It’s a Texas-Size Collapse

They say it’s always darkest before the dawn. The Angels can only hope that’s true in their case, because it’s hard to imagine things getting any more bleak than they did Thursday night.

The Angels broke out of their offensive funk with a four-run first inning against Texas, but they couldn’t hold the lead. They had a two-run lead in the second and couldn’t hold it.

And by the time Ranger right-hander John Wetteland closed out Texas’ 7-6 victory before a sellout crowd of 45,928 at The Ballpark in Arlington, the Angels were no longer holding first place in the American League West.

Texas leadoff batter Tom Goodwin broke a 6-6 tie with an RBI double off reliever Rich DeLucia in the eighth, reliever Tim Crabtree threw four hitless innings, and Wetteland added a 1-2-3 ninth for his team-record 41st save, as the Rangers moved a game ahead of the Angels with 10 games left.

The loss completed a dismal 1-6 trip through Baltimore (0-3), Tampa Bay (1- 1) and Texas (0-2) and dropped the Angels into second place for the first time since Aug. 13.

“We had a terrible trip, and not just in Texas,” Manager Terry Collins said. “We lost three in Baltimore, got waxed once [8-1] in Tampa Bay and lost twice here. We’ve got to regroup, take a deep breath and play well at home. If we win five of the six games, we’ll be back in first place.”

If only the task were as easy as the math. The Angels begin a three-game series against underachieving but dangerous Seattle tonight, and they host the red-hot Rangers in a three-game series beginning Monday night. Texas closes the season with four games at Seattle, while the Angels close with four at Oakland.

“We have to win two more games than Texas--if we don’t, our season is over,” said Angel center fielder Jim Edmonds, who had three hits, including a homer, and three RBIs Thursday night. “But we can’t worry about the big picture. We have to concentrate on each game.”

Thursday night’s game featured the most pleasant pitching surprises for both teams, Texas right-hander Rick Helling, who entered the season as a No. 5 starter but is now an ace, and Angel knuckleballer Steve Sparks, who was 0-8 in the minor leagues but 9-3 since being recalled by the Angels in June.

Neither had a pleasant evening. Helling, who was bidding to become the third 20-game winner in the Rangers’ 38-year history, and Sparks were ripped for four runs each in a first inning that took 41 minutes and 65 pitches to complete. Neither made it out of the second.

The Angels made the proper adjustments to Helling’s letter-high fastballs, batting around in an inning that started with Darin Erstad, making his first start since straining his left hamstring on Sept. 2, singling to left-center.

Collins, not convinced Erstad was strong enough to continue, lifted Erstad for a pinch-runner after Randy Velarde’s walk, but that hardly deterred the Angels.

Edmonds’ RBI single and Tim Salmon’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0, and after Gregg Jefferies’ double, Garret Anderson was intentionally walked. Troy Glaus and Phil Nevin followed with RBI singles to make it 4-0.

But the Angel outburst was negated by the Rangers’ four-run first, which began with singles by Goodwin and Mark McLemore and Rusty Greer’s two-run double. Juan Gonzalez struck out, but Will Clark’s RBI double made it 4-3, and Ivan Rodriguez followed with a game-tying RBI single.

Edmonds followed Velarde’s second-inning double by homering off the left- field foul pole for a 6-4 lead, but setup man Shigetoshi Hasegawa, making a rare second-inning appearance--that’s how important this game was--couldn’t hold it. He gave up solo homers to Todd Zeile in the third and Gonzalez in the fourth.

Ranger relievers Al Levine, Greg Cadaret, Crabtree and Wetteland limited the Angels to three hits over the final seven innings, and former Angel Lee Stevens started the winning rally with a single to open the eighth.

“We threw a four-spot up there in the first against the stud of their staff--that was pretty impressive,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “But you have to give them a lot of credit for not coming unglued. They took it to us, and that says a lot about their team.”

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SHORT RETURN: Erstad singles on first pitch, then is removed from the game when he can’t run. C13