Month to Remember in Season to Forget?

Jim Edmonds is having a September to remember. The question is, will he want to look back on it when the season is over?

His teammates have struggled, labored really, to score runs. Edmonds has done his job, and a little more. He has been the one consistent hitter in a patched-up lineup.

Friday was another such night: Edmonds stood out, while so many of his teammates grounded out, flied out and struck out. He doubled, homered, scored two runs and drove in two runs. But, as has happened so often of late, he was the extent of the offense.

By the time the 3-hour 54-minute ordeal was over, Edmonds’ performance mattered little. The Angels scored three runs in the first three innings, then went dormant, losing to the Seattle Mariners, 5-3, in 12 innings.

It was their seventh loss in the last eight games and left them two games behind the first-place Texas Rangers. The Angels have scored 29 runs in those eight games with Edmonds driving in 10 of them.

“We just couldn’t get a big hit [Friday],” Manager Terry Collins said. “It’s pretty frustrating.”

Edmonds gave the Angels two big hits Friday, getting them off to fast start. He ripped a double into right field in the first inning, scoring Randy Velarde for a 1-0 Angel lead. Tim Salmon then dumped a single into center field, moving Edmonds to third. He scored as Gregg Jefferies looped a single to left.

That gave the Angels a 2-0 lead, which Ken Hill proceeded to squander. By the time Edmonds came up again, the Mariners had a 3-2 lead. He buried Ken Cloud’s 1-1 pitch into the right-field seats, his 24th home run of the season and 115th of his career.

In the Angels less-than-rich long-ball history, that’s good enough for ninth on the all-time list.

A year ago, Edmonds limped through September on two bad knees--both required surgery during the off-season. This season, he has remained healthy, except for a few minor aches, and is hitting .311 with a team-high 87 runs batted in--66 fewer than Texas’ leader, Juan Gonzalez.

The Angels have not been able to match the Rangers’ ample offense. Even when they generate some, they can’t sustain it. In Thursday’s 7-6 loss to the Rangers, the Angels scored all their runs in the first two innings.

Edmonds has done his part. He’s hitting .397 this September. His home run Friday gave him four for the month. He has driven in 16 runs and scored 11.

Not that it has amounted to much. The Angels have gone from 3 1/2 games up to two behind the Rangers in the last 10 games. They have scored three or fewer runs in six of those games.

Edmonds had a home run and drove in three runs Thursday. The Angels lost. He had a two-run home run against Baltimore on Sept. 13. The Angels lost, 12-7. He drove in two runs against Baltimore on Sept. 11. The Angels lost, 8-3.

Friday was another exercise in futility.