.”

The more veteran-oriented, more even-keeled Angels will put DiSarcina’s theory to the test beginning tonight, when their season resumes with a four-game series in Seattle.

They lost five in a row before the break, three to the Oakland Athletics, and how they respond this month may go a long way toward determining whether Angel fans begin sizing up their team for rings or start dividing up the furniture.

Biggest First-Half Surprise

There were plenty--Omar Olivares, who went from long reliever to the team’s most consistent starter; rookie Jarrod Washburn, who is 4-1 in seven starts; knuckleballer Steve Sparks, winless in eight minor league decisions but 3-0 for the Angels; second baseman Justin Baughman, Class-A shortstop in 1997, big league second baseman in ’98.

But nothing is more stunning than the fact the Angels are in first place despite losing three-fifths of their rotation (Ken Hill, Jack McDowell, Allen Watson), their leading setup man (Mike James), and their projected starting catcher (Todd Greene) and second baseman (Randy Velarde) to injury for significant periods.

“We know, after June, that we’re capable of pitching, getting the big hits, playing good defense,” Manager Terry Collins said. “If there’s a time when those things aren’t there, it’s good to know we’ve had it. We just have to know how to get it back.”

Biggest First-Half Disappointment

After signing a $2.9-million contract over the winter, Watson went 3-5 with a 7.69 earned-run average in 10 starts before revealing he had been pitching most of the season with a sore elbow.

Watson, a left-hander, spent five weeks on the disabled list, and the day before he was going to be activated, on June 29, he sliced the outside of his left wrist when a beer bottle he was opening broke in half. That delayed his return until after the break.

Defining Moment

There were two that snapped the Angels out of their May doldrums--a 6-5 win over Minnesota on May 31, in which the Angels erased a 5-0 deficit, and a brawl-filled, 7-5 victory over Kansas City on June 2.

The first provided the confidence the team seemed to lack in May, when the Angels went 12-15 against the league’s second-tier teams, and the second produced more cohesiveness among players.

“It was good to see everyone sticking up for each other--a utility player [Frank Bolick] got sucker-punched, and two starting pitchers [Hill and McDowell] went after the guy who punched him,” DiSarcina said. “I don’t know if that was the spark, but it pulled everyone together. Guys said, ‘Let’s play that way,’ and we did.”

At This Pace

Darin Erstad, who is batting .313, would finish with 34 home runs, 111 runs batted in, 217 hits, 52 doubles, 109 runs and 21 stolen bases. Garret Anderson, who hit eight homers last season, would finish with 19. The catching platoon of Matt Walbeck and Phil Nevin would finish with 17 homers and 82 RBIs. And the Angels would finish with a 92-70 record.

Reasons to Be Excited

Designated hitter Tim Salmon and third baseman Dave Hollins, who haven’t really caught fire, have a history of hitting better in the second half. Hill, who had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow on June 15, and McDowell, out since June 1 because of an elbow injury, could be back by August.

Erstad has the kind of uncluttered, compact and explosive swing that is not conducive to prolonged slumps, DiSarcina is having his best year since 1995, closer Troy Percival has 25 saves, and the Angels won’t play a team that currently has a winning record again until July 28.

Reasons for Concern

The five losses before the break showed how vulnerable the rotation can be. Would you trust a staff that includes a knuckleballer (Sparks), a rookie (Washburn) and an unpredictable sophomore (Jason Dickson) in the heat of a pennant race?

The bullpen before Percival has been shaky, Salmon could blow out his injured left foot any day, and Baughman is still experiencing growing pains at second. The Angels have eight more games against the Uber-Yankees, including five in New York in four days (Aug. 24-27).

Moves to Ponder

The Angels are not about to rip apart their lineup to acquire a No. 1-caliber pitcher if one becomes available--a lack of depth caused by injuries prevents that.

But if they can trade for a second-tier pitcher such as Cincinnati’s Pete Harnisch, Kansas City’s Tim Belcher or Montreal’s Carlos Perez without giving up either of their top two prospects--triple-A pitcher Scott Schoeneweis or third baseman Troy Glaus--they will consider it.

With James about to undergo season-ending elbow surgery, the Angels also might trade for another reliable right-handed reliever.

See You in September

The Angels should be in the thick of the division race--not because they’re so good their talent will keep them atop the West, but because Texas does not have the starting pitching to gain too big of an advantage, and Seattle is a mess.

But they’ll only win the West title if Hill returns and is as effective as he was for most of April, and if they get some contribution from McDowell.